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East Germany Amendments of 1974
In September 1974, Honecker declared in a statement to the
People's Chamber that "it has become necessary to amend the
present constitution." Several important amendments that were
passed on that day represented a fundamental revision of the 1968
Constitution. The 1974 amendments did not change the basic
socialist order but encompassed important developments that had
occurred after Honecker had replaced Ulbricht as first secretary
of the SED in May 1971. First, the 1974 amendments eliminated all
references to the German nation to reflect the Honecker regime's
new policy of demarcation
(Abgrenzung--see Glossary),
which in 1972 replaced the policy of rapprochement
(Annäherung) and emphasized the ideological differences
between the two Germanies. Instead of describing East Germany as
a socialist state of the German nation, Article 1 was rewritten
to proclaim that East Germany is a "socialist state of workers
and peasants" and to abrogate the earlier commitment to the
reunification of the two German states on the basis of democracy
and socialism.
The amendments also strengthened East Germany's ties to the
Soviet Union. References to the German nation were eliminated
from the Constitution, and Article 6, Section 2 proclaimed that
the country is "forever and irrevocably connected to the
Socialist Soviet Republic." The 1968 version had emphasized only
comprehensive cooperation and friendship with the other socialist
states. Articles 76 through 80 also significantly increased the
role of the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat) and its chairman
relative to that of the Council of State (Staatsrat). Honecker
further put his stamp on the 1974 amendments by incorporating in
Article 2 a goal first announced at the Eighth Party Congress in
1971: raising the standard of living, in material and cultural
terms, was identified as the primary goal of the "advanced
socialist society."
Data as of July 1987
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