ABSTRACT
The German Christlich-Demokratische Union (CDU) is nowadays regarded as a ‘prototype’ of a people’s party.1 It came into existence after the Second World War on a regional level, uniting political Catholicism and protestant liberals and conservatives. It can be seen as one of the few really new parties to have been founded in Germany.2 It was not easy for the CDU in the early days. After a narrow victory in the first parliamentary elections in 1949 the party had to cope with an enormous loss of support in the regions and a rapid drop in membership of 400,000.3 The Federal Republic’s ‘founding crisis’4 greatly affected the party, which lost important regional elections and many members. The downward trend was stopped in 1953 by the ‘consolidation and concentration processes’5 in the party system resulting from the introduction of the 5 per cent clause. In 1954 the CDU had 215,000 members, in 1956 the number had risen to 245,000.6 One year later, it achieved an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections for the first time in a coalition with the Bavarian Christlich-Soziale Union (CSU). In 1961, the CDU, which had in the meantime come to see itself as a ‘state party’,7 suffered a slight loss of support but remained in power. Four years later in 1965, support increased once again and the CDU, under the leadership of Ludwig Erhard, achieved their second best result ever. Despite the break-up of the coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) a year later, the CDU/CSU managed to retain its leading position in 1969. As the Liberals entered into coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), however, the Christian Democrats in Parliament found themselves in opposition for the first time since 1949.8
The CDU initially had the characteristics of a ‘concentration movement’9 with a strongly decentralized organization and a not very efficient party apparatus, which appeared to dissolve the old social, political and confessional contradictions. It was forged from diverse ideological and regional party traditions as well as the spirit of opposition to the National Socialist dictatorship. In the relationship with the government and the parliamentary party the party had ‘hardly any independent political role’10 for quite some time. It operated rather in the shadow of the chancellor and party leader Konrad Adenauer, who became the figurehead of the party. Only after the establishment of the post of secretary-general in 1967 did the party establish itself as a ‘federal party capable of independent action’.11
