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Program of the Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany (1949)

Two additional parties were founded in the Soviet occupation zone in the spring of 1948: the National Democratic Party of Germany and the Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany [Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands or DBD]. Both parties supported the political goals of the SED unconditionally and were supposed to contribute to the fragmentation of the bourgeois camp. In its program, the Democratic Famers’ Party propagated the unity of farmers and workers and supported the process of creating the German Democratic Republic.

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The Democratic Farmers’ Party is the independent party of the working agrarian population and the occupational classes associated with it. The Democratic Farmers’ Party aims to overcome the centuries-old political fragmentation and backwardness of owners of small- and medium-sized farms, so that they can participate as an autonomous political force in the creation of a peaceful, democratic future for our people. Without pursuing narrow-minded or one-sided occupational interests, the party views its noblest task as protecting and realizing the rights and interests of owners of small- and mid-sized farms through their own farmers’ representatives.

The Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany declares its support for cooperation with all democratic, progressive forces in the other existing parties and organizations, since this is the only way to overcome the ruins left behind by Hitler’s wars, rebuild our economy, and solve the national problems of our people.

The Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany emphasizes its special solidarity with the working class, which has always proven itself, especially in the implementation of democratic land reform, as the farmer’s most reliable ally. Close ties between workers and farmers are the best guarantee against the return of forces that are hostile to the people and the surest precondition for a progressive, democratic development in Germany, for the reestablishment of national unity and independence, and thus for the economic recovery of our people.

On the basis of this, the Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany has elevated the following principles and demands into its program:

The Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany declares that it is for a unified, democratic republic encompassing all of the German states. The party believes that the German Democratic Republic, anchored in the constitution approved by the German People’s Congress on May 30, 1949, is the form of government that best guarantees the unfolding of all the progressive forces among our people for the democratic reshaping of our lives, for the rebuilding of our economy, for the maintenance of peace, and therefore for the economic recovery of our people.
[ . . . ]



Source: H. Weber, Von der SBZ zur DDR 1945-1968 [From the Soviet Occupation Zone to the German Democratic Republic 1945-1968]. Hannover, 1968, pp. 278-79.

Translation: Jeffrey Verhey and Kelly McCullough

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