Economy Party (Australia)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Reich Party of the German Middle Class (german: Reichspartei des deutschen Mittelstandes), known from 1920 to 1925 as the Economic Party of the German Middle Classes (german: Wirtschaftspartei des deutschen Mittelstandes), was a
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. It was commonly known as the Wirtschaftspartei or WP.


Development

Following the establishment of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
the
German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
(DNVP), which emerged as the main
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
party, hoped to include Germany's established bourgeoisie as a natural part of its own support base. This however was not to the case, as the party quickly became associated with general rural interests as well as those of big business and as a result the WP was formed in 1920 to be the party of these ''Mittelstand'' views.Geoff Eley, ''Reshaping the German Right: Radical Nationalism and Political Change After Bismarck'', University of Michigan Press, 1991, p. 359 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 tax. Close to the Central Association of House and Property Owners, it was particularly opposed to revaluation, which it considered an attack on the rights of property owners. The WP did not dominate as the middle class vote, as some did go with either the DNVP or one of the two liberal parties, 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. Its first representation was in the
Landtag of Prussia The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Represent ...
in 1921 and it appeared in the Reichstag in 1924. Its best performance in a national election came in
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
when it won 23 seats. This total reduced to two only two years later by which time it had lost most of its support to the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
.William Brustein, ''The Logic of Evil: The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925–1933'', Yale University Press, 1998, p. 221


Saxony

The party enjoyed its strongest following in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
during the 1920s and when it first contested the
Landtag of Saxony The Landtag of Saxony (german: Sächsischer Landtag), also known in English as the Saxon State Parliament, is the legislature of the Saxony, Free State of Saxony, one of Germany's sixteen States of Germany, states. It is responsible for legislat ...
elections in 1924 it received 7.9% of the vote in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
-
Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
, the only district in which it stood. In 1926 the party co-operated with the
German People's Party The German People's Party (German: , or DVP) was a liberal party during the Weimar Republic that was the successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire. A right-liberal, or conservative-liberal political party, it represented politi ...
, DNVP and the
Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation The Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation (german: Reichspartei für Volksrecht und Aufwertung), also known as the People's Justice Party (''Volksrechtpartei'', VRP), was a political party active in the Weimar Republic in Germany. History The ...
in a pact against "red parties" in Saxony, arguing that the left was using that state to launch its assault on the Weimar Republic in order to establish
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in Germany. The pact was not a success however as a
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...
government took office in the state and before the WP was squabbling with their Reich Party allies over the issue of property revaluation (which WP opposed and the Reich Party supported). Nonetheless, their support in Saxony was reflected in the 1928 Reichstag election, where the party's 8.5% vote share was by some distance their highest in the country. This fell to 7.3% in 1930 and to as low as 1% in July 1932 by which the WP, which had flirted with anti-parliamentary rhetoric and
corporatism Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
, saw its support transfer to the Nazi Party in Saxony as was the case elsewhere.Lapp, ''Revolution from the Right'', p. 166


References

{{Authority control Political parties in the Weimar Republic Conservative parties in Germany Anti-communist parties