78. What does the abbreviation SPD mean?

Answer options

1. Socialist Party of Germany
2. Social Policy Party of Germany
3. Social Democratic Party of Germany
4. Socially Just Party of Germany

Explanation

The abbreviation denotes the Social Democratic Party of Germany, a political party constitutionally recognized under Article 21 of the Basic Law as participating in the formation of the people’s political will. Its roots lie in the ADAV (1863) and the SDAP (1869), which merged at Gotha (1875); the party survived the Anti-Socialist Laws, was banned by the Nazis in 1933 after Otto Wels’s lone parliamentary speech against the Enabling Act, and later helped shape the Federal Republic. With the 1959 Godesberg Program it transformed from a class-based workers’ party into a catch-all Volkspartei, shaping the Republic through Brandt’s Ostpolitik and Schmidt’s crisis governance. As a party it is bound by intra-party democracy, transparency, and accountability in party financing, requirements elaborated by the Federal Constitutional Court.