party platform
A political party platform, party program, or party manifesto is a formal set of principle goals which are supported by a political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country' ...
adopted by the nascent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a social democratic
Social democracy is a political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with Decision-makin ...
(SPD) at its initial party congress
The terms party conference (British English, UK English), political convention (American English, US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain Delega ...
, held in the town of Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazi ...
in 1875. The program called for universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections (a ...
, freedom of association
Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action
Collective action refers to action taken together by a group of people whose goal
A goal is ...
, limits on the working day
A business day means any day except any Saturday, any Sunday, or any day which is a federal legal holiday or any day on which banking institutions are authorized or required by law or other governmental action to close.
The definition of a busi ...
, and for other laws protecting the rights and health of workers. The Gotha Program was explicitly socialist
Socialism is a political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions
In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive pr ...
: "the socialist labor party of Germany endeavors by every lawful means to bring about a free state and a socialistic society, to effect the destruction of the iron law of wages
The iron law of wages is a proposed law of economics
Economics () is a social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and s ...
by doing away with the system of wage labor
A wage is the distribution from an employer
Employment is the relationship between two party (law), parties, usually based on a employment contract, contract where work is paid for, where one party, which may be a corporation, for profit ...
, to abolish exploitation of every kind, and to extinguish all social and political inequality". It was superseded by the Erfurt Program
The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a social democratic
Social democracy is a political
Poli ...
in 1891.
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher
A philosopher is someone who practices philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about reason, M ...
famously attacked the platform, which he had read in draft form, in his ''Critique of the Gotha Program
The ''Critique of the Gotha Programme'' (german: Kritik des Gothaer Programms) is a document based on a letter by Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher
A philosopher is someone who practice ...
''.
References
External links
German text of ''Gotha Program'' at Marxists Internet Archive
{{Authority control Social Democratic Party of Germany Party platforms Gotha, program 1875 documents 1875 in politics 1875 in Germany