One of the things that doomed Weimar Germany

[thucythucy]

39. The Social Democrats were a specific left wing party

that had been around since the years of the German Empire under the Kaisers.

It was the largest party in Germany until the 1930s, the party that was largely responsible for the founding of the Weimar Republic. It was liberal, pro-labor, pro-women's rights, pro-free speech--in short, everything the Nazis hated.

As was pointed out in another post here, there was a sort of "left wing" of the Nazi Party that seemed to take the "socialist" part of "National Socialist German Workers Party" seriously. They were against the evolution and importation of such capitalist--"Jewish"--developments as department stores (which competed with mom and pop shops) larger farms, assembly line production as opposed to skilled crafts, and such. After the seizure of power in 1933 these elements wanted "a second revolution" to implement their "reforms." Hitler instead made a deal with big business and the military (which was bothered by the existence of the Storm Troopers, seeing them as competition) and purged anyone in the party who advocated this sort of "socialism." In one night alone hundreds were accused of "treason" and executed.

This "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934 cemented Hitler's power, not only by eliminating all opposition inside the party, and terrorizing anyone else thinking of dissent, but also by guaranteeing he had the continued support of the largest German corporations and the German military.

Getting back to the Social Democrats, after the Reichstag fire and passage of the Enabling Act the Social Democratic Party was banned, its newspapers shut down, its leaders arrested or driven into exile, its assets seized.

After the end of World War II it again became a major political party in Germany, along with the more conservative Christian Democrats. In recent years its support has declined, but it remains a force in German politics.