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Working Group of Young Socialists in the SPD (german: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Jungsozialistinnen und Jungsozialisten in der SPD, Jusos) is a volunteer
youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. ...
of the
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 ...
(SPD). As of 2021, there are over 70,000 official Juso members.


Membership

Every member of the SPD who is aged between 14 and 35 years old is automatically enrolled in the Jusos. Since 1994, people in that age group have been able to become a Juso member without party membership. Until 2011 membership was free, but ended after a two 2-year period. There is now a membership fee of €1 per month. It is only possible to be a member of the Jusos until you reach your 35th birthday.


History


1918–1969

At the (Reich Youth Day) of the
Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany The Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Mehrheitssozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, MSPD) was the name officially used by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the period 1917-1922. This differentiated it from ...
for young workers in Weimar in 1920, in which around 1,000 young people took part, the focus was on dealing with nature, art and culture and less on political issues. The main speaker was the spokesman for the Magdeburg young workers, 19-year-old Erich Ollenhauer, who identified the founding of the republic as a necessary condition for the young workers' movement to gain strength. Here, the later party song of the SPD, , was presented to the participants. Overall, the Workers' Youth Day took a positive stance on the policies of the mother party M-SPD. Following the (Workers' Youth Day), the (Association of Workers' Youth Associations in Germany) held its first national conference. The Jusos were founded between 1918 and 1920, when groups of members of the SPD between 20 and 25 years of age began to meet. In terms of numbers, the Jusos remained small, with between 3,000 and 5,000 members. They were dissolved in 1931 as a result of an internal controversy. After the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Jusos were reestablished in 1946. In their early years, they were a relatively indistinctive wing of the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties F ...
.


Move to the left in 1969

In 1969, the Jusos moved to the left of their parent party. On their (Federal Congress) they decided to become a left-wing political federation in their own right instead of being simply an extension of the SPD. The congress began with the scandal that the delegates booed the SPD national director Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, who had come as a guest, and described him as incompetent and his planned presentation was voted off the agenda. Chairman of Jusos Peter Corterier's statement of accounts was also voted off the agenda, and he then offered his immediate resignation, which the Congress declined. Since then, the Jusos have seen themselves as a socialist and feminist association within the SPD. In the same year, the party executive decided that the Juso federal secretary should be subject to the instructions of the Juso federal executive.


References


Bibliography

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External links


Official homepage of ''Jusos''
{{Authority control Youth wings of political parties in Germany Youth wings of social democratic parties Social Democratic Party of Germany