SPD

Überblick

	in 1875, the General German Worker' s Union (since 1863) and the Social Democratic Worker' s Party (since 1869) merge in Gotha to form the Socialist Worker' s Party of Germany, which is outlawed in 1878 through the Socialist law under Reichs Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
	in 1890 renamed the Social Democratic Party of Germany
	after 1912 the strongest fraction in the Reichstag
	in 1917 split within the SPD fraction of opponents to the war; formation of the Independent SPD (USPD), the left wing of which later merges into the KPD while the right wing rejoins the SPD
	in June 1933 the SPD is outlawed
	1945 it is reestablished in the Western Occupation Zones
	1946 in the Soviet Zones of occupation and East Berlin, forcible integration with the Communist Party of Germany to form the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany)
	in West Germany, the SPD is permanently characterized by its Chairman Kurt Schumacher
	1959 Godesberger Party Program: deletion of all Marxist elements from the party program and support for the social market economy
	development into a people’s party
	1989 new basic program (the Berlin Program): calls for greater social justice and an ecological reconstruction of industrial society
	1990 reunification with the SPD of the DDR (which is reconstituted in 1989)

Struktur
a social reformist and progressive people’s party
The SPD is counted among the supporters of the Weimar Republic and provides the first Reichs President and three Reichs Chancellors. The SPD Reichstag fraction in 1933 alone votes against Adolf Hitler’s enabling law. In the history of the Federal Republic, the SPD has provided three Federal Chancellors (Willy Brandt 1969-1974, Helmut Schmidt 1974-1982, Gerhard Schröder 1998-2005).
About 850,000 members (1996)