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Political Principles of the Social Democratic Party (May 1946)

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Labor Law – Social Welfare

A uniform labor law must be created. Every citizen shall be given the opportunity to earn a living through work. If it cannot be proven that an appropriate job is available to him, then he is entitled to support. Everyone will be given the same opportunity to choose a profession and to participate in occupational training. Everyone has the right and the duty to earn a living through work.

In order to protect and promote working and economic conditions, freedom of association must be guaranteed for all people and professions. Works councils with extensive rights will be set up in enterprises to represent the interests of workers.

The welfare and health care system is a public matter. In order to maintain health, protect motherhood, and provide for the economic consequences of accidents and old age, a uniform social insurance system shall be created, and the insured parties must be allowed an active role in organizing it. Ensuring the welfare of young people is a public task. The victims of war and the [Nazi] dictatorship are entitled to adequate support.


V. German Unification

German Social Democracy acknowledges our obligation to make reparations within the framework of what is economically feasible for the German people. It supports the punishment of the guilty parties and war criminals.

Social Democracy strives to integrate the new Germany into the new international organization of nations. Germany needs the economic, social, and political support of democratic nations.


Allied Policy

The new Germany suffers not only from the legacy of the Third Reich, but also from the fact that the occupying powers have no common policy toward Germany. German Social Democracy awaits the day when a resolution of the problems in Germany and the world will allow the occupying powers to implement a consistent policy toward Germany and end the policy of occupation zones.

The policy of economic ruination, human enslavement, and mass extermination – the policy pursued by the National Socialist dictatorship – must have no place in the age of democracy.

Just as democracy is not secure without the economic liberation of the individual, it is likewise impossible without the national freedom of the people. German Social Democracy strives to preserve Germany as a national, economic, and governmental unity. Only when Germany is preserved as a whole will its youth, in particular, come to see the ideals of peace, democracy, and socialism not only as the result of the collapse of the Third Reich, but as a desirable higher necessity. Only then will Social Democracy be able to lead a successful fight against any type of re-emergent nationalism.

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