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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 27-6-5
TITLE:             East German Politburo and Central Committee Resign
BY:                Barbara Donovan
DATE:              1989-12-6
COUNTRY:           Germany
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  RAD Background Report/216

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RAD Background Report/216
(German Democratic Republic)
6 December 1989

EAST GERMAN POLITBURO AND CENTRAL COMMITTEE RESIGN

by Barbara Donovan

Summary: Pressure from reformers within the
East German communist party has forced the
resignation of the entire Politburo and Central
Committee. A working group consisting of
leading supporters of reform was formed to carry
through a full-scale investigation of charges of
corruption and abuse of power in the party and
to prepare for the party congress in two weeks,
A new SED leadership will be elected at the
congress.

* * *

As the East German population continues to vent its
impatience at the slow pace of reform in the GDR--most recently
by forming a human chain from one end of the country to the
other--the rank-and-file of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) has
moved to push through a more far-reaching reform of the party
itself. Mounting criticism of the SED leadership's policies
from grassroots party organizations forced the resignation of
the SED Politburo, including Secretary-General Egon Krenz, as
well as the entire Central Committee during a special CC session
on December 3. Further, in what amounted to a coup d'etat within
the East German communist party, leading reformers took over
control of the party, forming a working group to carry through
an extensive review of the SED's policies. The members of the
group include Dresden's Mayor Wolfgang Berghofer, the lawyer
Gregor Gysi, and the former head of intelligence Markus Wolf.[1]
The aim of the group is "to save our party, which is currently
in the midst of a deep crisis." It hopes to transform the SED
into "a modern socialist party governed from below."[2] The
working group will manage the party's affairs until the congress
scheduled for December 15 to 17, at which a new Politburo and
CC will be elected.

The changes in the SED come against the background of a
wave of corruption scandals involving many former senior SED

This material was prepared for the use of the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

[page 2]

RAD BR/216

officials, who have been shown to have been living in luxury at
a time when they preached austerity to others. It was disclosed
at the end of the special CC session that a number of members of
the old SED leadership under Erich Honecker had been expelled
from the party, including Honecker, Willi Stoph, Horst
Sindermann, and Erich Mielke. In two related developments, the
East German government dismissed Trade Ministry State Secretary
Alexander Schalck Golodkowski from all his posts after it had
been revealed that he was linked to the operations of an illegal
arms export firm in the GDR. The State Prosecutor's Office
yesterday issued an arrest warrant for Schalck Golodkowski, who
was believed to have gone into hiding in the West. ADN also
announced yesterday that two former Politburo members, former
CC Secretary for economic affairs Guenter Mittag and former
chairman of the trade union federation Harry Tisch had been
taken into custody on charges of abusing their power and
knowingly mismanaging the economy.[3]

Lacking Credibility. The resignation of the SED leadership
was not unexpected. Just the evening before Krenz had been
treated to a hostile reception when he attempted to address a
communist rally in East Berlin. The crowd jeered, hissed, and
called out "Resign, Resign." Pressure on Krenz from within the
party to relinquish his post as SED leader had been in evidence
ever since the 10th CC plenum in early November, when the party
rank-and-file forced Krenz to agree to hold a party congress in
December instead of the planned conference. Only a congress
could elect a new Central Committee. Since then Krenz has
repeatedly come under attack from party officials who argued
that the SED's Action Program for reform would have little
public impact as long as it was carried out by the current party
leadership. Krenz was, indeed, unable to make a dent in the
wall of public distrust that has always confronted him. His
past, above all his open support for the suppression of the
prodemocracy movement in China and his part in manipulating the
results of the communal elections in May, remained an expensive
liability.

The disclosures of corruption dealt the final blow to the
Krenz leadership, which was not able to absolve itself of some
form of responsibility for the growing scandal.[4] Initially, it
seemed that Krenz even encouraged the investigation of cases of
corruption as part of an attempt to shift the blame for the
country's problems even more squarely onto the shoulders of the
former leaders. That calculation could not but backfire. It
was a clearly pained Krenz who attempted to maintain in a brief
West German television interview on December 1 that although he
had lived in the same exclusive compound as the former Politburo
members now accused of harboring privileges, he had been
unaware of their life-styles and did "not know what was inside
their houses."

At yesterday's plenary session, the Politburo faced charges
that it had only "half-heartedly" pursued the "task of

[page 3]

RAD BR/216

uncovering the entire range of corruption and accumulation of
privilege."[5] It was agreed that in order not to miss any
remaining chance of restoring the unity of the party and its
authority, the entire SED leadership would have to go.

The Party in Disarray. The resignations were the result of
a move by the party's main reformers, with the help of a
grassroots contingent, to seize power from the old guard in
order to defuse a growing crisis within the party. Pressure for
the resignation of the Politburo and the CC had built up to a
critical level. Moreover, although no demands for a split in
the party had yet been made in public, this could apparently not
be ruled out as a possible outcome of the party congress.[6]

The tales of corruption and accumulated privileges had
provoked anger and disillusionment among many party members. One
local communist party official told a rally in East Berlin that
40% of the party members in her factory had quit in disgust over
the scandals.[7] On Saturday, the recently appointed candidate
Politburo member Hans-Joachim Willerding resigned, saying that
he had no confidence in the current leadership's ability to
acquire the authority needed to lead the drive for reform.[8]
Growing disillusionment has also been expressed at numerous
regional conferences of delegates chosen for the party congress.
Delegates have called for a complete break with the past, while
charging the SED leadership with not preparing properly for the
congress. They criticized the leadership's lack of a clear
direction and of a political program to counter the increased
demoralization at the grassroots level in the party.[9]

The reformist working group's plans envisage, in addition
to investigating the party's past, the preparation within the
next two weeks of a program to serve as the basis for, in the
words of member Markus Wolf, the "new formation of a socialist
party."[10] The congress would then be the launching pad for this
new party, which would strive to present to the public the
image of a strong, cohesive, and credible political force.

What are the working group's chances of succeeding in this
endeavor? How the party will emerge from this cleansing will
depend on the ability of the working group to restore a sense of
worth and a sense of purpose to the party. This may involve the
compilation of new party statutes, a new self-definition, and
perhaps even the dissolution of the SED followed by the
formation of a new socialist party. Ultimately, however, the
success of all this will rest on the ability of the new SED
leadership to restore the party's authority in society at large.
This, in turn, promises to be an uphill battle. Prime Minister
Hans Modrow admitted in an interview with the West German weekly
Der Spiegel that the SED would at the most win 20% of the vote
if free elections were held now.[11] Moreover, one asks how a
party consumed by problems of its own can hope to manage
society's problems. It remains to be seen whether the East
German Communists will be able to break this vicious circle.

[page 4]

RAD BR/216

Yesterday's overthrow of the old party elite is a sign that the
drive to reform the party is strong. That is hardly surprising,
considering that it is not just the existence of the Communists'
hold on power that is at stake but also the very existence of a
separate German state. It is still uncertain, however, whether
the Communists will be capable of refilling the vacuum of power
they have left behind in their search for renewal. .

In the meantime, political power has at least temporarily
been transferred to Prime Minister Hans Modrow. On December 4
he traveled to Moscow to attend the Warsaw Pact summit in his
capacity as Prime Minister. He said, though, that he carried "a
mandate" to discuss the affairs of the communist party."[12]
Indeed, there are indications that he was involved in
engineering the overthrow of the old SED leadership. Many of
his close political associates are in the working group.[13] He,
too, was invited to take part but declined, saying that he
should devote himself to his government responsibilities. It
is, however, likely that he will be one of the few members of
the old Politburo who will be elected to the new one.

One of the working group's first moves was to change the
subtitle of the party daily Neues Deutschland from "Organ of the
Central Committee of the SED" to "Organ of the SED." Justifying
the move, Editor in Chief Wolfgang Spickmann wrote that in the
future Neues Deutschland should be a paper of the party's rank
and file.[14]

* * *

1 The other members of the working group are Heinz Albrecht, Hans-Juergen
Audehm, Lothar Bisky, Ellen Brombacher, Roland Claus, Hans-Joachim Hahn,
Klaus Hoepcke, Dagmar Huelsenberg, Norbert Ketscher, Dieter Klein, Herbert
Kroker, Eva Maleck-Lewy, Bernd Meier, Peter Pechauf, Ulrich Peck, Wolfgang
Pohl, Erich Postler, Gerd Schulz, Wolfgang Thiel, Heinz Vietze, Roland
Woetzel, and Brigitte Zimmerman. The working group does not include
anyone from the former Politburo.

2 For the working group's first statement see ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 See the text of the December 1 Volkskammer session in Ibid., 2-3 November
1989.

5 See the texts of the CC and Politburo resolutions in ibid, 4 December 1989.

6 See, for example, the interview with Hannes Bahrmann, a delegate to the
party conference from East Berlin, in Die Tageszeitung, 5 December 1989.

7 AP, 2 December 1989.

8 Neues Deutschland, 4 December 1989.

[page 5]

RAD BR/216

9 See the reports from the delegate conferences in ibid., 4 December 1989.

10 ZDF (West German television, second channel), 9:00 P.M.

11 Der Spiegel, 4 December 1989.

12 Neues Deutschland, 5 December 1989

13 Markus Wolf is an acknowledged "close friend" of Modrow; and it is to be
assumed that Berghofer and Modrow have close ties stemming from the days
when the latter was district party chief in Dresden, where Berghofer is
mayor.

14 Neues Deutschland, 4 December 1989.

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