Social Democratic Party of Germany
| Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Franz-Josef Kieninger |
| Secretary-General | Thomas Lenz |
| First Secretary | Kevin Scholz |
| Founded | May 27, 1875 |
| Merger of |
General German Workers' Association Social Democratic Workers' Party |
| Headquarters |
Willy Brandt-Haus D-10911 Berlin |
| Student wing | Student Socialists of the SPD |
| Youth wing | Young Socialists of the SPD |
| Women's wing | Social Democratic Women's Association |
| Membership | 401,233 |
| Ideology |
Social democracy Pro-Europeanism Progressivism Republicanism |
| Political position |
 Centre-left |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance |
| European affiliation | Democratic Coalition of Europe |
| Official colours | Red |
| Bundesrat |
18 / 70 |
| Reichstag |
195 / 598 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
|
Politics of Germany Political parties Elections | |
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands; SPD) is a centre-left social democratic political party in the German Empire. Founded in 1875, the SPD was formed from various trade unionists and workers' organizations and parties in the country and is one of the two major parties in modern Germany along with the Zentrum.
The party was founded in 1875 as a merger between the General German Workers' Association and the Social Democratic Workers' Party and is the second oldest active political party in Germany behind only the Center Party. It was originally one of the oldest Marxist-oriented political parties in the world. From the 1890s to the 20th century, the SPD was the largest Marxist and socialist political party in Germany and the most popular in the country. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, the party would so through a major ideological division and rift between supporters of the Continental Revolutionary War of 1917 and the Italian Revolution of 1918 between supporters of Landonism and those committed to traditional communism. Those sympathetic to the Landonist ideology would go on to form the Communist Party of Germany and broke off from the SPD. Inspite of this division, the SPD remained a major force in German politics.
After the beginning of Great War I, the SPD would be faced with a major division between the pro-war wing of the party and the anti-war faction leading to the formation of the Independent Democratic Party of Germany in response. In 1941, the German Fatherland Party rose to power and would establish a one-party state under a right-wing dictatorship resulting in the SPD being banned along with other opposition parties resulting in the party having to operate in exile in Northern Europe and Anglo-America. While in exile, the party went under major reorganization and ultimately chose to adopt social democracy and become a big tent party of the centre left to appeal to working class voters over Marxism, modernizing the party ideologically in the process. The SPD would return in 1975 towards the end of the Fatherland Party's rule and the party re-entered national politics in 1975.
The Social Democrats would enter government for the first time in the 1980s and 90s and worked with the German Democratic Party until the 2000s when the party lost in 2013. Since then, the party has been part of the opposition and would make gains in 2021 where it won 30 seats and retained is position as the second largest party in all of Germany. Since 2019, the party has been lead by Franz-Josef Kieninger who has been Leader of the Opposition since then succeding Christian Letz.
The SPD holds 195 seats in the Reichstag and 18 seats in the Bundesrat, the second largest number of seats in both chambers of Parliament. On the state level, the SPD holds a significant number of seats in state parliaments with the bulk of their presence being centered in the heavily industrialized areas such as the Ruhr valley and major cities such as Berlin and Nuremburg. The party's base consists of working class voters, trade unionists, left-wing voters mainly progressives, social democrats, democratic socialists and social liberals.