Policy and structure

Although the SPD still proclaims its allegiance to social justice and the welfare state, the majority of the party recognizes that economic growth and employment require a favourable investment climate and that Germany’s traditionally high labour and nonwage labour costs (e.g., pensions, unemployment and health benefits, and accident insurance) were sometimes a hindrance to the creation of new jobs. Reluctantly, the SPD has come to support comprehensive reductions in the costs of these programs. In foreign policy the party is firmly committed to the European Union, and it has at various times been lukewarm to the country’s partnership with the United States.

Historically, the SPD has been a mass-membership party that has sought to encourage individuals to become active, dues-paying members. As a result, the SPD has had the largest membership of any German political party, and it receives more financial support (about one-third of its overall income) from membership dues than any other party.

The SPD’s internal organization is highly democratic, a characteristic that also extends to its procedures. The core unit of the party organization is the local association (Ortsverein), of which there are more than 12,000 throughout the country. These are grouped into subdistrict, district, and state organizations. At the national level a party congress is convened every two years to determine policy and to elect a party leader, the members of the Executive Committee, and the arbitration and control commissions. The Executive Committee, which manages the party’s internal affairs, in turn elects the 13-member Presidium, which serves as the party’s ruling inner circle. Women must make up at least two-fifths of both the Executive Committee and the Presidium. The Presidium meets at least weekly at the party’s headquarters in Berlin to formulate and announce party positions on major issues and to schedule major party events. In 1998 the office of General Secretary was created largely to coordinate the party’s electoral campaigns.