Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) is a social-democratic political party in Germany. At present, it is one of the country's two major contemporary political parties, along with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Established in 1863, the SPD is by far the oldest extant political party represented in the German Parliament and was one of the first Marxist-influenced parties in the world. In recent years, the SPD has been critical of the Socialist International for accepting authoritarian parties. To that end, initiated the founding of the Progressive Alliance international for social-democratic parties on 22 May 2013.

Social Democratic Party of Germany in The Man With the Iron Heart
Even as the U.S. and the U.K. withdrew from their occupation zones in Germany in 1948, the Social Democrats assured the western allies that they would win any future elections. As the SPD had been unable to stop the rise of Adolf Hitler fifteen years before, many in the U.S. were not optimistic about the SPD's chances.