The Broad Aims of the Party
From SARAH GAINHA m
HANOVER
HE Christian Democratic Union, the party 1 which has ruled Federal Germany for all its fifteen years, is hardly a national party at all in the sense understood in British or American politics. This, it was clear at its twelfth congress early this week, is one of its major problems, made more difficult for those trying to solve n- and for observers—because it cannot be clearly expressed even inside the party; plain speaking would only increase the opposition to its organi- sation. The twin Christian Democratic Union and the (Bavarian) Christian Social Union is a group of local associations run by the Land party leaders almost as their private property. The patronage and influence enjoyed by local leaders makes them most unwilling to centralise the party, and they even refuse the members' lists required by the central organisation which is being slowly and creakingly built by the executive vice-chairman of the National Party, Herr Dufhues. appointed after the disappointing election results of 1961 to do just that.
The vagueness of the CDU—it does not possess a definite programme, for instance—is usually blamed on Konrad Adenauer, its Chairman since its birth; certainly Adenauer found enough to absorb even his phenomenal energies in control- ling the government and playing off local party leaders against each other until last year, but considering what needed to be done and has been achieved, it is a little unfair to speak of blame as some young party-men do. There was no time for organising a central party and neither was there any money; and though time is now aplenty, money is still painfully short. It probably is true that Adenauer preferred to manipulate indivi- duals as he needed to, just as provincial leaders preferred to retain their autonomy. But the elec- tion results of 1961, when the party lost its abso- lute majority, made the organisation of party workers, the regular payment of subscriptions, Parish and town party-work and the creation of a national centre a top priority. Yet in that moment of alarm, one of the greatest advantages
enjoyed by the CDU over their Social Democratic rivals for
power was overlooked.
The CDU is so loosely put together that the widest divergencies of opinion and belief can exist side by side in it; from the hard-baked nationalists of Schleswig-Holstein, and ex- members of collapsed extremist right-wing splin- ters, to the enlightened modern Conservatives of Hamburg and Stuttgart and the left wing of Hans Katzer, the Christian Labour leader, every-
one who recognises Christian principles can find a home in it. This broadness no doubt inhibits progress towards enlightenment, but it also in- hibits the extremism of rightists, and forms a plat- form so wide that it ought to command a solid majority. It may well do so again in the 1965 elections now that the change of Chancellors from Adenauer to Erhard has been overcome— if constituency work can be improved.
In the last election the floating voters that left the CDU did not move left to the Social Demo- crats, but right to the Free Democrats who then formed a coalition government with the major party which has been at times more like all-in wrestling than coalition work. The reason for this is clear; the Free Democrats must behave as oppositionists inside the government to ensure that the, CDU does not regain its absolute majority and shut the FDP out of office, influence and possibly even existence if it lost enough votes to fall beneath the 5 per cent rule. Since its vote was only inflated by the floaters who disliked either Adenauer's age or his way of ruling and may be guessed to have been largely the new young voters, this piece of luck is not likely to repeat itself under Chancellor Erhard's leader- ship unless the coalition can be discredited by internal weaknesses.
But the old men who run the local CDU parties certainly cannot be influencing the young voters, and the party, only sixteen years old, presents a physical picture of extreme age when assembled, as here at Hanover. How- ever worthy, the bald grey heads, large stomachs and plain white-haired ladies are no advertise- ment of youth and there is no doubt they keep younger people out of party life at parish level both with their age and their overbearing ways. The CDU's achievements have been solid, but the future needs younger and more attractive people—a striking difference between the genera- tions in this country is the collapse of the belief that high ideals go with plain features and in- elegant clothes. To raise the 260,000-odd paying members to anywhere near the comparative affluence of the SPD with its 650,000, the young are needed for voluntary work, beginning with the collection of subscriptions.
The foreign policy of the Christian Democrats remains, as geography and history enforce, bi- polar. Friendship with France and yet Atlantic partnership; re-unification of Germany and yet NATO; mutually contradictory goals that can be called either opportunist or empirical, according to taste. There Was clearly a self-denying agree- ment not to discuss internal party disagreements over these policies in public, and as if to emphasise his detachment, Foreign Minister Schroeder sat the whole time apart from the Cabinet among friends and made no speech. The recent visits of Chancellor Erhard to Paris, Rome and the Hague have made finally clear, even to Adenauer, that progress with European unity is impossible while France continues her opposition to Britain. On de Gaulle's terms the Italians and Dutch simply won't play; and the lack of political direction at Brussels prevents the necessary work being started on the co- ordinatibn of financial policies in the Six which is worrying Erhard as creeping inflation revives fears for the stability of the mark. So strongly does the party feel about the inclusion of Britain that Chairman Adenauer was obliged for once to mention the matter directly in his speech; he could not bring himself to express the hope that British entry might be made possible, so he turned the matter about and said that the German Government must demand of the new British Government a clear statement of its attitude to Europe. This unhappy formulation had the virtue from the speaker's view that the question of Britain's entry into Europe was not applauded— a typical Adenauer trick which a British guest delegate quite rightly protested against in her reply to greetings expressed from the Chair.
The Chairman of the Bavarian wing, Franz Josef Strauss, who at the opening ceremony sat together with the government to which he does not belong and which he almost toppled eighteen months ago in the notorious Spiegel affair, created a slight stir, no doubt intentionally. He was determined to speak, and when it became clear that he was being outmanoeuvred he stood up just in fi.ont of the aged Chairman who was going to the podium, managing to make his presence so obvious that the old man sat down good- humourredly. The stocky Bavarian bawled a stream of greetings and undying loyalty to the party with threats of annihilation for the Social Democrats. Apart from Strauss, the official Opposition came in for the usual obligatory denigration, but in spite of the applause which greeted these passages they sounded perfunctory except when Erhard spoke. He really meant his anger and said that if—as has been rumoured— the SPD used an election placard saying that hold-ups on over-crowded roads were a result of the CDU road-building policy, he would reply with a placard saying that the cars and holidays which travellers were enjoying were the result of CDU policy. True, but it misses the important point. Young voters already take holidays in motor-cars for granted; they want reforms of cultural and educational policies, better hospitals and cleaner air. The Socialists have adopted these aims; everything already achieved they take for granted, as young people do. The undoubted fact that the Christian Democrats built up the prosperity that people now enjoy will not bring them gratitude unless they look to the inner content of the society they have made and show that they know a new phase of social history is now beginning.