History Of The Social Democratic Party Of Germany
The foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) can be traced back to the 1860s and for much of the 20th and 21st centuries it has represented the centre-left in German politics. The SPD has had several spells in government, first under Friedrich Ebert in 1918. The party was outlawed in Nazi Germany but returned to government, in 1969, with Willy Brandt. Meanwhile, the East German branch of the SPD merged with the ruling KPD. In the modern Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD is the main opposition to the CDU and was last in office, under Gerhard Schröder, between 1998 and 2005.
Read more about History Of The Social Democratic Party Of Germany: The Merkel-led Grand Coalition
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“The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”
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“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
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“There is no morality by instinct.... There is no social salvation—in the end—without taking thought; without mastery of logic and application of logic to human experience.”
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“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death. ... “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan,”controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.””
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“It is the emotions to which one objects in Germany most of all.”
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