Formed in the late nineteenth century, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the single largest German political party by 1912. Its success was attributable, in part, to the willingness of its leaders to allow pragmatism and a commitment to mass appeal to triumph over ideological purity. These characteristics were reflected in the SPD’s decision to vote in favor of war in 1914, a decision that prompted some SPD members on the left wing of the party to split off and form more radical organizations. Throughout the 1920s the SPD was engaged in almost constant conflict with these far-left parties. In this 1925 party program, party leaders described their philosophy and agenda, stressing the importance of working toward socialism from within existing political institutions.

The democratic republic offers the most favorable ground for the liberation of the working class and therefore for the development of socialism. For this reason, the Social Democratic Party defends the republic and is committed to its full development. The Party demands the following:

The Reich is to be transformed into a unified republic on the basis of decentralized self-government. Upon the organically reorganized substructure of regional and state administration will rise a strong national authority possessed of the powers necessary for unified leadership and the maintenance of national unity.

Extension of direct national administration to the judiciary: all courts are to become national courts. The security police is to be subjected to unified principles established by legislation. A unified, national, criminal police force is to be created.

Protection against all monarchical and militarist strivings. Transformation of the armed forces of the Reich into a reliable organ of the republic.

The complete extension of constitutional equality to all citizens, without regard to distinctions of gender, national origin, religion, or property.

Administration

The goal of Social Democratic policy is the replacement of the police-state executive carried over from the authoritarian state structure through an administrative organization that invests the responsibilities of government in the people on the basis of democratic self-government. . . .

Judiciary

The Social Democratic Party opposes all forms of class and partisan bias in the judiciary and supports a legal order and judicial system informed by a social spirit and based on the critical participation of selected lay judges in all branches and on all levels of the judiciary.

In particular it demands:

In civil law, the subordination of property rights to the rights of the society at large, the facilitation of divorce, the granting to women of equal rights with men, and the equalization of children born out of wedlock to those born within.

In criminal law, greater protection of individual and social rights, the replacement of the principle of vengeance by the principle of rehabilitation of the individual and the protection of society. Repeal of the death penalty.

In criminal proceedings, the reintroduction of trial by jury and the extension of its jurisdiction in particular to political trials and those involving the press; the right to appeal in all criminal cases; the abolition of all regulations that infringe upon the right to a just defense.

In pretrial proceedings, the protection of detainees against encroachment by the authorities; arrest, except in cases of apprehension in the act, only on the basis of judicial warrant and oral hearings concerning appeals against such warrants.

In the execution of sentences, constitutional regulation in the spirit of humanity and in accord with the principle of rehabilitation.

Social Policy

The defense of workers, white-collar employees, and civil-service employees and the elevation of living standards for the broad masses demands:

Defense of the freedom of association and the right to strike. Equal rights for women in the workplace. The prohibition of the employment of school-age children.

The legal codification of a working day of a maximum of eight hours and the reduction of this maximum for the youth and in occupations posing an increased risk to health and life. Restriction of night work. Weekly, uninterrupted respites from work of at least forty-two hours. Annual vacations with no interruption of wages.

The responsibility for the disposal of unemployment relief is reserved exclusively for the trade unions.

Control of abuses in cottage industries with the goal of eliminating it entirely, with due attention to the welfare of those affected.

Supervision of all plants and enterprises by means of a system of industrial inspection, which is to be expanded into a nationwide institution based upon the participation of workers and white-collar employees in the capacity of civil servants and shop stewards.

Securing the legal validity of wage agreements and assistance payments through their conclusion by mediation authorities.

Independent labor courts outside the network of regular jurisdiction.

Unified labor law.

The standardization of social insurance to the point of its restructuring into a general system of social welfare. Inclusion of those unfit for work and the unemployed.

Comprehensive, preventive, enlightening, and effective measures in the area of the popular welfare, in particular as regards education, health, and economic concerns; the national regulation of welfare support, organized so as to ensure the participation of the working class in its execution.

Promotion of international agreements and legislation.

Cultural and Educational Policy

The Social Democratic Party is striving for the abolition of the educational privileges of the propertied classes.

Education, schooling, and research are public matters; their operation is to be secured through public institutions and the expenditure of public funds. The provision of instruction and instructional materials free of charge. Economic support for pupils and students.

The public institutions of education, schooling, culture, and research are secular. All legally grounded interference in these institutions by churches and religious or ideological communities is to be opposed. Separation of church and state. Separation of church and schools. Secular technical and occupational schools and institutions of higher education. No expenditure of public monies for ecclesiastical or religious purposes.

The unified structuring of the school system. The creation of the closest possible relations between practical and intellectual labor on all levels.

The common education of both sexes by both sexes.

Standardized training of teachers in colleges and universities. . . .

Economic Policy

In the struggle against the capitalist system, the Social Democratic Party demands:

Land, property, mineral resources, and natural sources of energy supplies are to be withdrawn from the system of capitalist exploitation and transferred to the service of the whole community.

Developing the system of economic councils to implement the right of codetermination by the working class of the organization of the economy with the continuation of close cooperation with the trade unions.

National control over capitalist special-interest associations, cartels, and trusts.

Promotion of increased productivity in industry and agriculture.

Support for the system of land settlement.

Abolition of the protective tariff system through long-term trade contracts in the name of the free exchange of goods and the economic integration of nations.

Expansion of the operations of the nation, states, and public bodies while simultaneously avoiding bureaucratization.

Promotion of nonprofit cooperatives and enterprises devoted to the common good.

Promotion of residential construction in the public interest. The official codification of rental law and opposition to construction profiteers.

International Policy

As a member of the Socialist Workers’ International, the Social Democratic Party of Germany struggles together with the workers of all nations against imperialist and fascist advances and for the realization of socialism.

It confronts every intensification of conflict between peoples and every threat to the peace with its most energetic opposition.

It demands the peaceful resolution of international conflicts and insists that they be brought before obligatory courts of arbitration.

It is committed to the right of self-determination of peoples and to the right of minorities to democratic and national self-government.

It opposes the exploitation of colonial peoples and the violent destruction of their traditional economic arrangements and their culture.

It demands international disarmament.

It is committed to the creation of European economic unity, now made pressing by economic circumstances, for the formation of a United States of Europe, in order thereby to achieve a solidarity of interests among the peoples of all continents.

It demands the democratization of the League of Nations and its further development into an effective instrument of peace.

Source: Anton Kaes, Martin Jay, and Edward Dimendberg, eds., The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 112–115.

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