Page:CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3.pdf/23

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3

improving living standards and increasing outlays for social welfare.

4. Collaborating parties and organizations

In addition to the SED there are four other political parties, all of which are virtual adjuncts of the SED and are permitted to exist only because they lend democratic coloration to the regime. The collaborating parties, along with four of the more important mass organizations and the SED, are organized collectively as the National Front. The collaborating parties serve the SED chiefly by organizing those sectors of the population which the SED would have difficulty in reaching - the surviving remnants of the bourgeoisie and small farmers - and by providing channels through which the East German line can be propagated among West German parties representing similar interest groups. An indication of the extent to which the collaborating parties are captives of the SED is provided by their decision in the spring of 1972 to lead the drive to nationalize industries which remained in private hands. These parties also provide personnel for East German missions to foreign countries, especially non-aligned countries, where the presence of such "non-Communist" functionaries is intended to strengthen East Germany's claim to be a democratic republic. Leading officials of the collaborating parties are often assigned to head various friendship societies and are given representative positions in the government - especially in the Council of State - in an effort to stress the multi-party nature of the regime.

a. Non-Communist front parties

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formed in 1945, originally represented the same Christian-oriented, middle class elements which organized the CDU in the Western occupation zones. The CDU soon ran into difficulty, however, because of its opposition to the SED and conflicts with the Soviet Military Administration, as a result of which prominent party leaders were forced to step down. The CDU had lost its independent character by 1948, and since then it has functioned as an auxiliary of the SED. At its sixth party congress, held in 1952, the CDU reorganized itself on the SED pattern, creating a political committee (corresponding to the SED's Central Committee) and a presidium (Politburo). Gerald Goetting, long the most powerful figure in the CDU, became the formal head of the party when he succeeded August Bach as chairman of the CDU after the latter's death in March 1966. Goetting had earlier been rewarded for faithful service to the SED by being placed on the Council of State. Although the CDU is organized on a district and local level and publishes several newspapers, thereby giving the impression that it is a thriving organization, its membership has steadily dwindled from a high of approximately 217,000 in 1947 to less than 80,000 in 1968, at which level it appears to have stabilized.

The German Liberal Democratic Party (LDPD) was formed in 1945 to represent middle class East Germans who had a "liberal creed and democratic political convictions." The party accepted the need to work with all anti-Fascist parties, but its espousal of private property and a free economy soon placed it in conflict with SED and Soviet authorities. In the face of constant pressure and harassment, the LDPD leadership slowly retreated from its original program and by 1952 it agreed to participate in "the building of socialism" in East Germany. In 1957 the LDPD accepted the leadership of the SED, thereby confirming its position as a mere adjunct of the party. The LDPD is led by Dr. Manfred Gerlach and is estimated to have a membership of about 75,000.

The German National Democratic Party (NDPD), headed by Dr. Heinrich Homann, was formed in May 1948 to extend the SED's influence over former low-level Nazis who had "broken with their past" and professional soldiers, to whom the party appealed by emphasizing the nationalistic aspects of East German policy. Like the other collaborating parties, the NDPD has attempted to contact similar elements in West Germany, apparently with only minor success. Unlike the other non-SED parties, however, the NDPD has increased in 1949 to approximately 120,000 in early 1969, where it has stabilized.

The German Democratic Peasants Party (DBD) was created by the SED in 1948 to win over the farmers and farm workers to the party's brand of socialism. Once nominally representative of farmers with small holdings who had profited from the SED's early land reforms, the DBD surrendered all pretense to being independent when it supported the regime's decision to collectivize agriculture in 1960. The party is led by Ernst Goldenbaum and Paul Scholz and has approximately 80,000 members. Of the four collaborating parties, the DBD is perhaps the least influential.

b. Mass organizations

Like the four political parties, the so-called mass organizations have been established to appeal to genuine or alleged group interests, and they operate

18

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3