• RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    The SPD was always like that. There is a quote by Tucholsky saying that about the SPD in 1932.

    Translation by deepl, original below

    “It is unfortunate that the SPD is called the Social Democratic Party of Germany. If, since August 1, 1914, it had been called the Reformist Party or the Party of the Lesser Evil or Here Families Can Make Coffee or something like that, the new name would have opened the eyes of many workers, and they would have gone where they belong: to a workers’ party. But as it is, the shop does its bad business under a formerly good name.”

    “Es ist ein Unglück, daß die SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands heißt. Hieße sie seit dem 1. August 1914 Reformistische Partei oder Partei des kleinern Übels oder Hier können Familien Kaffee kochen oder so etwas –: vielen Arbeitern hätte der neue Name die Augen geöffnet, und sie wären dahingegangen, wohin sie gehören: zu einer Arbeiterpartei. So aber macht der Laden seine schlechten Geschäfte unter einem ehemals guten Namen.”

    • trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      You’re right, but the SPD also had a brief interlude where they actually did advocate and advance workers’ rights from the end of WW2 until the early 1980s.