A party in disarray

摘要

Germany's Social Democratic Party (spd) has a proud 145-year history. It mobilised Wilhelmine-era workers, opposed the Nazis and may have helped soften the iron curtain. Now it just looks old. In June its membership slumped below that of the Christian Democratic Union (cdu), its centre-right partner in Germany's "grand coalition", for the first time ever. A year before the next federal election, barely a fifth of voters back it (see chart). Its leader, Kurt Beck, is almost a laughingstock. "It's certainly a difficult situation", concedes Niels Annen, an spd parliamentarian, mildly.rnSome of the spd's ills are shared with the cdu, which is also losing members (if not as fast); both have long been losing support to smaller outfits.