If this is your first visit, then welcome to our walkthrough of the East Berlin Communist Party. In this blog post we will give you a complete history of the party, their ideology and how they influenced East Berlin. If you are interested in this period or just curious, this article will give you a basic idea about the major points about the East Berlin Communist Party in simplest way.

1. Origins and Formation

In 1946 with the end of World War II, the East Berlin Communist Party came into existence. It came from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) the ruling communist party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The SED wanted to make a Socialist state headed by the working class.

1.1 Key Figures

Some prominent figures within the East Berlin Communist Party include:

• Walter Ulbricht: Key leader of the party, first General Secretary of the SED.
• Erich Honecker: His successor, a party leader in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Egon Krenz: The last SED General Secretary before the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

2. Ideology and Principles

Marxist Leninist ideology was the basis of East Berlin Communist Party which preached the establishment of a classless society by outlawing capitalism. Some key principles of the party’s ideology include:

• Central Planning: The party sought to organize the economy in a centralized manner and to control it in order to effect an equitable distribution of the economy’s resources.
• Collectivization: Farms and land were collectively owned, collectively farmed.
• State Control: Since the state had a great amount of influence on the society to a great extent, from the media, education to cultural institutions, we were pretty much under its control.

2.1 Repression and Surveillance

Under its rule the East Berlin Communist Party had enforced stiff measures to withstand contro and squelch dissent. Either the Stasi, China’s secret police, or something similar was in charge of keeping an eye on and suppressing any opposition. There were very heavy surveillance of citizens’ movements and limited freedom of expression.

3. Impact and Legacy

The city and its inhabitants were very deeply influenced by the East Berlin Communist Party. Its policies were aimed to create equality and social justice, however, their work led inevitably to slow economical progress and lack of personal liberties. Some key impacts and legacies of the party include:

• Urban Development: The party was heavily urban development-based and built, among other things, iconic buildings, like Fernsehturm (TV Tower), and Alexanderplatz.
• Trabant Cars: Such popularity was also gifted to the Trabant car, a symbol of East German engineering which became popular due to the party’s strict control over car production.
• Peaceful Revolution: That proved to be the final straw, with 1989 and 1990 ultimately seeing the Berlin Wall come down — and thus the fall of the party’s regime — and the reunification of Germany.

4. East Berlin Communist Party fall.

In the late 1980s East Berlin Communist Party had to compete against economic crisis and growing opposition. Mass demonstrations broke out throughout East Germany in November 1989, with people demanding political reform and freedom. But the party’s leadership could not control the party and the Berlin wall was finally opened on 9 November 1989. It was the final act symbolically bringing the party out of power and setting the wheels in motion for the creation of a vastly different Germany for the future.

4.1 Reunification and Aftermath

The East Berlin Communist Party fell, and East and West Germany came together on October 3, 1990. To this day the party continues to leave its mark on German society as attempts are made to overcome division and to come to terms with the results of the communist regime.

Conclusion

You should be able to understand better by now about East Berlin Communist Party and its history. Berlin paid big in configuring its ideology and impact or the way the party fell not only to the capital’s future, but to that of an entire Germany. Also remember that this is just an introduction to a complicated period, but there is a lot more to see. We’re hoping this guide will give you the push to continue your learning and your journey of discovery into this fascinating chapter of history!