56 FRANK BÖSCH AND JENS GIESEKE
average, as was the number of strikes and the scope of the demonstra-
tions. Traditionally, the long-standing resentments held against political
parties by many citizens as well as a trust in the state accounted for this
mediocrity. In the 1970s and 1980s, though, participation in political or-
ganizations and protests in the FRG had jumped to a higher level in inter-
national comparison.^42
This shift even held true for the oldest party with the strongest mem-
bership fi gures, namely the SPD. The transformation of this party is often
described as analogous to the chancellors it produced: whereas Brandt
was seen as the embodiment of a visionary path of reform until 1973,
Schmidt stood for pragmatic crisis management.^43 Given that the SPD
had taken over the reins of the government for the fi rst time, a retreat
into executive authority might have been expected; but, instead, the
party dynamically unfolded its wings. From the mid-1960s, its member-
ship mushroomed by a third in just a decade, topping off at a million in
the mid-1970s and staying at a high level—despite some losses—until
reunifi cation. Above all, young, well-educated people joined its ranks,
eff ectively changing the profi le of the party. The core of the party became
more academic and inclined to debate, moving further left than the party
elite. This constellation led to permanent rifts between the party base,
the parliamentary faction, and the government. The Young Socialists in
particular fueled confl icts over the Radicals Decree and the “Stamokap”
(state monopoly capitalism) theory, which even led to the expulsion of the
youth group’s chairman, Klaus Uwe Benneter, from the party in 1977.^44
At the end of the 1970s, the peace and nuclear issues increasingly mobi-
lized and polarized the Social Democrats. After losing control of the gov-
ernment in 1982, the stronger ties to the peace movement that had been
made under the aegis of Willy Brandt had given the impression that the
party was rather instable in terms of its foreign aff airs agenda.^45
A similar dynamic characterized the development of the trade unions
in the FRG. Membership in the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB), the
main umbrella organization of the German trade unions, rose from six
million to almost eight million in the 1970s and 1980s, but its political
clout increased even more. Since the early 1970s, it had quite success-
fully advocated for higher wages through strikes, similar to the unions in
other Western European countries at the time. On average, West German
wages increased by about twelve percent as a result. The trade unions
continued their insistent campaigns after Kohl became chancellor, gar-
nering broad support for their protests against planned social policy cuts.
What has often been overlooked, however, is that this politicization
process in the 1970s also appeared within the middle classes. The CDU
(Christian Democratic Union) was the party that grew the most strongly