Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Growth Of
the FRG
- The CDU in office
- In 1949, they were elected with 31% of
the vote. By 1957, they had 50.2% of
the vote - an overall majority
- Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was respected by the people for not
having an 'inferiority complex' towards the West. He promised a
strong economy and good Western relations - but not reunification
- There were 12 parties in the Bundestag
after the first election. People were
worried about political fragmentation, as
happened to the Weimar Republic...
- So there was a rule that a party had
to have at least 5% of the vote to
have a seat in the Bundestag
- Anti-democratic parties
such as the Socialist
Reich party were
banned
- About 50% of Germans were
Catholics, so the Christian CDU
appealed to them.
- However, the party was kept
ecumenical (not specifically one
Christian denomination) to have a
wider appeal
- This meant they
appealed to refugees
and former Nazi party
voters.
- Policies
- Grants given to the Lander to rebuild after
the bombing - 4 million new houses by 1957
- Aid for refugees - Alliance of Expellees
and Disenfranchised Persons
- 110.4 billion DM given to victims of Nazi
atrocities and bombing campaigns
- 1957 pensions act - 75% pensions increase
- Creation of the Bundeswehr - a
standing army of 'civilians in uniform'
- Reviewed by Parliamentary Chief
Commissioner to ensure that it
couldn't become politically influential
- Bonn Conventions signed 1957
made FRG a sovereign state
- Why was
Adenauer so
successful?
- Was in power during a
successful period -
seemed to be a safe
choice
- Campaigned with the phrase, 'Keine
experimente!' (No experiments)
- People didn't mind that
he'd been in power for
so long - 60% said
they would rather have
a stable income than
all democratic
freedoms.
- Weakness of opposition
- Left-wing parties were looked down
of because of the Cold War - KPD
had only 2.2% of the vote in 1953
- SPD claimed that Adenauer would be a failure -
when he wasn't, they had nothing to argue!
- Put reunification at the top
of their agenda - unrealistic
- Hard to appeal to the working
classes as the country became
more affluent and middle class
- SPD had internal divisions
over rearmament
- SPD leader Schumacher's
successor, Ollenhauer, was
'colourless.'
- Attitude towards former Nazis
- Allowed some eg Hans Globke into office to
make use of their political talents
- 1951 reinstatement act gave
former Nazi civil servants their
jobs back
- In the 1950s, possibly as
many as 80% of officials
had a Nazi past
- But admitted Germany's guilt; gave 100 billion DM compensation to Israel
- The Economic Miracle
- Causes
- The Social Market Economy
- Little state intervention to allow
markets to operate freely
- Only as much
regulation as
necessary - some in
food, transport, raw
materials, housing
- State job-creation eg tax
incentives to persuade
private construction
companies to make houses
- Created housing
and employment
- Collective Bargaining In Industrial
Relations Act - a policy of
Co-Determination where workers
were involved in decision-making
- By 1951 all coal and
steel stock companies
had worker
representation at a
managerial level
- Currency Reform 1948 - led to more
confidence in the economy's stability
and investment
- Korean War stimulated industry -
mechanical engineering output
doubled 1950-52
- Until 1956, FRG had no army so
didn't have to spend money on
the military
- Industrial infrastructure
mostly unharmed by bombing
- Many natural resources
- Skilled workers
emigrated from GDR
- 'Guest workers' from Southern Europe
formed 10% of workforce - cheap to
employ with low welfare costs
- Results
- Full
employment
through 1950s
- Low strike rate
- Trade unions made
modest wage demands
- One union per industry rule
created a feeling of 'social
partnership'
- Five-day week
implemented
- More spending on
social welfare - living
standards increased
- Equalisation of Burdens Law
levied taxes on the rich -
funded settlement of 10
million refugees and
pensions increases
- Anti-Trust law of 1957
abolished monopolies
- 8% growth rate through 1950s
- Between 1950s-70s, average income of a
household increased 400%
- More people could afford luxuries like cars, TVs, fridges
- Problems
- 'Two thirds' society -
higher gap between rich
and poor
- 'Chancellor Democracy' - Adenauer's long term could
be seen as undemocratic, almost like a dictatorship
- Loopholes in the law allowed big businesses to
flourish at the expense of smaller ones
- Agriculture was subsidised