278. Report Prepared in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research0
THE FIFTH CONGRESS OF THE SOCIALIST UNITY PARTY (SED) OF EAST GERMANY, JULY 10-16, 1958: “ADVANCE TOWARD GERMAN REUNIFICATION THROUGH THE ECONOMIC BUILDUP AND SOCIALIZATION OF EAST GERMANY”
Abstract
The Fifth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany, held during July 10-16, 1958, displayed a cohesiveness and a morale higher than of any previous congress. The actions taken and the program announced at the congress indicate that East Germany has become the main area in Europe where Khrushchev’s battle of economics and diplomacy with the West will be waged. Ulbricht and the other SED leaders gave every indication that they believe this Soviet decision has greatly improved the prospect for the reunification of Germany on SED terms: that is, as a neutralized confederation of two diverse political, social, and economic systems.
The program drawn up by the congress involves catching up economically with West Germany by 1961, rejecting “revisionism” totally, accelerating the socialization and the ideological indoctrination of East Germany, and undertaking intensified subversion of West German “peace organizations”, trade unions, and the SPD. Catching up economically with West Germany will be facilitated by the abolition, effective January 1, 1959, of all Soviet troop support costs, and the receipt of major USSR credits and economic assistance, especially during 1959-60. By 1961, the standard of living in East Germany is expected to have reached a point sufficiently high so that the East German Government will no longer be embarrassed about it. Thereafter, according to the congress, the competition between the two German states would be primarily political, ideological, and psychological.
In the closed sessions, Ulbricht’s demands regarding the composition of the Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat were accepted totally. As a consequence, Ulbricht again emerged as the undisputed ruler of the party both ideologically and organizationally.
[Here follow sections I. Introduction, II. Program, and III. Ulbricht’s Reshuffling of the Ruling Bodies.]
[Page 732]Summary
The SED, as seen at the Fifth Party Congress, has emerged from the serious ideological and other failings of 1956-57 with remarkable vigor and cohesiveness. The party is dominated completely by Ulbricht, who has a comprehensive grasp of the intellectual and organizational problems with which it is confronted. Because of the essential change in the relations between the GDR and the USSR, which began in late 1957, East Germany expects to receive a volume of credits and other economic assistance from the USSR during 1959-60 sufficient to enable it not only to continue the socialization of agriculture, handicrafts, and the building industry, but also to expand production in all these branches. Industrial output in 1959-60, as a result of the supply of USSR and Soviet-bloc raw materials, is expected to increase by more than DME 6 billion (US $2.7 billion, at official exchange rates). On the social and cultural front, the party will seek to intensify the indoctrination of the population; “polytechnical” education will be the principal means used with the younger generations. The party is confident that, given its recent internal reorganization, it will ultimately establish control over the population of East Germany and that it will likewise defeat the West German Government in the contest for domination of Germany as a whole.
The actions taken and the programs announced at the congress indicate that East Germany has become the main area in Europe where Khrushchev’s battle of economics and diplomacy with the West will be waged. Ulbricht and the other SED leaders gave every indication that they believe this Soviet decision has greatly improved the prospect for the reunification of Germany on SED terms: that is, as a neutralized confederation of two diverse political, social and economic systems. For the first time in its history the SED raised unequivocally to a cardinal position the thesis that the socialization of East Germany does not conflict with the reunification of Germany but rather is a prerequisite for it, since it is the only guarantee that in a reunited Germany conditions would not prevail which would lead to the destruction of the East German Government and the SED.
Though the importance of the SED policy changes is indubitable, it is obviously still too early to predict their eventual impact on both West and East Germany.
- Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, OSS-INR Intelligence Reports. Limited Official Use.↩