Socialist Unity Party of Germany

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Socialist Unity Party of Germany

Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands
Founded21 April 1946 (1946-04-21)
Dissolved16 December 1989 (1989-12-16)
Merger ofEast German branches of KPD and SPD
Succeeded byPDS
NewspaperNeues Deutschland
Youth wingFreie Deutsche Jugend
Membership (1989)2,260,979[1]
Political positionFar-left
National affiliationDemocratic Bloc (1948–1950)
National Front (1950–1990)
International affiliationCominform
Anthem"Lied der Partei" (Song to the Party)
Party flag
Flagge der SED.svg
State arms of German Democratic Republic.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
East Germany

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (German: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED), established in April 1946, was the governing Marxist–Leninist[2] political party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the country's foundation in October 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989.

The GDR was a one-party state[3] but other institutional popular front parties were permitted to exist in alliance with the SED, these parties being the Christian Democratic Union, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Farmers' Party, and the National Democratic Party. The SED made the teaching of Marxism-Leninism and the Russian language compulsory in schools.[4] In the 1980s, the SED rejected the liberalisation policies of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, such as perestroika and glasnost, which would lead to the GDR's isolation from the restructuring USSR and the party's downfall in the autumn of 1989.


The SED's long-suppressed reform wing took over the party in the fall of 1989. In hopes of changing its image, on 16 December it renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), abandoning Marxism–Leninism and becoming a mainstream democratic socialist party. It received 16.4% of the vote in the 1990 parliamentary elections. In 2007, the PDS merged with Labour and Social Justice (WASG) into The Left (Die Linke), the fifth largest party in the German parliament following the 2017 federal election.

Early history[edit]

The SED was founded on 21 April 1946 by a merger of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) which was based in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin. Official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties.[5] However, there is much evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed[citation needed]. By all accounts, the Soviet occupation authorities applied great pressure on the SPD's eastern branch to merge with the KPD. The newly merged party, with the help of the Soviet authorities, swept to victory in the 1946 elections for local and regional assemblies held in the Soviet zone. However, these elections were held under less-than-secret conditions, thus setting the tone for the next four decades. A truer picture of the SED's support came with the local elections in Berlin, which were the first honest elections held there since the Nazi era[citation needed]. In that contest, the SED received less than half the votes of the SPD. The bulk of the Berlin SPD remained aloof from the merger, even though Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone.





A monopoly of power[edit]





Basic organisation[edit]

The party organisation was based on and co-located with, the institutions of the German Democratic Republic. Its influence stood behind and shaped every facet of public life. The party required every member to live by the mantra "Where there is a comrade, the party is there too" (Wo ein Genosse ist, da ist die Partei).[6] This meant that the party organisation was at work in publicly owned industrial and quasi-commercial enterprises, machine and tractor stations, publicly owned farms and in the larger agricultural cooperatives, expressly mandated to monitor and regulate the operational management of each institution.

The smallest organisational unit in the party was the Party Group. Group members elected one of their number Party Group Organiser (PGO), to take responsibility for Party Work. There were also a Treasurer, an Agitator, and according to the size of the group other associated members included in the Party Group leadership. Where there were several Party Groups operating in a single place they would be combined in a Departmental Party Organisation (APO / Abteilungsparteiorganisation) which in turn would have its own leadership and an APO Party Secretariat.

Party conference[edit]

The Party conference was formally the party's leading institution.

Increasingly, party conferences were planned with military-level precision. Their choreography was carefully undertaken to ensure that they were understood as high-profile society events. They were very much more than mere political functions. Delegates were selected from the regional and sectional party organisations according to criteria determined by the Party Central Committee. Care was taken over the proportions of women, of youth representatives, of members from approved Mass organisations and of "exemplary" workers.

Party Secretaries[edit]

Party secretaries existed at different levels within the party. They usually held their offices on an unsalaried basis, often combining their party secretarial duties with a salaried function. Where a basic administrative unit grew beyond certain size tension tended to arise between the party secretary and fellow committee members, and at this point a full-time salaried party secretary would be appointed. Party secretaries in very large industrial combines and other economically important institutions would combine their party secretarial roles with membership of a more powerful body, applying a structural element maintained right up to the level of the Party Central Committee. The task of the Party Secretaries was the organisation of political work. They prepared the party meetings and organised political training in partnership with the party leaderships. They ensured implementation of and compliance with party decisions and undertook general reporting and leadership duties. They were also required to provide a monthly report on "Morale and Opinions" ("Stimmungen und Meinungen") concerning the people covered by their party secretarial duties.

Where work on occasion attracted criticism, there were many ways on which changes could be passed on. This fact lay behind the burgeoning bureaucratization of the party apparatus and the presence of Stalinistic tendencies. Party secretaries underwent a special monthly political process that included instructive guidance and verification by representatives from higher level party committees. Along with their party responsibilities, party secretaries were members of the state administration, and they secured the leadership role that the SED claimed for itself in businesses and offices. Managerial decisions were discussed and ultimately decided in party committees. This meant that a manager, provided he was a party member, was committed to implementing those decisions.

Sectional directorates[edit]

The basic organisional unit in an organisation or department was placed under the control of the party's sectional leadership team ("SED-Kreisleitung"). There were in total 262 of these sectional leadership teams, including one each for the Free German Youth (FDJ), the Trade Union Federation (FDGB), the Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Trade Ministry, the State Railway organisation, the military branches of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), the National People's Army, each of which had its own integrated political-administrative structure.

Regional directorates[edit]

The party's regional structure started with the country's fifteen regions. Regional level government structure changed dramatically with the abolition of regional assemblies in 1952, but each administrative structure always had party secretary, applying a structure also replicated in administrative structures at local levels. The regional party leadership team ("SED Bezirksleitung"/ BL) was an elected body, membership of which was unpaid. It worked alongside the administrative body of paid officials who were occasionally also members of the party leadership team. At a regional level the SED leadership team was typically supported by a First Secretary and a Second Secretary, and a secretariat team responsible for "Agitation and propaganda", Economy, Science, Culture and Agriculture. There were also regional teams to shadow the regional teams of national institutions such as the FDJ, the FDGB and the Planning Commission.

Central Committee[edit]

Except when the Party Congress was in session, the Party Central Committee was the party's leading element. Power was centred on the Committee Secretariat, which was chaired by a First Secretary (1953-1976) or a General Secretary (1950-1953 and 1976-1989). This function was combined with chairmanship of the Politburo. The General Secretary until 1971 was Walter Ulbricht: he was succeeded by Erich Honecker. In the political hierarchy of the German Democratic Republic members of the Central Committee ranked above government ministers.

In July 1950, at the third Party Conference, the SED's Central Committee was elected on the Soviet model, which at this time employed a single list electoral system: most members of the serving party executive were replaced. It was striking that more than 62% of the new Central Committee members had been members of the Communist Party (KPD) before the party merger of 1946. Four years on, there was little sign of the KPD/SPD parity that had been invoked when the SED was created.[7]

By 1989 membership of the Central Committee had increased to 165: there were also 57 people listed as candidates for membership. All the high ranking party functionaries were represented in it along with other senior government officials (provided they were already party members). Beyond the professional functionaries and politicians the Committee also included the chiefs of the country's leading institutions and industrial combines, the president of the country's Writers' Association, top military officers and party veterans.

The Party Central Committee, reflecting the country's overall power structure, was overwhelmingly male: the proportion of women never rose above 15%.

Politburo of the Central Committee[edit]

The most important day-to-day work of the Central Committee was undertaken by the Politburo, a small circle of senior party officers, comprising between 15 and 25 members, along with approximately 10 (non-voting) candidate members. The politburo members included approximately ten Central Committee Secretaries. The General Secretary of the Central Committee also held the Chairmanship of the Politburo (along with all his other functions). The country's government, formally headed by the Council of Ministers, was required only to implement the decisions of the politburo. This meant that the Council of Ministers was under the permanent control of the Party Committees, a structure that ensured the "leading role" of the SED. This status was spelled out expressly after the constitutional changes introduced in 1968, which defined East Germany as a "socialist state" led by "the working class and its Marxist-Leninist party." The chairmen of the Council of Ministers and the president of the National legislature ("Volkskammer") were also members of the politburo.

Secretariat of the Central Committee[edit]

The Central Committee Secretariat met each Wednesday to implement decisions finalised by the Politburo the previous day and to prepare the agenda for the Central Committee's next weekly meeting. The Secretariat comprised the Central Committee Party Secretaries. The Secretariat played a decisive role in selecting the Nomenklatura of the Central Committee. Nomenklatura members were the holders of the top 300 or so positions in the party and the state: changes to the Nomenklatura membership list required the approval of the Central Committee Secretariat.

Party Congresses[edit]

The 1st Congress[edit]


The 2nd Congress[edit]


The 3rd Congress[edit]


The 6th Congress[edit]


The 7th Congress[edit]


The 8th Congress[edit]



The 9th Congress[edit]




The 10th Congress[edit]



The 11th Congress[edit]

The 11th Congress in Palast der Republik, East Berlin



Final days: collapse of the SED[edit]

An SED Membership Card.



The fall of the Wall destroyed the SED politically. On 1 December 1989, the GDR parliament (Volkskammer) rescinded the clause in the GDR Constitution which defined the country as a socialist state under the leadership of the SED, thus formally ending Communist rule in East Germany. On 3 December 1989, the entire Central Committee and Politbüro—including Krenz—resigned.

Rebirth as the PDS[edit]

Some younger members of the SED had been receptive to Gorbachev's reforms, but had more or less been silenced until the events of 1989. Soon after the SED abandoned power, Gregor Gysi, a reformist, was elected to the new post of party chairman. In his first speech, Gysi admitted that the SED was responsible for the country's economic problems—thus repudiating everything the party had done since 1949. He also declared that the party needed to adopt a new form of socialism.[9] As December wore on, most of the party's hardliners—including Honecker, Krenz and others—were pushed out as the party made a desperate attempt to change its image. By the time of a special 16 December congress, the SED was no longer a Marxist–Leninist party. To distance itself from its repressive past, the party added "Party of Democratic Socialism" (PDS) to its name. On 4 February 1990, what remained of the party was renamed solely as the PDS. On 18 March 1990, the PDS was roundly defeated in the first—and as it turned out, only—free election in the GDR; the Alliance for Germany coalition, led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won on a platform of speedy reunification with the west.



West Berlin branch[edit]

Initially the SED had a branch in West Berlin, but in 1962 that branch became a separate party called the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Westberlins - SEW). The party changed its name to Socialist Initiative (Sozialistische Initiative) in April 1990, then dissolved in June 1991, part of its members subsequently joining the Party of Democratic Socialism.

General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the SED[edit]

# Picture Name Took office Left office
Joint Chairmen of the Socialist Unity Party
Vorsitzende der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands
Fotothek df roe-neg 0002793 004 Portrait Wilhelm Piecks im Publikum der Bachfeier.jpg Wilhelm Pieck
22 April 1946 25 July 1950
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19204-3150, Otto Grotewohl.jpg Otto Grotewohl
General Secretary of the Central Committee
Generalsekretär/Erster Sekretär des Zentralkommitees
1 Fotothek df pk 0000079 077.jpg Walter Ulbricht
25 July 1950 3 May 1971
2 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0518-182, Erich Honecker.jpg Erich Honecker
3 May 1971 18 October 1989
3 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1984-0622-026, Egon Krenz.jpg Egon Krenz
18 October 1989 3 December 1989
(Honorary) Chairmen of the Central Committee
Vorsitzender des Zentralkommitees
Fotothek df pk 0000079 077.jpg Walter Ulbricht
3 May 1971 1 August 1973

Electoral history[edit]

Volkskammer elections[edit]

Election Party leader Seats +/–
1949 Wilhelm Pieck
Otto Grotewohl
90 / 330
1950 Walter Ulbricht
110 / 400
Increase 20
1954 Walter Ulbricht
117 / 400
Increase 7
1958 Walter Ulbricht
117 / 400
1963 Walter Ulbricht
110 / 434
Decrease 7
1967 Walter Ulbricht
110 / 434
1971 Walter Ulbricht
110 / 434
1976 Erich Honecker
110 / 434
1981 Erich Honecker
127 / 500
Increase 17
1986 Erich Honecker
127 / 500

There were effective constitutional structures in place to ensure that the ruling SED was able to control the Volkskammer because of the extent to which they controlled other other parties and mass organisations which also received predetermined fixed quotas of Volkskammer seats.

  1. ^ The 1,400 elected members of the Third German People's Congress selected the members of the second German People's Council.

See also[edit]


  2. ^ Political Systems Of The World. Allied Publishers. pp. 115–. ISBN 978-81-7023-307-7.
  3. ^ Frank B. Tipton (1 January 2003). East Germany: The structure and functioning of a one-party state. A History of Modern Germany Since 1815. A&C Black. pp. 545–548. ISBN 978-0-8264-4909-2.
  6. ^ Sabine Pannen. ""Wo ein Genosse ist, da ist die Partei!"? - Stabilität und Erosion an der SED-Parteibasis" (PDF). Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  7. ^ Heike Amos, Politik und Organisation der SED-Zentrale 1949–1963: Struktur und Arbeitsweise von Politbüro, Sekretariat, Zentralkomitee und ZK-Apparat, LIT Verlag, Berlin/Hamburg/Münster 2003, ISBN 978-3-82586-187-2, p. 65.
  10. ^ Spiegel: Magazin meldet Spur in Liechtenstein

External links[edit]