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'''Joshua Lionel Cowen''' ([[August 25]], [[1877]]-[[September 8]], [[1965]]), born '''Joshua Lionel Cohen''', was an American inventor and the cofounder of [[Lionel Corporation]], a manufacturer of [[model railway|model railroads]] and [[toy train]]s.
{{Politics of Germany}}
[[image:Spd-logo.png|left]]
The '''Social Democratic Party of Germany''' (SPD – ''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands)'' is the second oldest [[political party]] of [[Germany]] still in existence and also one of the oldest and largest in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2003. Rooted in the workers' movement, it is left-of-center and subscribes to [[social democracy]].
The eighth of nine children of [[Jew]]ish immigrants and a college dropout (he enrolled both at [[Columbia University]] and the [[City College of New York]]), Cowen received his first patent in 1899, for a device that ignited a photographer's flash. The same year, Cowen received a defense contract from the [[United States Navy]] to produce mine fuses that netted him $12,000. The following year, Cowen and one of his partners founded Lionel Corporation in [[New York City]].
The SPD is a member party of the [[Socialist International]].
[[Energizer Holdings]]
Cowen had built his first toy train at age 7, attaching a small steam engine to a wooden locomotive he had carved. The engine exploded, damaging his parents' kitchen. Cowen also accidentally invented the flashlight in 1898, attaching small canisters containing batteries and light bulbs to a flower pot for the purpose of illuminating the plant. The invention was a flop, and Cowen gave the invention to [[Conrad Hubert]], who decided to try selling the lights without the flower pot. Dubbed the ''Eveready Flashlight,'' it became a resounding success that made Hubert a multimillionaire.
Cowen sold his first electric train in 1901 to a store owner in Manhattan, intending to use the train to call attention to other merchandise. The store owner returned the next day to order six more trains, because customers wanted to buy the store display. By 1902, Lionel was primarily a toy train manufacturer.
Members of the party who are younger than 35 are organized in the [[Jusos]].
Although Cowen often gave his birthdate as 1880, he was actually born three years earlier, and Cowen [legally] changed the spelling of his last name from the original ''Cohen'' in 1910.
== History ==
The party considers itself to be founded on [[May 23]], [[1863]], by [[Ferdinand Lassalle]] under the name ''Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein'' (ADAV, [[General German Workers' Association]]). In [[1869]], [[August Bebel]] and [[Wilhelm Liebknecht]] founded the ''Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei'' (SDAP, [[Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany]]), which merged with the ADAV in 1875. [[Otto von Bismarck]] had the party outlawed for its pro-revolution, anti-monarchy sentiments; but in [[1892]] it was legalized again.
Cowen's marketing [and financial] skills ultimately made him more money than his [talents] at invention. The tradition linking toy trains to [[Christmas]][ originated in Germany in the mid 1800's.] [It was expanded] by Cowen, who in the 1920's convinced the owners of large department stores to incorporate elaborate train setups [which he provided] around their large [[Christmas tree]] displays, hoping to [increase] demand among small boys for toy trains as Christmas gifts. Lionel was soon the largest of three American toy train manufacturers, and for a short time in the early 1950s, Lionel was the largest toy manufacturer in the world. However, by the mid-1950s, public interest had shifted from trains to [[fixed-wing aircraft|airplane]]s and [[slot cars]]s.
[[image:Spd-poster-1932.jpg|thumb|200px|left|SPD election poster, 1932. Translation: "Against [[Franz von Papen|Papen]], [[Hitler]], [[Ernst Thälmann|Thälmann]]; List 2, Social Democrats"]]
After [[World War I]], the Social Democratic Party and the newly founded [[Communist Party of Germany]] (which consisted mostly of SPD defectors) became bitter rivals, not least because of the legacy of the [[German Revolution]] (see [[Weimar Republic]]). The leader of the Prussian government in Berlin, socialist [[Otto Braun]] was ousted by military coup on July 20, 1932 and the party was banned by the [[Nazis]] in 1933. It takes a certain pride in being the only party that voted against the 1933 [[Enabling Act]].
Cowen retired in 1959, selling his [remaining]55,000 shares of Lionel stock to his great-nephew [[Roy Cohn Esq.]][Sen. Josph Mc Carthy's legal counsel in the famed Army-McCarthy Senate hearings] . He died in 1965 in [[Palm Beach, Florida]]. He is buried in [[Brooklyn, New York]].
The SPD was recreated after [[World War II]]. In [[West Germany]], it was initially in the opposition, but led the federal government under [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellors]] [[Willy Brandt]] and [[Helmut Schmidt]] from [[1969]] until [[1982]]. In its [[1959]] [[Godesberg Program]] the SPD abandoned the concept of a class party and [[Marxist]] principles while continuing to stress social welfare programs. Although the SPD originally opposed West Germany's 1955 entry into [[NATO]], it now strongly supports German ties with the alliance.
[[Category:1877 births|Cowen, Joshua]]
In the Russian sector which later became [[East Germany]], the Social Democratic Party and the [[Communist Party of Germany]] were forced to merge to form the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)]]. During the fall of Communist rule in [[1989]], the SPD was re-established as a separate party in East Germany and then merged with its West German counterpart upon reunification.
[[Category:1965 deaths|Cowen, Joshua]]
[[Category:Toy inventors|Cowen, Joshua]]
{{PoliticsGermany}}
== Current issues ==
Led by [[Gerhard Schröder]] on a moderate platform emphasizing the need to reduce unemployment, the SPD emerged as the strongest party in the [[German federal election, 1998|September 1998 elections]] with 40.9% of the votes cast. Crucial for this success was the SPD's strong base in big cities and ''Bundesländer'' with traditional industries. Forming a [[coalition government]] with the [[German_Green_Party|Green Party]], the SPD thus returned to power for the first time since [[1982]].
[[Oskar Lafontaine]], elected SPD chairman November 1995, and having joined the government as minister for economy and finance, resigned from his party and government positions in March 1999. Schröder succeeded Lafontaine as party chairman.
In the [[German federal election, 2002|September 2002 elections]], the SPD reached 38.5% of the national vote, barely ahead of the [[CDU|CDU/CSU]], and was again able to form a government with the help of the [[German_Green_Party|Green Party]]. The European elections of [[2004]] were a disaster for the SPD, marking its worst result in a nationwide election after World War II with only 21.5% of the vote. Earlier the same year, leadership of the SPD had changed from chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]] to [[Franz Müntefering]] in what was widely regarded as an attempt to deal with internal party opposition to the economic reform programs set in march by the federal government.
For many years, membership in the SPD has been declining. Down from a high of over 1 million in 1976, there were about 775,000 members at the time of the 1998 election victory, by [[August 2003]] the figure had dropped to 663,000, and at the end of [[March 2005]] there were less than 600,000 SPD members remaining.
In April 2005, party chairman [[Franz Müntefering]] publicly criticized excessive profiteering in Germany's free market economy and proposed stronger involvement of the federal state in order to promote economic justice. This triggered a debate that dominated the national news for several weeks, being the subject of front-page articles in almost all major periodicals as well as obtaining coverage on the main television news broadcasts on a near-daily basis. Müntefering's suggestions have been criticized by employer organizations and some economists, but have been met with popular support (75% approval in some opinion polls).
In January 2005, some SPD members left the party to found the [[Labor and Social Justice Party]] (WASG) in opposition to what they consider to be [[neoliberal]] leanings displayed by the SPD. By May 2005, several newspapers reported that former SPD chairman [[Oskar Lafontaine]] was planning to join the new party.
==Leading members of the SPD before World War I==
*[[August Bebel]]
*[[Wilhelm Liebknecht]]
*[[Karl Kautsky]]
*[[Eduard Bernstein]]
==Interwar leaders of the SPD==
*[[Friedrich Ebert]]
*[[Philipp Scheidemann]]
*[[Gustav Bauer]]
*[[Hermann Müller]]
==Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party==
*[[August Bebel]] and [[Paul Singer]] 1892-1911
*[[August Bebel]] and [[Hugo Haase]] 1911-1913
*[[Friedrich Ebert]] and [[Hugo Haase]] 1913-1916
*[[Friedrich Ebert]] 1916-1917
*[[Friedrich Ebert]] and [[Philipp Scheidemann]] 1917-1919
*[[Otto Wels]] and [[Hermann Müller]] 1919-1922
*[[Arthur Crispien]], [[Otto Wels]], and [[Hermann Müller]] 1922-1928
*[[Arthur Crispien]] and [[Otto Wels]] 1928-1931
*[[Arthur Crispien]], [[Otto Wels]], and [[Hans Vogel]] 1931-1933
*[[Otto Wels]] and [[Hans Vogel]] in exile 1933-1939
*[[Hans Vogel]] in exile 1939-1945
*[[Kurt Schumacher]] 1946-1952
*[[Erich Ollenhauer]] 1952-1963
*[[Willy Brandt]] 1964-1987
*[[Hans-Jochen Vogel]] 1987-1991
*[[Björn Engholm]] 1991-1993
*[[Johannes Rau]] ''(acting)'' 1993
*[[Rudolf Scharping]] 1993-1995
*[[Oskar Lafontaine]] 1995-1999
*[[Gerhard Schröder]] 1999-2004
*[[Franz Müntefering]] 2004-
==German Chancellors from SPD==
*[[Friedrich Ebert]] 1918
*[[Philipp Scheidemann]] 1919
*[[Gustav Bauer]] 1919-1920
*[[Hermann Müller]] 1920 og 1928-1930
*[[Willy Brandt]] 1969-1974
*[[Helmut Schmidt]] 1974-1982
*[[Gerhard Schröder]] from 1998
==German Presidents from SPD==
*[[Friedrich Ebert]] 1919-1925
*[[Gustav Heinemann]] 1969-1974
*[[Johannes Rau]] 1999-2004
== Related articles ==
* [[Politics of Germany]]
* [[List of political parties in Germany]]
* ''[[Bundestag]]'' (Federal Assembly of Germany)
* [[Weimar Republic]]
== External link ==
* [http://www.spd.de/ Party official website]
[[Category:Political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Social Democratic parties]]
[[da:SPD]]
[[de:Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands]]
[[fr:Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands]]
[[la:Socialis Democratico Factio Germaniae]]
[[nl:Sociaal-Democratische Partij van Duitsland]]
[[ja:ドイツ社会民主党]]
[[no:Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands]]
[[pl:Socjaldemokratyczna Partia Niemiec]]
[[fi:Sosiaalidemokraattinen puolue (Saksa)]]
[[sv:Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands]]
[[zh:德国社会民主党]]
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