Economic Party (Germany)

Early History

Following the establishment of the Weimar Republic, the German National People's Party (DNVP), which emerged as the main conservative party, hoped to include Germany's established bourgeoisie as a natural part of its own support base. This however was not to be the case, as the party quickly became associated with general rural interests as well as those of big business. In addition to their political homelessness the middle class also had to content with the new Weimar Republic which intervened in and regulated the economy and especially the housing market far more, as well as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates on mortgages.^[2]

This situation led to a great deal of unease in the German middle class. On February 16th 1919 the Neue Zeit a local middle class newspaper in Charlottenburg called for the town middle class to form an election committee to which 38 responded. And in spring of 1920 the Charlottenburg Economic Union formed, followed by the Economic Association of Greater Berlin in April. The two combined to form the Economic Union for Town and Country, winning seats in the Berlin House of Representatives, as interest spread to Mecklenburg, Breslau, and Pomerania.^[2]

From September 11th to 13th of 1920 representatives of the aforementioned regions met to discuss the formation of a new political party, the Business Party of the German Middle Class. Led by baker Hermann Drewitz, architect and carpenter Franz Holzamer, and Mecklenburg representative Fritz Sonnichsen leaded to new party, all having been among the original 38 respondents. Allying with local landlords, they offered to serve as a political vehicle for those landlords in exchange for funding. The party reached out to several other parties offering their support in exchange for the incorporation of their ideas but this idea was rejected by every party they contacted. Looking for a figurehead for the party they eventually settled on Johann Viktor Bredt, who was middle class oriented, ideologically compatible, sufficiently well known, and in between parties. Despite some misgivings Bredt agreed to join the party.^[2]

The party brought together a collection of almost entirely urban, often-contradictory, middle-class interests. The party incorporated artisans, property owners, small and medium businessmen, pensioners, professionals, and bureaucrats whose commonality was the degradation of their status caused by inflation. These groups had contradictory views of how the economy should be run. the artisans had a more corporatist mentality and demanded protection against the ‘‘excesses of free competition,’’ while property owners generally called for a restoration of classical laissez-faire economics.^[3] In order to reflect the views of this group, the WP called for a reduction in government economic involvement, a freer hand for business and lower taxes.^[4] It was particularly opposed to currency revaluation, which it considered an attack on the rights of property owners.^[5] The WP did not dominate as the middle class vote, as some went with either the DNVP or one of the two liberal parties (the DVP and the DDP), whilst others preferred more radical right alternatives, but generally the WP emerged as the main group to specifically target the middle classes for its support.^[6] The party’s primary policy goals were usually whatever best served the Middle Class at that particular moment, and served as a party for dissatisfied middle class voters among all parties. As a result of the focus on issues purely pertaining to the special interest they represented, the WP often found itself voting with the DNVP, NSDAP, and KPD in the Reichstag.^[3]

Rise to Prominence

The WP quickly attracted the interest of organized housing interests headed by the former DNVP politician Johann Viktor Bredt. Bredt’s allies in the Prussian chapter of the Central Association of Home and Property Owners’ Organization, a lobby for housing interests, threw their full support behind the Party in the 1921 Prussian State Elections and were rewarded when the WP won it first representation in a State Landtag with 4 seats. Because of this, in its early history the WP was often viewed as a puppet of organized housing interests. In 1925, following a recommendation from Bredt — who was the party's best known member — the party changed its name from the Economic Party of the German Middle Classes to the Reich Party of the German Middle Classes. The name change was intended to overcome the WP's perception as a special interest party and to broaden its appeal among Germany’s middle-class voters. Nevertheless, the previous name remained more widely used.^[3][6][7]

The party first appeared in the Reichstag in May 1924 election achieving 7 seats.^[4]

In June of 1926, the WP held its first national party congress in Görlitz and established their new party program called the Görlitz Guidelines (German: Görlitzer Richtlinien). The work of Saxon party leader Walther Wilhelm, the Görlitz Guidelines sought to strengthen the party’s ideological profile by incorporating the traditional demands of homeowners, artisans, and small businessmen into a corporatist agenda. With the new party program, the Business Party’s transformation from a party easily stigmatized as an agent for organized housing interests into one that claimed to represent the entire spectrum of the German middle class was finished. All of this, including the choice of Görlitz as the site of the party congress, was part of a conscious effort to give the WP the best possible chances in the upcoming Saxon elections. This proved successful when in the 1926 Saxon Landtag elections provided the WP achieved 10.1 percent of the vote and received a very useful platform for validating themselves as the party of the Middle Class and their discontent.^[7]

1928 Elections

Among the German Right, the campaign for the 1928 Reichstag elections was dominated above all else by electoral attacks of various special interests parties such as CNBLP and the WP. The WP, which had been steadily growing at the expense of the other right wing parties since their founding, continued to campaign for the support of the parts of the middle-class that had not benefited from Germany's economic stabilization in the late 1920's. On 18 March 1928 Drewitz and the leaders of a nonpartisan organization known as the Reich Cartel of the German Middle Class (German: Reichskartell des deutschen Mittelstandes) launched with a series of demonstrations throughout the country under the slogan “Mittelstand in Not.” This initiative reached its high point in Berlin, where several thousand small business owners closed their shops and took to the streets in protest against high taxes, rent controls, and excessive government spending. Though officially nonpartisan, the demonstrations gave the WP an great opportunity for attacking other parties. They focused their attacks on the DNVP, especially for their support of the 1927 work hours law, which put more restrictions on working hours. The party improved their performance and won 23 seats.^[8]

In cabinet negotiations following the elections, president Paul von Hindenburg had asked the WP to consider joining the Second Müller Cabinet, however in a meeting between the President and Drewitz, Drewitz had stated that Müller was simply unwilling to assent to the economic demands of the WP, thus pushing them into a position of opposition which they did not desire. The WP had demanded, among other things, the enforcement of laws against cartels, the reduction of taxes on department stores, and abolition of the housing allocation system. The other parties were worried about the continued opposition of a party who had only gained at the expense of them, and thought of the WP as unreliable. Though the DVP still hoped to potentially bring them into the Reich or even Prussian government, the compromises needed to make sure the nominally anti-socialist WP could coalition with the SPD were deemed too much of a risk for the WP to take.^[9]

After the collapse of Müller's cabinet in March of 1930, the WP participated in cabinet negotiations to form the First Brüning Cabinet. Due to the necessity of having the support of as many of the parties in-between the SPD and DNVP he could, Brüning was willing to negotiate with them. The WP asked for the Ministry of Justice, thinking it would be the best ministry to advance the cause of the middle class, due to it writing the instructions on how to implement laws. Though Brüning had planned on giving it to the DVP, he accepted their demand. While further conflict arose over the perceived marginalization of conservatives and the domination of the Zentrum in cabinet, the cabinet was successfully formed in the same month, with Johann Victor Bredt — a WP deputy — as Justice minister.^[10]

Decline

However, in late 1930, the WP began to decline. A series of disputes divided the party, eventually tearing the party asunder. In the party's 1929 Berlin congress, Carl Ladendorff — the leader of the party in Prussia — attempted to create an independent parliamentary leadership for the WP, separate from the party's leadership. Ladendorff strived to reduce the power of the WP's chairman, Hermann Drewitz, who he thought vain and believed the party concentrated excessive powers in. However, his attempt to reduce Drewitz's powers failed. Thereafter Ladendorff attempted to oust Drewitz as chair, a view which was reflected by deputy chair Otto Colosser.^[11][12]

Following the 1930 Reichstag election, the party retained all of its seats, but the increase in Reichstag members meant the party's relative influence in the Reichstag nevertheless declined. As a result of the election, the WP left Brüning's cabinet, with Bredt losing his role as Justice Minister. This decision divided the party, with deputy chair Otto Colosser discontented with the whole dispute.^[13] Near the end of the year, Colosser accused Drewitz of embezzlement, even launching a formal legal complaint against him. This dispute further divided the party, eventually leading to Colosser's resignation from the WP and Drewitz's re-election as chairman. However, a fourth dispute soon engulfed the WP, with former Saxon finance minister Hugo Weber — a supporter of Ladendorff and Colosser's attempts to remove Drewitz — leading the influential Saxon branch of the WP in seceding from the federal party. Weber and the Saxons were soon joined by Max Robert Gerstenhauer's Thuringian branch, who also announced their succession from the federal party. Following negotiations, Drewitz was able to reign in the Saxons, with Weber and his supporters rejoining the party; Drewitz had defeated every leadership challenge against him. Nevertheless Drewitz would resign from the chairmanship in August of 1931, being replaced with Bredt.^[11][12]

Concurrently, the party faced a succession of crises. In 1929, the Prussian SPD accused Ladendorff of financial irregularities regarding the Dessauer Realkreditbank.^[14] Before entering into politics, Ladendorff had served as a Reichsbank manager.^[15] Ladendorff was able to quickly resolve the allegations, but only after media attention to the accusation.^[14] In late 1931 two deputies of the Prussian branch of the WP left the party and formed a new group — the radical middlestrand. In the same period, the Deutsche Mittelstandsbank collapsed due to the ongoing Great Depression, taking with it the party's finances. With the rise of the NSDAP, the WP in Prussia was left decrepit, and in the 1932 Prussian state election the party failed to secure a single seat. The party's presence in the Prussian Landtag was over.^[16] This situation was reflected federally, with the party winning only two seats in the July 1932 Reichstag election, a single seat in the November 1932 Reichstag election, and losing their final seat in the March 1933 Reichstag election. With the Nazi Party in control of the government, the party was finally dissolved.^[17]