The Godesberg Program eliminated the party's remaining
orthodox Marxist policies and the SPD redefined its ideology as
freiheitlicher Sozialismus (
liberal socialism). With the adoption of the Godesberg Program, it renounced orthodox Marxist
class conflict and
economic determinism. The SPD replaced it with an
ethical socialism based on
humanism and emphasized that it was democratic, pragmatic and reformist. The most controversial decision of the Godesberg Program was its declaration stating that
private ownership of the
means of production "can claim protection by society as long as it does not hinder the establishment of social justice". By accepting social democratic principles, the SPD argued that would it can fact have to be a
regulated market to not degenerate into
oligarchy. This policy also meant the endorsement of
Keynesian economic management,
social welfare and a degree of
economic planning. Some argue that this was an abandonment of the classical conception of socialism as involving the replacement of the capitalist economic system. It declared that the SPD "no longer considered nationalization the major principle of a socialist economy but only one of several (and then only the last) means of controlling economic concentration of power of key industries" while also committing the SPD to an economic stance which promotes "as much competition as possible, as much planning as necessary". The decision to abandon the traditional
anti-capitalist policy angered many in the SPD who had supported it. After those changes, the SPD enacted the two major pillars of what would become the modern
social-democratic program, namely making the party a people's party rather than a party solely representing the
working class and abandoning remaining
Marxist policies aimed at destroying capitalism and replacing them with policies aimed at
reforming capitalism. The Godesberg Program divorced its conception of socialism from Marxism, declaring that
democratic socialism in
Europe was "rooted in
Christian ethics,
humanism, and classical
philosophy". The Godesberg Program was a major revision of the SPD's policies and gained attention from beyond Germany. At the time of its adoption, the stance on the Godesberg Program in neighbouring
France was not uniform. While the
French Section of the Workers' International was divided on the Godesberg Program, the
Unified Socialist Party denounced the Godesberg Program as a renunciation of socialism and an opportunistic reaction to the SPD's electoral defeats. The Godesberg program was also notable because the party abandoned and rejected Marxist theories of class conflict and revolution. This was consistent with
Eduard Bernstein's
Marxist revisionism. In adopting the Godesberg Program, the SPD dropped its hostility to capitalism which had long been the core of party
ideology and sought to move beyond its old working class base to embrace the full spectrum of potential voters, adopting a political ideology grounded in ethical appeals. Nonetheless, they adhered to the Marxist analysis put forward by social democrats such as Bernstein that socialism would arise as a result of the evolution of capitalism. In this sense, the Godesberg Program has been seen as involving the final victory of the
reformist agenda of Bernstein over the orthodox Marxist agenda of
Karl Kautsky. Labor unions had abandoned the old demands for
nationalization and instead cooperated increasingly with industry, achieving labor representation on corporate boards and increases in wages and benefits. After losing federal elections in 1953 and 1957, the SPD moved toward an American-style image-driven electoral strategy that stressed personalities, specifically Berlin mayor
Willy Brandt. As it prepared for the
1961 federal election, it proved necessary as well to drop opposition to rearmament and to accept
NATO. The Godesberg Program was superseded in 1989 by the Berlin Program, resolved at the party congress held on 20 December 1989 in
Berlin. == See also ==