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Social Democratic Party of Germany |
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Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)German political party. Formed in 1875 as the Socialist Workers' Party and renamed in 1890, it is Germany's oldest and largest single party. Its influence grew until World War I, when centrists led by Karl Kautsky formed the Independent Social Democrats and leftists led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht formed the Spartacists. The SPD's right wing under Friedrich Ebert helped crush the Soviet-style uprisings in Germany in 1918, and the party won 37% of the vote in the 1919 elections. The government's acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany's severe economic problems caused a drop in support in the 1920s. Outlawed by the Nazis in 1933, the party revived after World War II in West Germany and grew steadily, receiving almost 46% of the vote in the 1972 elections. It formed coalition governments with the Christian Democratic Union (1966–69) and the Free Democratic Party (1969–82). In 1990 it reunited with a newly independent SPD from the former East Germany. The party returned to power in 1998 under Gerhard Schröder, who served as chancellor of Germany until 2005. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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It is not surprising therefore that, as a supporter of a traditional view of NATO, de Michelis distrusts the efforts of some members of the West German Social Democratic Party, and of its leader, Oskar Lafontaine, to find a future strategic framework for Europe outside of NATO-IN a common European security system which would exclude the United States. A faction within the International, associated with Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr, the geostrategist of the West German Social Democratic Party (SPD), is trying to save the skins of Eastern Europe's Communists (with whom they maintained "party to party" relations during the 1970s and 1980s) by encouraging them to switch parties en masse and reappear as new model democratic socialists. |
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