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The second constitution of the GDR was ratified by popular referendum on 6 April 1968 to better reflect the Communist roots of the GDR as well as the political rule of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) . It entered into force on 9 April 1968. Article 1 of the 1968 constitution began with the words, "The German Democratic Republic is a socialist state of the German nation. It is the political organization of the workers in the cities and in the countryside, who jointly under the leadership of the working class and their Marxist-Leninist party will realize Socialism."

With the rise of Erich Honecker in May 1971 and the increasing international recognition of the GDR, the regime attempted to abandon the concept that the GDR was part of a larger German nation; instead, the policy of ''Abgrenzung'' (separation) was instituted, with the desired effect of creating a separate GDR national identity. As a result, the 1968 constitution was amended by the Volkskammer on 27 September 1974 to delete the reference to the German nation and to further increase the emphasis on solidarity and friendship with the Soviet Union . In practice, however, ties between East Germans and their West German countrymen increased, in part due to the policies of Detente followed by both East and West during the 1970s.

Article 1 of the 1974 constitution began with the words, "The German Democratic Republic is a socialist state of workers and farmers. It is the political organization of the workers in the cities and in the countryside under the leadership of the working class and their Marxist-Leninist party."

In April 1990 , the democratic forum ''Runder Tisch'' (Round Table) developed a proposal for a new GDR constitution to reflect the democratic changes that swept across the GDR following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 , however, by that time, the newly freely-elected '' Volkskammer '' (parliament) was moving in the direction of outright unification with the Federal Republic, and so the draft constitution went nowhere.


SEE ALSO


Constitutions of Germany




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