The Social Democratic Party has its origins in theGeneral German Workers' Association, founded in 1863, and theSocial Democratic Workers' Party, founded in 1869. The two groups merged in 1875 to create theSocialist Workers' Party of Germany [de] (German:Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands). From 1878 to 1890, theAnti-Socialist Laws banned any group that aimed at spreadingsocialist principles, but the party still gained support in elections. In 1890, when the ban was lifted, the party adopted its current name. The SPD was the largest Marxist party in Europe and consistently the most popular party in German federal elections from 1890 onward, although it was surpassed by other parties in terms of seats won in theReichstag due to the electoral system.[11]
In the years leading up toWorld War I, the SPD remainedradical in principle, butmoderate in reality. According toRoger Eatwell and Anthony Wright, the SPD became a party of reform, withsocial democracy representing "a party that strives after the socialist transformation of society by the means of democratic and economic reforms". They emphasise this development as central to understanding 20th-century social democracy, of which the SPD was a major influence.[12] In the1912 federal election, the SPD won 34.8 per cent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag with 110 seats, although it was still excluded from government.[13] Despite theSecond International's agreement to oppose militarism,[14] the SPD supported the German war effort and adopted a policy, known asBurgfriedenspolitik, of refraining from calling strikes or criticising the government.[15][16] Internal opposition to the policy grew throughout the war. Anti-war members were expelled in 1916 and 1917, leading to the formation of theIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD).[17]
The SPD played a key role in theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919. On 9 November 1918, leading SPD memberFriedrich Ebert was designated chancellor and fellow Social DemocratPhilipp Scheidemann, on his own authority,proclaimed Germany a republic.[18] The SPD government introduced a large number of reforms in the following months, introducing variouscivil liberties andlabor rights.[19] However, they used military force againstcommunist and socialist revolutionary groups, leading to a permanent split between the SPD and theUSPD, as well as theSpartacist League which would go on to form theCommunist Party of Germany (KPD) and integrate a majority of USPD members as well.[20][21][22] The SPD was the largest party during the first 13 years of the newWeimar Republic. It decisively won the1919 federal election with 37.9 per cent of votes, and Ebert became the firstpresident in February.[23] The position of chancellor was held by Social Democrats until the1920 federal election, when the SPD lost a substantial portion of its support, falling to 22 per cent of votes. After this, the SPD yielded the chancellery to other parties, although it remained part of the government until 1924. Ebert died in 1925 and was succeeded by conservativePaul von Hindenburg. After making gains in the1928 federal election, the SPD'sHermann Müller became chancellor.[24]
As Germany was struck hard by theGreat Depression, and unable to negotiate an effective response to the crisis, Müller resigned in 1930. The SPD was sidelined as theNazi Party gained popularity and conservatives dominated the government, assisted by Hindenburg's frequent use ofemergency powers. TheReichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, the SPD's paramilitary wing, was frequently involved in violent confrontations with the NaziSturmabteilung.[25] The Nazis overtook the SPD as the largest party inJuly 1932 andAdolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933. Of the parties present in the Reichstag during the passage of theEnabling Act of 1933, the SPD was the only one to vote against; most of the communist deputies had been arrested ahead of the vote.[26] The SPD was banned in June. Many members were subsequently imprisoned and killed by theNazi government while others fled the country. The party-in-exile was calledSopade.[27]
SPD membership statistics (in thousands) since 1945. Despite heavy losses since 1990, the SPD is still the second largest party in Germany.
Although stronglyleftist, the SPD was willing to compromise. Only through its support did the governingCDU/CSU pass adenazification law that its coalition partner theFree Democratic Party (FDP) and the far-rightGerman Party voted against.[31] At the same time, the SPD opposed the pro-West integration of West Germany because they believed that made a re-unification of Germany impossible. Austria could have become a sovereign neutral state in 1956, but a 1952 Soviet suggestion for Germans to form a neutral state was ignored by the CDU/CSU–FDP government. After 17 years in opposition, the SPD became the junior partner in agrand coalition with the CDU/CSU which lasted from 1966 to 1969. After the1969 federal election, the SPD'sWilly Brandt became chancellor in a coalition with the liberal Free Democratic Party. His government sought to normalise relations with East Germany and theEastern Bloc, a policy known asOstpolitik.[32] The party achieved its best ever result of 45.8 per cent in1972, one of only three occasions in which it formed the largestBundestag faction.[33] After Brandt's resignation in 1974, his successorHelmut Schmidt served as chancellor until 1982, when the SPD returned to opposition.[34]
During thePeaceful Revolution in East Germany, theEast German SPD was refounded. It merged with the West German party in 1990, shortly beforeGerman reunification.[35] The SPD returned to government underGerhard Schröder after the1998 federal election in a coalition withThe Greens.[36] This government was re-elected in2002 but defeated in2005.[37] The SPD then became junior partner of a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU until2009. After a term in opposition, they again served as junior partner to the CDU/CSU after the2013 federal election.[38] This arrangement was renewed after the2017 federal election.[39] SPD narrowly won against the CDU/CSU in the September2021 federal election, becoming the biggest party in the federal parliament (Bundestag).[40] Social DemocratOlaf Scholz became the new chancellor in December 2021, and formed a coalition government with the Green Party and the Free Democrats.[41] In the2024 European Parliament election, the party fell to third behind the far rightAfD and the CDU/CSU.[42] In December 2024, thetraffic light coalition ended with the FDP leaving and Scholz losing a vote of confidence.[43] The SPD entered the2025 German federal election behind in the polls, and achieved its worst result in post-war history, with just 120 seats.[44] The party placed third behindAlternative for Germany (AfD),[45] with CDU leaderFriedrich Merz projected to become Germany's next chancellor. In May 2025,Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, formed a coalition government between the CDU/CSU and the SPD (grand coalition).[46] Co-leader of the SPD,Lars Klingbeil, became vice chancellor and finance minister of the new government.[47]
Poster for the 1959 SPD party conference inBad Godesberg
The SPD was established as aMarxist party in 1875. It underwent a major shift in policies, reflected in the differences between the Heidelberg Program of 1925 which called for "the transformation of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production to social ownership"[48] and theGodesberg Program of 1959 which aimed to broaden the party's voter base and to move its political position toward thepolitical centre.[49] AfterWorld War II, the SPD was re-formed inWest Germany after being banned by theNazi regime; inEast Germany, it merged with theCommunist Party of Germany to form the rulingSocialist Unity Party of Germany. Under the chairmanship ofKurt Schumacher, the SPD was asocialist party representing the interests of the working class and of trade unions. With the 1959 Godesberg Program, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social democratic party. The SPD's Hamburg Programme, adopted in 2007, describesdemocratic socialism as "the vision of a free and fair society in solidarity", which requires "a structure in economy, state and society guaranteeing civil, political, social and economic basic rights for all people living a life without exploitation, suppression and violence, hence in social and human security", the realization of which is emphasized as a "permanent task".Social democracy serves as the "principle of our actions".[50]
The coordinatedsocial market economy should be strengthened and its output should be distributed fairly. The party sees that economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population.
The SPD supports economic regulations to limit potential losses for banks and people. They support a common European economic and financial policy to prevent speculative bubbles as well as to foster environmentally sustainable growth.[56]
The SPD is mostly composed of members belonging to either of the two main wings, namely theKeynesian social democrats andThird Way moderate social democrats belonging to theSeeheimer Kreis. While the more moderate Seeheimer Kreis generally support theAgenda 2010 programs introduced by ChancellorGerhard Schröder, the classical social democrats continue to defend classical left-wing policies and the welfare state. The Keynesian left-wing of the SPD claims that in recent years the welfare state has been curtailed through reform programs such as the Agenda 2010,Hartz IV, and the moreeconomic liberal stance of the SPD which were endorsed by centrist social democrats.[57][58] In reaction to Agenda 2010, an inner-party dissident movement developed, leading to the foundation of the new partyLabour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (Arbeit & soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative, WASG) in 2005, which later merged intoThe Left (Die Linke) in 2007.[59] TheParlamentarische Linke comprises left-wing SPDMembers of the German Bundestag.
Prior to World War II, as the main non-revolutionary left-wing party, the Social Democrats fared best among non-Catholic workers as well as intellectuals favouringsocial progressive causes and increased economic equality. Led byKurt Schumacher after World War II, the SPD initially opposed both thesocial market economy andKonrad Adenauer's drive towards Western integration fiercely; after Schumacher's death, however, it accepted the social market economy and Germany's position in the Western alliance in order to appeal to a broader range of voters. It still remains associated with the economic causes of unionised employees and working class voters. In the 1990s, the left and moderate wings of the party drifted apart. This culminated in a secession of a significant number of party members which later joined the socialist partyWASG; the party later merged intoThe Left (Die Linke).
Much of the SPD's current-day support comes from large cities, especially northern and western Germany andBerlin. As of 2019, 10 of the country's 15 biggest cities are led by SPD mayors. The metropolitanRuhr Area, where coal mining and steel production were once the main industries, have provided a significant base for the SPD in the 20th century. In the city ofBremen, the SPD has continuously governed since 1949.
In southern Germany, the SPD typically garners less support except in the largest cities. At the2009 federal election, the party lost its only constituency in the entire state ofBavaria (inMunich).
Small town and rural support comes especially from the traditionallyProtestant areas of northern Germany andBrandenburg (with previous exceptions such asWestern Pomerania where CDU leaderAngela Merkel held her constituency, which the SPD gained in 2021) and a number of university towns. A striking example of the general pattern is the traditionally CatholicEmsland, where the Social Democrats generally gain a low percentage of votes, whereas theReformed Protestant region ofEast Frisia directly to the north, with its strong traditional streak ofanti-Catholicism, is one of their strongest constituencies.
Further south, the SPD also enjoys solid support in northernHesse, parts ofPalatinate and theSaarland. The social democrats are weakest in the south-eastern states of Bavaria,Saxony andThuringia, where the party's percentage of votes dropped to single-digit figures in the 2018 and 2019 elections. In 2021, it significantly increased its vote share in the states of the former east.
The federal leader is supported by six Deputy Leaders and theparty executive. As of 2025, the leaders areBärbel Bas andLars Klingbeil. As Germany is afederal republic, each of Germany's states have their own SPD party at the state level.
From August until October 2010, senior Bundestag member Joachim Poß served as interim Bundestag leader in the absence ofFrank-Walter Steinmeier, who was recovering from donating a kidney to his wife.
The SPD, at times called SAPD, took part in general elections determining the composition of parliament. For elections up until 1933, the parliament was called theReichstag, except for the one of 1919 which was called the National Assembly and since 1949 the parliament is calledBundestag. Note that changes in borders (1871, 1919, 1920, 1949, 1957 and 1990) varied the number of eligible voters whereas electoral laws also changed the ballot system (only constituencies until 1912, only party lists until 1949 and a mixed system thereafter), the suffrage (women vote since 1919; minimum active voting age was 25 till 1918, 20 till 1946, 21 till 1972 and 18 since), the number of seats (fixed or flexible) and the length of the legislative period (three or four years). The list begins after the SPD was formed in 1875, when labour parties unified to form the SPD (then SAPD, current name since 1890).
^Merkel, Wolfgang; Petring, Alexander; Henkes, Christian; Egle, Christoph (2008).Social Democracy in Power: the capacity to reform. London: Taylor & Francis.ISBN978-0-415-43820-9.
^Christopher R. Browning,The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942 (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2004), p. 7.
^Eatwell, Roger; Wright, Anthony (1999). Contemporary Political Ideologies (2nd ed.). London: Continuum. p. 87.ISBN978-1-85567-605-3.
^McDermott, Kevin; Agnew, Jeremy (1996).The Comintern: a history of international communism from Lenin to Stalin. Basingstoke: Macmillan. p. 19.ISBN978-0-333-55284-1.
^Evans, Richard J. (2005).The coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-303469-8.
^Wolfgang Grof:"In der frischen Tradition des Herbstes 1989". Die SDP/SPD in der DDR: Von der Gründung über die Volkskammerarbeit zur deutschen Einheit
^"Germany stands firmly alongside Israel | Federal Government".Website of the Federal Government | Bundesregierung. 22 December 2023. Retrieved12 February 2024.The Federal Government is also supporting Israel by providing military and medical equipment.
Orlow, Dietrich.Common Destiny: A Comparative History of the Dutch, French, and German Social Democratic Parties, 1945–1969 (2000)online.
Carl E. Schorske,German Social Democracy, 1905–1917: The Development of the Great Schism (Harvard University Press, 1955).
Vernon L. Lidtke,The Outlawed Party: Social Democracy in Germany, 1878–1890 (Princeton University Press, 1966).
Berlau, Abraham.German Social Democratic Party, 1914–1921 (Columbia University Press, 1949).
Maxwell, John Allen. "Social Democracy in a Divided Germany: Kurt Schumacher and the German Question, 1945–1952." Ph.D. dissertation, West Virginia University, Department of History, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1969.
McAdams, A. James. "Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification." Princeton University Press, 1992 and 1993.
Erich Matthias,The Downfall of the Old Social Democratic Party in 1933 pp. 51–105 fromRepublic to Reich The Making of the Nazi Revolution Ten Essays edited byHajo Holborn, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972).
Eric D. Weitz,Creating German Communism, 1890–1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
David Priestand,Red Flag: A History of Communism", New York: Grove Press, 2009.
Carlton J. H. Hayes. (1917). The History of German Socialism Reconsidered. The American Historical Review, 23(1), 62–101.[1].
The Left: is currently only in the state parliaments ofBerlin, Bremen,Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.
BSW: is currently only in the state parliaments of Berlin, Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, and Thuringia.
FW: is currently only in the state parliaments ofBavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony; does not participate in state elections inBrandenburg, an associated partyBVB/FW participates here.
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