Bourgeois Socialism

For politicians in West Germany, as in the rest of Western Europe, it pays to be bourgeois these days. Hence the absence of Marxist slogans when the West German Socialists met in Cologne last week for their 1962 party convention. Hardly anyone called anyone else "comrade," and the lone red flag on the podium was half hidden behind a bank of hydrangeas and chrysanthemums. Outside in the convention hall's parking lot were the new caste marks of the delegates without dogma: Mercedeses, Opels and Volkswagens.

Today's West German Socialists are hardly socialists at all. Never in power since West Germany became a nation in 1949, they know they can hope to beat Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democrats only by dropping the talk of class consciousness, and by plugging policies that were anathema to the Socialists only a few years ago. Proclaimed West Berlin's Socialist Mayor Willy Brandt in his Cologne speech: "We say that the Federal Republic must cultivate and develop the relationship of trust with the United States." From SPD Economic Pundit Heinrich Deist there was no kind word for nationalization of industry; instead, he urged free competition, mildly suggested that capitalism be improved by better anti-cartel legislation and restriction of lobbyists.

Domination by Default. That every thing went so smoothly was a tribute to the work of a hard-bitten organizer--Deputy Chairman Herbert Wehner, 55, an ex-Communist who is the Socialists' organization boss. For months he had administered what he calls Seelenmassage (soul massage) to the party bosses in every region of the nation, arguing, cajoling, and elbowing them into fully accepting the new party line that began taking shape more than four years ago. Now, more than any other man, Wehner was in command of West Germany's oldest (founded 1863) and biggest (650,000 dues-paying members) political party.

It was, in a sense, domination by default. Re-elected Socialist Chairman Erich Ollenhauer is a lovable but ineffectual Teddy bear of a party leader; West Berlin's good-looking Mayor Brandt is the Socialists' candidate for Chancellor, but he lacks grass-roots allegiances. Wehner's orders are what counts.

His critics charge that his technique was made in Moscow; he first served the cause of the late Ernst Thalmann, Germany's famous Red boss, in 1927. After years of underground work for the Comintern, he announced his disillusionment with Communism in 1942, decided to try for a Socialist seat in West Germany's first Bundestag in 1949. The district Wehner fought, was Hamburg-Harburg, a tough workers' area where the Communists were strong; he beat the Reds hands down, became the tough, unyielding voice of the Socialists' left wing in Parliament.

Demon in Disguise. Wehner was prominent in the "ohne mich" (without me) campaign of the early 19505 against a West German army, urged concessions to Moscow as a price for German reunification. His support for the SPD's ill-fated "Deutschland Plan," which looked toward removal of Eastern and Western troops from Germany and Bonn's withdrawal from NATO, only bolstered Konrad Adenauer's suspicions that a Communist was trying to take over the Socialist movement. "A demon," growled Adenauer.

The resounding victory of Adenauer's Christian Democrats in the 1957 elections convinced a small group of Socialist reformers that the SPD needed a new set of policies attractive to the middle class. Wehner, the dour onetime Communist apparatchik, seemed to find it not at all difficult to make the switch; by 1960 he was a firm friend of NATO and an advocate of cooperation with Adenauer's foreign policy. He proceeded to sell the new program of bourgeois respectability to stunned local Socialist leaders.

When the votes were counted in last September's national elections, Socialism's new image and its attractive candidate Willy Brandt still had not produced victory; but to Wehner's glee, 2,000,000 new voters had pushed the Socialists' strength to 36.2% of the total vote, a new record. Now girding for the 1965 race, when Adenauer will be gone from the scene, the party hopes to leap into power at last.

Willy Brandt, not Wehner, will probably be the Socialists' candidate. "I am not the type that people are attracted to like moths to the light," says Wehner in his wry, rasping tones. But there is little doubt that Wehner will be dictating party tactics when Brandt hits the campaign trail. As the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine puts it: "He can lead the SPD for or against NATO. He can emphasize the disagreements with the Chancellor's policy or wipe them away with a gesture. The party follows him like a Prussian line regiment."

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