Germany’s struggling Social Democrats
Germany’s oldest political party cannot find a way out of the mire
FEW POLITICAL PARTIES have a history like that of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD). Founded in the late 19th century, the SPD heroically if briefly resisted Hitler’s rise. After the war it reinvented itself as a big-tent Volkspartei (people’s party). In office it modernised West Germany, soothed cold-war tensions and inspired similar movements abroad. In 1998 it still commanded over 40% of the vote.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Left behind”
Europe March 30th 2019
- Germany’s struggling Social Democrats
- Ukraine heads for the polls, with a comedian leading
- A surge for the FVD, a new right-wing Dutch party
- Turkey’s President Erdogan accuses the West of terrorism
- France’s yellow-jacket protests are smaller, but still fierce
- Britain’s neighbours fret that it could drift away
From the March 30th 2019 edition
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