APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3
with the Federal Republic. Membership in the Warsaw Pact followed shortly, as did the Soviet decision to grant "full sovereignty" to East Germany while retaining the right to maintain troops there.
The greater prosperity and stability of West German remained an obsessive attraction to the East Germans - particularly the trained and the educated - who continued to flee to the West in large numbers. By the early 1960s it had become apparent to the leadership that it could not consolidate control over the political and economic system as long as some of the nation's most valuable workers "voted with their feet" and moved west. The erection of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 enabled the government to establish firm control over the society and proceed with overdue economic reforms, which within a decade provided the population with the highest standard of living in Eastern Europe. By the early 1970s East Germany had become the world's ninth largest industrial power - second to the Soviet Union in the eastern bloc - with a concomitant growth in prestige which gave added strength to its demands for recognition as a sovereign state and a voice in international councils.
Ironically, this period of growing accommodation at home and increasing acceptance abroad coincided with the political demise of the veteran Communist leader, Walter Ulbricht, who had guided the destiny of East Germany for 25 years. Despite his reputation as a servant of Moscow, Ulbricht in his later years of rule had incurred Soviet displeasure by appearing to challenge the USSR's ideological supremacy and by creating obstacles to Moscow's strategy of detente with the West, particularly as it applied to West Germany.
Ulbricht's resignation as party leader in May 1971 and the transfer of power to Erich Honecker was accomplished smoothly, reflecting the government's stability and the party's success in tightening its control over practically all aspects of East German life. As the SED's new First Secretary, Honecker typifies the continuity and stability of a regime which has been in power for more than two decades, and which is increasingly confident about its popular support and its right to govern. A lifelong Communist and heir presumptive to Ulbricht for more than a decade, Honecker is a methodical and energetic manager of the party and the interlocking state organizations. He has brought to the top leadership post a more realistic view of economic planning, together with a recognition that domestic political stability requires the leadership to take steps to improve the morale of the people. Thus, the regime has assigned highest priority to raising the "material and cultural living standards" of the East German population, although it has not neglected to stress ideological discipline and the SED's political control over the society.
After almost a quarter of a century of Communist rule even the most intransigent non-Communists in the society have accepted the reality of the existence of a separate East German state and come to terms with the regime and its demands. The resulting process of accommodation has led many East Germans to move from hostility to passive acceptance, and finally toward a degree of positive loyalty and a growing sense of a separate East German national identity. It is difficult to determine with any degree of precision how far this process has gone, but it appears that most East Germans now generally accept the GDR as a separate state for the foreseeable future, approve of some but not all aspects of its social and economic systems, and have developed a sense of distinctiveness from Germans in the Federal Republic.
B. Structure and functioning of the government (U/OU)
Since its founding under the aegis of Soviet occupation authorities in the early postwar years, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) has been the focal point of political and social power. Although the constitution does not define the role of the SED in the state apparatus, in practice all political power is wielded by the SED whose party hierarchy parallels the state organization at all levels. To insure that state organizations execute SED policy, the key posts in both party and government are filled by the most important and powerful party leaders. At the apex is Erich Honecker, both First Secretary of the SED and Chairman of the National Defense Council. Former party leader Walter Ulbricht retains titular leadership in the Council of State as its Chairman, and by this position has remained East Germany's head of state. Politburo member Willi Stoph is Chairman of the Council of Ministers and thus the head of government. SED control is insured down the lowest governmental level.
The first constitution of the German Democratic Republic, drafted in 1949 by a Soviet-sponsored People's Congress (a legislative body chosen from a Communist-approved slate by 66% of the electorate), formed the basis for the USSR's unilateral transformation of the Soviet Zone into the East German state on 7 October 1949. This document has a superficial resemblance to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, but the East Germans strengthened the
2
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3
