Social Democratic Party of Germany
독일 사회민주당
German party formed in 1875 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany by the merger of the General German Workers' Association (founded 1863) and the Social Democratic Workers' Party (founded 1869), and renamed in 1890. In the 1912 Reichstag election it won 34.8 per cent and 110 seats, becoming the largest party.
In depth
The Erfurt Program of 1891 combined Marxist principles with reform demands. On 4 August 1914 its Reichstag group voted for war credits, and opponents of the war policy formed the Socialist Working Group and in 1917 the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD). In the Weimar Republic Friedrich Ebert became the first president. In 1933 it was the only party present in the Reichstag to vote against the Enabling Act. After the war it was merged with the Communists in the Soviet zone into the Socialist Unity Party, while in West Germany the Godesberg Program of 1959 dropped its commitment to Marxism and turned it into a people's party.