1928 German federal election

none January 2021 Weimar Republic parliamentary December 1924 German federal election Dec 1924 yes 1928 05 20 1930 German federal election 1930 All 491 seats in the Reichstag 246 41,224,678 ( 5.7%) 75.6% ( 3.2pp) SPD 1924 leadership.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Hermann MüllerOtto WelsArthur Crispien Social Democratic Party of Germany 26.0%, 131 seats 153 22 9,152,979 29.8% 3.8 pp Kuno von Westarp.jpg 130 120 160 0 10 Kuno von Westarp German National People's Party 20.5%, 103 seats 73 30 4,381,563 14.3% 6.2 pp Reichskanzler Wilhelm Marx (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Wilhelm Marx Centre Party (Germany) 13.6%, 69 seats 61 8 3,712,152 12.1% 1.5 pp Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12940, Ernst Thälmann.jpg 410 60 160 68 121 Philip Dengel 1924.jpg 140 60 160 0 40 Ernst Thälmann& Philipp Dengel Communist Party of Germany 8.9%, 45 seats 54 9 3,264,793 10.6% 1.7 pp Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-040-27, Gustav Stresemann.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Gustav Stresemann German People's Party 10.1%, 51 seats 45 6 2,679,703 8.7% 1.4 pp Erich Koch-Weser circa 1920 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Erich Koch-Weser German Democratic Party 6.3%, 32 seats 25 7 1,479,374 4.8% 1.5 pp 420px Results by electoral constituency 420px Results by district and independent city 420px Results for each party Government Fourth Marx cabinet Z–DNVP–DVP–BVP Government after election Second Müller cabinet SPD–DVP–DDP–Z–BVP A federal election was held in Germany on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourth Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 978-3-8329-5609-7Kolb Eberhard Eberhard Kolb The Weimar Republic 2004 Routledge 978-0-415-34441-8 New York 79–80 Falla P. S. Park R. J. It resulted in a significant shift to the left, with gains for the socialists and communists and losses for the nationalists. The centre-right government of Wilhelm Marx was replaced by a centre-left grand coalition government led by Hermann Müller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Background During the almost four years since the previous Reichstag election in December 1924, Germany had been governed by four conservative cabinets, two of which included the national-conservative German National People's Party (DNVP). None of them involved the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which had the most seats of any party in the Reichstag. The final cabinet of Wilhelm Marx of the Catholic Centre Party collapsed in February 1928 due to a dispute over education policy, and an election was called for May.Das Kabinett Marx IV: Innenpolitik The Fourth Marx Cabinet: Domestic Policy https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/ma3/ma31p/kap1_1/kap2_2/para3_8.html 5 May 2025 Das Bundesarchiv de Campaign thumb|left|upright=0.8|A KPD campaign poster depicting the Roter Frontkämpferbund, the party paramilitary, as a hammer coming down on fascists and militarists In social and economic terms, the election took place at the height of the Weimar Republic's economic stabilization. The economy was developing positively and unemployment figures were lower than in previous years. The SPD, which had not led a government since mid-1920 nor participated in a cabinet since 1923, had made it clear in its 1927 party conference in Kiel that it was ready to take over a governing role again.Woltering Hubert 24 May 2022 "Heran an das Volk" – der Parteitag der SPD in Kiel (22.-27. Mai 1927) “Get Closer to the People” – the SPD Party Conference in Kiel (22–27 May 1927) https://www.fes.de/archiv-der-sozialen-demokratie/artikelseite-adsd/parteitag-kiel-1927 7 May 2025 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung de Along with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), the SPD centred its campaign around opposition to expanding the German Navy. Specifically at issue was funding the construction of the armoured cruiser A, which the SPD, KPD and German Democratic Party (DDP) had argued against during the final days of the Marx cabinet. Because the majority in the Reichstag had voted to cut subsidies for school children's meals while expressing approval for funding for the ship, first the KPD and then the SPD used the slogan "Food for children instead of armoured cruisers" (de Kinderspeisung statt Panzerkreuzer) in their campaigns.Heßling Urs Die Reichsmarine in der Weimarer Republik und die Auseinandersetzung um den Bau des Panzerschiffs A The Reichsmarine in the Weimar Republic and the Dispute over the Construction of the Armored Cruiser A https://www.historisches-marinearchiv.de/sonstiges/artikel/reim_panzerschiff.php 6 May 2025 Historisches Marinearchiv & Forum Marinearchiv deScriba Arnulf 19 October 2014 Der Streit um den Panzerkreuzerbau 1928 The Dispute over the Construction of the Armored Cruiser in 1928 https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/streit-um-den-panzerkreuzerbau-1928.html 6 May 2025 Deutsches Historisches Museum de The Centre Party saw no possibility of pushing through its denominational school law in a centre-left coalition. The DDP, besides criticizing the naval expansion, advocated a grand coalition. The German People's Party (DVP) relied on the popularity of Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann in the election campaign. He, too, thought that there was no reasonable alternative to a grand coalition. In the power struggle that had been taking place at the top of the DNVP since 1927, the extreme faction led by the pan-German publisher Alfred Hugenberg had gained more and more influence, and the party sought to win back or retain voters who had been disappointed by its radicalism. The NSDAP had consolidated its position on the extreme right. Electoral system Reichstag (Weimar Republic)#Electoral system The Reichstag was elected via party list proportional representation. For this purpose, the country was divided into 35 multi-member electoral districts. A party was entitled to a seat for every 60,000 votes won. This was calculated via a three-step process on the constituency level, an intermediate level which combined multiple constituencies, and finally nationwide, where all parties' excess votes were combined. In the third nationwide step, parties could not be awarded more seats than they had already won on the two lower constituency levels. Due to the fixed number of votes per seat, the size of the Reichstag fluctuated between elections based on the number of voters.Aleskerov F. Holler M.J. Kamalova R. 21 February 2013 Power distribution in the Weimar Reichstag in 1919–1933 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10479-013-1325-4 Annals of Operations Research 215 April 2014 25–37 10.1007/s10479-013-1325-4 subscription The voting age was 20 years. People who were incapacitated according to the Civil Code, who were under guardianship or provisional guardianship, or who had lost their civil rights after a criminal court ruling were not eligible to vote.Reichswahlgesetz. Vom 27. April 1920 Reich Electoral Law of 27 April 1920 http://www.documentarchiv.de/wr/1920/reichswahlgesetz_1920.html 16 February 2025 document Archiv de Results The results were a defeat for the parties of the ruling centre-right. The DNVP particularly suffered, falling to 14% of the vote and losing 30 seats. The German Democratic Party and the conservative German People's Party had more modest losses of seven and six seats respectively. The Catholic Centre Party, which lost eight seats, saw a decline in its Reichstag membership for the first time since 1920. The winners of the election were the parties of the left. The SPD, in opposition since 1923, won 30% of the vote, up 5.5% since the previous election. The Communist Party also improved, to 10.6% from 8.9%. Much of the bourgeois and conservative electorate turned to small parties representing special interests, including the Reich Party of the German Middle Class (Economic Party) with 23 seats, the Christian National Peasants' and Farmers' Party (Landvolk Party) with 9 seats and the Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation (People's Justice Party) with 2 seats.File:Germany_Reichstag_1928.svg Social Democratic Party 9152979 +3.74 153 +22 German National People's Party 4381563 −6.24 73 −30 Centre Party 3712152 −1.53 61 −8 Communist Party of Germany 3264793 +1.68 54 +9 German People's Party 2679703 −1.36 45 −6 German Democratic Party 1479374 −1.53 25 −7 Reich Party of the German Middle Class 1387602 +2.22 23 +11 Bavarian People's Party 945644 −0.67 17 −2 Nazi Party 810127 −0.37 12 −2 Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party 571891 New 9 New Reich Party for Civil Rights and Deflation 509471 New 2 New German Farmers' Party 481254 New 8 New Völkisch-National Bloc 266370 New 0 New Agricultural League 199548 −1.00 3 −5 German-Hanoverian Party 195555 −0.22 4 0 Saxon Peasants 127700 New 2 New #11960B Christian Social Reich Party 110704 New 0 New Left Communists 80405 New 0 New Old Social Democratic Party of Germany 65775 New 0 New Polish People's Party 64753 −0.06 0 0 Evangelical Party of Germany 52488 New 0 New German Social Party 46047 −0.38 0 0 General People's Party 37373 New 0 New German House and Property Owners' Party 35846 New 0 New Independent Social Democratic Party 20815 −0.26 0 0 Evangelical Community Spirit 10709 New 0 New Christian National Middle Class Party 9957 New 0 New Pastor Greber Party 9527 New 0 New Revaluation and Construction Party 8562 New 0 New German Reich Bloc of the Injured 7437 New 0 New Reich Party for Crafts, Trade and Business 6614 New 0 New People's Welfare Party 6071 New 0 New Franconian Peasants 3417 New 0 New Wendish People's Party 3111 −0.01 0 0 Party for Justice and Tenant Protection 2831 New 0 New Schleswig Club 2435 −0.01 0 0 German Christian Folk Party 901 New 0 New Vital Interests of the Unmarried 873 New 0 New Masurian People's Party 295 New 0 New Lithuanian People's Party 289 New 0 New Friesland 286 New 0 New 412542 –2 41224678 Gonschior.de Aftermath With a strong left wing and splintered right, there was little alternative to a government led by the SPD. Social Democrat Hermann Müller, who had served briefly as chancellor in 1920, was charged with forming a new cabinet. The only viable majority was a great coalition stretching from the SPD to the DVP. Negotiations proved difficult: it took two weeks for the cabinet to be formed and sworn in, and then only as a "cabinet of personalities" rather than a formal coalition. It included ministers from the SPD, DVP, DDP and Bavarian People's Party (BVP). The Centre sent only one minister, Theodor von Guérard, as a so-called "observer". It was not until ten months later, in April 1929, that a coalition agreement could be signed and the Centre Party officially enter the cabinet. The second Müller cabinet was the final democratic government of the Weimar Republic. Its fall in March 1930 marked the end of the parliamentary system and the beginning of the presidential cabinets that preceded the Nazi takeover in 1933. The Centre Party's and Bavarian People's Party's performance in the election raised long term concerns over their futures. The parties had suffered heavy losses but more importantly the parties historic dominance over the Catholic vote had further diminished. Falling from a historical high of 85% in 1870 to 55% in 1912 to only 48% in the 1928 election. This number had been increased by the passage of Woman's Suffrage after World War 1, with only 39% of male Catholic voters supporting the parties in the election. The two parties losses came some several places: middle class voters had defected to the Economic Party, workers in Westphalia and the Rhineland had defected to the SPD, and they had lost support among rural voters. But they all underscored the fundamental problem that an ever increasing amount of German Catholics were prioritizing their economic interests over their religious identity.The German Right, 1918-1930: Political Parties, Organized Interests, and Patriotic Associations in the Struggle Against Weimar Democracy 437 See also Members of the 4th German Reichstag (Weimar Republic) References Works cited Childers Thomas Thomas Childers The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933 University of North Carolina Press 1983 0807815705 Hamilton Richard Who Voted for Hitler? Princeton University Press 1982 0691093954 Orlow Dietrich The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933 University of Pittsburgh Press 1969 822931834 Pollock James James K. Pollock The German Elections of 1928 American Political Science Review American Political Science Association 1928 22 3 698–705 10.2307/1945624 1945624 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1945624 subscription Germany Federal Category:Federal elections in the Weimar Republic Germany