The Social Democratic Party of Germany is one of the two major modern day parties of the nation and holds a spot near the center left of the political spectrum. Following the German federal election of 2013, the Social Democrats have been in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Party and is active in 14 state governments. On May 2013, it was one of the first founding members of the Progressive Alliance and currently the oldest political party represented in the German Parliament. Founded in 1875 by the merge of the German Workers Party (Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein) and the Social Democratice Workers Party, it was established as the Social Workers Party of Germany. The party developed the Gotha program which was explicitly socialist and called for universalistic suffrage, workers’ rights, and freedom of association. Although initially, harshly attacked by Karl Marx, the Social Democrats would go on to become one of the first Marxist party in the world. In 1976, the Socialist Workers Party was banned by Otto Von Bismarck under the Anti-Socialist Laws, but re-continued again in 1890, when it renamed itself the Social Democrats and rewrote it’s platform at the Halle convention with even more radical principles then the Gotha program. The SDP in Reichstag was driven out in 1903 when National Conservatives and Liberals replaced democracy with upper class voting which counted the heaviest. This didn’t stop social democratic leaders from being elected, they ran independently without a party affliation. In 1912, which was considered SDP’s “heroic period”, the party’s popularity rapidly rose as the largest political party in Germany and claimed 110 seats in the election. However in 1914 , after breaking it’s initial agreement in the Second International to stand opposition of World Was I, the SDP voted in favor of the war, causing the party to internally split. Centrists’, led by Karl Kautsky, formed the Independent Socially Democratic Party and the left led by Rosa Luxemburg, formed the Spartacus league, which later became the Communist Party of Germany. In 1918, the SDP became a major key part in the formation of the Weimer Republic. Although it earned 37.9% of the votes at Reichstag, it failed to gain the favor of the Allies at the Paris Peace Conference, causing a sharp decline in support. In the following years, it united with the Independents but only received 20% of the votes and sharp competition rose with the Nazi Party among it’s white collar workers. Following the success of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler outlawed the SDP under the Enabling Law and hundreds of party leaders were executed and imprisoned. However, under the name ‘Sopade’, the SPD flourished in exile and in areas of Britain and United States during the third reich, allowing it to have advantage over rivals when elections resumed under the allies occupant in the Western Zones. Although it did very very well in th state (Land) elections, in 1946 it was narrowly defeated by the Christian Democrats. Following the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1956, the SDP has been one the two main political party in Germany, allowing a Social Democratic chancellor to be in power from 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005. Although initially formed as a Marxist Party in 1875, it shifted its direction between the Heidelberg Program of 1925 and the Godesberg Program of 1958 when it demanded “the transformation of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production to social ownership. Post World War II, the SDP realigned itself with the working class as a socialist party, but in the 1959, the Godesberg Program dismissed many Marxist principles and grew closer with capitalism, evolving into a modern social democratic party. Today, the SDP shares the commitment to bring social democracy to Germany, and according to their leaders, freedom, justice, and social solidarity is a necessity for democracy. They advocate for a stregtenthed social market economy, one which distributes wealth fairly and puts emphasize on social insurance. Although the SDP has been the leading voice for the welfare state and Germany’s protection of poor citizens, majority of the party recognizes that “economic growth and employment require a favorable investment climate” and that Germany’s long-established high labor costs and government benefits have been detrimental to the creation of new jobs in the workforce. The party is also a major proponet for a fiscal budget which lightens the load of future generation by cutting budget deficit and is also sustainable for the nation’s current citizens. Socially, the SDP holds its ground as an open society which grants civil and political rights for it’s citizens. The party has advocated for legality of same sex marriage, has a flexible view on immigration, and staunch supporter of gender equality, with women making up nearly two-fifths of the Executive circle (manages the party’s internal affairs) and the Presidium (elected 13 member whom manage the party’s inner circle). In terms of foreign politics, European integration is one of it’s main priorities and historically thye have been hesistant with the country’s partnership with United States. The Agenda 2010 which was a series of reforms made by the SDP and Green Party coalition, systamiticaly made the largest cut into the social security of the country since the World War II to “promote economic growth”, also internally split the party into two major wings, the Keynesian Social Democrats and the Third Way. The Keynesian social democrats are left wing and argue for the expansion of the welfare state while the Third Way are moderate under Seehumer Kreis and believe this has “reduced unemployment significantly”. Historically, the Social Democratic party had advocated for social progress and economic equality, causing a strong support base among intellectuals and secular individuals. After World War II, the SDP became proponents of a social market economy and held a more liberal stance toward Western alliance in order to attract a broader range of citizens. It still continues to have the support of unionized workers and the working class. Today, the SDP has it’s strongest base in large metropolitan cities of northern and western Germany such as Berlin and Ruhr Area, where coal revenue and mining was one of the largest. The SDP is also favored strongly in Protestant towns such as East Frisia and Bradenburg and also in majority of university towns.