Building socialism in the DDR

Ulbricht announces the reorientation of DDR policy

After failing to prevent West Germany from integrating into the Western system, Joseph Stalin summoned the East German SED leadership to Moscow and told them to establish the DDR as an independent socialist state. Upon his return to East Berlin, SED General Secretary Walter Ulbricht announced the news to delegates at the Second SED Party Conference held on 9 July 1952. In a keynote speech, he told delegates that East German workers had developed sufficient class consciousness to enable the SED to begin the work of constructing the first socialist state on German territory. Even though Germany was the birthplace of Karl Marx, it was Soviet Russia – guided by the “great Stalin” – that would provide the model for this brave new world.

Warming to his theme, Ulbricht set out a programme of measures that was implemented in the following years. Although other political parties continued to exist, it was the SED that exercised absolute power. Buttressed by an ever-stronger Ministry for State Security, the SED set about centralizing the state, building an army, privatizing large companies and “encouraging” the collectivization of agricultural production.