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The German Reichstag Elections of 1930
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
Extract
Casting the largest popular vote yet recorded in any election in Germany, the German people elected on Sunday, September 14, 1930, the fifth Reichstag under the Weimar constitution. Using Article 48, the Brüning government had put into effect certain emergency measures which it considered necessary to alleviate the existing economic situation. But when called upon to pass upon these decrees, the Reichstag rejected them; whereupon the President, on the advice of the cabinet, dissolved the Reichstag and ordered new elections.
The campaign occurred in a time of serious economic depression. Nearly three million unemployed persons were in receipt of government relief, either national or local. Taxes had been increased, salaries decreased, and there was widespread dissatisfaction. The government headed by Chancellor Brüning, from its inception a minority cabinet, appealed to the country to return to power with increased strength the parties which had given it support. On the other hand, the government was severely attacked by the Social Democrats for its use of Article 48; by the Nationalists because of its support of the Young Plan; by the Communists on general principles; and last, but not least, by the National Socialists led by Adolf Hitler, not on general principles, but without any principles at all! In many respects this election resembled the May election of 1924 more closely than the election of 1928.
Not only was the election of critical importance to Germany and the world from an economic point of view, but it was also of great moment in the evolution of German political parties and democratic institutions in general.
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- Foreign Governments and Politics
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1930
References
1 Landtag elections occurred simultaneously in Braunschweig.
2 In several German cities, the votes of men and women were counted separately. This was true in Cologne, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Bremen, and Berlin. The figures show as good a voting percentage for women as for men, with approximately the same political tendencies among the women as among the men. A slight difference was noted in the stronger support given by women to the so-called confessional parties.
3 The new Reichstag has six more women than held seats in the previous body. There will be 39 women in the new parliament: 16 Social Democrats, 13 Communists, 4 Centrists, 2 Nationalists, and one each in four other middle parties.
4 Only the members oldest in point of service, together with the party leaders, will now have their own desks. The remaining members will sit on benches similar to those in the House of Representatives at Washington.
5 One of these parties called itself “Party against Alcohol,” and received 1,172 votes.
6 Eighty-nine members were elected to the Reichstag from the Reich lists of the various parties. The German politicians call the Reich list the “Hospital Schiff.”
7 A party cannot have a Reich list without having a district list, and not every party enters a list in each of the 35 electoral districts into which Germany is divided for electoral purposes. A district had on an average 16 lists, the number varying from 13 in Mecklenburg to 22 in Berlin.
8 See the description of this proposed law, written by Dr.Kaisenberg, Georg, in Deutsche Juristen Zeitung, Heft 18, S. 1153–1157Google Scholar.
9 The complete German name of this party is Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (IIitler Bewegung). Of course it is not a workers' party, although it has tried to allure workingmen into its ranks. See an analysis of the party's representatives in the new Reichstag which appeared in Der Abend, September 17, 1930, Number 436.
10 Then Germany appeared to be on the brink of ruin, with her currency worthless, her industrial area occupied by foreign troops, and her international prestige gone. In the May, 1924, elections it is interesting to recall that there were elected 110 Nationalists and 33 National Socialists, together 143. This time there are 107 National Socialists and 41 Hugenberg Nationalists, a total of 148. Should the reaction—or protest, to use a milder word—be greater today than in the dark days following the inflation?