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East Germany THE SOCIALIST UNITY PARTY OF GERMANY
The most important political institution in East Germany is
the ruling communist party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
(Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands--SED). The SED was
founded on April 19, 1946, in the Soviet zone of occupation
through a merger of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and
the Communist Party of Germany, the two major left-wing political
organizations in the eastern part of Germany. The two parties had
played significant roles in the Weimar Republic but had been
suppressed after 1933 when the Nazis took power. Since its
inception, the SED, in which the Communists achieved early
dominance over the Social Democrats, has undergone a number of
organizational as well as ideological changes. According to the
late Peter Christian Ludz, a recognized analyst of East German
politics, perhaps the most important change was the SED's shift
from a totalitarian party to one that exhibited more
"consultative-authoritarian" tendencies.
Significant developments have occurred since the early 1980s.
In the 1970s, the SED became known as a leading exponent of
Soviet-style Marxism-Leninism. East Germany was then a staunch
defender of the Soviet ideological view in Eastern Europe and a
critic of the more liberal Eurocommunism in Western Europe.
However, the 1980s have signaled an important change in East
German attitudes toward the Soviet Union and its role as a model
to be emulated by other socialist countries. Although Moscow is
still considered the ultimate guarantor of communist rule in East
Germany, the leader of the socialist community, and East
Germany's primary economic partner, since the early 1980s, East
Germany has no longer viewed the Soviet Union as a model of
socialist development worthy of emulation in all respects. The
Soviet Union's leadership of the socialist community remains
unquestioned, but the days of blind devotion appear to be over.
East German officials argue that their country is at a different
stage of development and that they must seek solutions that
correspond to local conditions, a theme increasingly heard
elsewhere in Eastern Europe since the early 1980s. Although
attempts to carve out a separate identity as a socialist state
have occurred before, particularly under Ulbricht in the 1960s
and the early 1970s, the SED generally has been seen as an
orthodox ally of Moscow and a staunch defender of Warsaw Pact
unity. However, during the mid-1980s, a trend toward greater
autonomy has been evident in East German ideological
pronouncements and domestic policy initiatives.
Data as of July 1987
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