Erich Honecker and, despite his resistance, at the insistence of the regime's number-two man, Egon Krenz, a public statement was issued that called for "suggestions for attractive socialism". Over the following days Krenz worked to secure himself the support of the military and the Stasi and arranged a meeting between Gorbachev and Politburo member Harry Tisch, who was in Moscow, to inform the Kremlin about the now-planned removal of Honecker; Gorbachev reportedly wished them good luck. The sitting of the SED Central Committee planned for the end of November 1989 was pulled forward a week, with the most urgent item on the
Erich Mückenberger chairman of the German-Soviet Friendship Society. In 1980, he was elected as the head of the SED parliamentary group in the "Volkskammer" (the national parliament of the GDR). Mückenberger remained in the SED politburo until November 1989. Mückenberger was expelled from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany/Party of Democratic Socialism on November 21, 1990. Following the German reunification, Mückenberger was put on trial for shootings at the Berlin Wall, a process that Mückenberger himself dubbed as 'victors' justice'. Mückenberger was allowed to withdraw from the trial in 1996, due to ill health. Erich Mückenberger Erich Mückenberger (1910 in Chemnitz –