Social Democratic Party of Germany
The oldest parliamentary party in Germany, founded in 1863, of Bebel, Brandt, and Schroder.
Overview
The SPD traces its founding to the 1863 ADAV of Ferdinand Lassalle and the 1869 party of Bebel and Liebknecht, united at Gotha in 1875. Banned under Bismarck antisocialist laws, it emerged as the model mass party of the Second International, six million voters by 1912. Weimar brought its first national governance, destruction by the Nazis, and postwar rebirth. Willy Brandt pursued Ostpolitik, Helmut Schmidt steered through crisis, and Gerhard Schroder Agenda 2010 market reforms split the party but shaped two decades of politics. Olaf Scholz served as chancellor 2021-2025. The party remains the German pole of social democracy and the union movement.
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