First Cabinet of Gustav Stresemann | |
---|---|
8th Cabinet of Weimar Germany | |
13 August 1923 – 3 October 1923 (until 6 October 1923 as caretaker government) | |
Date formed | 13 August 1923 |
Date dissolved | 6 October 1923 (1 month and 23 days) |
People and organisations | |
President | Friedrich Ebert |
Chancellor | Gustav Stresemann |
Vice Chancellor | Robert Schmidt |
Member parties | German People's Party Social Democratic Party Centre Party German Democratic Party |
Status in legislature | Majority coalition government 354/459 (77%) |
Opposition parties | German National People's Party Communist Party of Germany |
History | |
Election | 1920 federal election |
Legislature term | 1st Reichstag of the Weimar Republic |
Predecessor | Cuno cabinet |
Successor | Second Stresemann cabinet |
The first Stresemann cabinet, headed by Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party (DVP), was the eighth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. The cabinet took office on 13 August 1923 when it replaced the Cuno cabinet under Wilhelm Cuno, which had resigned following a call by the Social Democratic Party for a vote of no confidence which Cuno knew he could not win.
The four centre-left to centre parties in Stresemann's coalition did not have a formal coalition agreement, and the Reichstag was not in session during most of the cabinet's short tenure. That led to the use of emergency decrees to handle Germany's economic problems and to fight the move towards a right-wing dictatorship in Bavaria.
The cabinet resigned late on 3 October 1923 over a disagreement on increasing working hours for key industrial labourers and was replaced on 6 October by a second Stresemann cabinet.
The Cuno cabinet resigned largely due to dissatisfaction over the way it had handled the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops in January 1923. Its resignation was officially transmitted to President Friedrich Ebert late on 12 August 1923. At roughly the same time, Ebert asked the chairman of the German People's Party (DVP), Gustav Stresemann, to form a new government. On the evening of 13 August, Ebert appointed Stresemann chancellor. At that point the list of ministers for the new cabinet was mostly completed. It was the fastest formation of a government between the replacement of the Weimar National Assembly by the Reichstag in 1920 and the period of the presidential cabinets that began in 1930. The first cabinet meeting took place on 14 August, within 36 hours of Cuno's resignation. [1]
Stresemann's cabinet was based on a grand coalition of the DVP, Social Democrats, Centre Party and German Democratic Party (DDP). There was no coalition agreement, and the government declaration of 14 August did not offer a political program. The most pressing tasks for the government were stabilising the currency and solving the related problem of the occupied territories. After the Ruhr occupation, the Cuno government had increasingly resorted to printing money in order to finance the extra spending and replace the loss of tax revenue caused by the government's policy of passive resistance against the occupation. As a result, the already high rate of inflation spiked. By the summer, the resulting collapse of the mark in the currency markets led to shortages of foreign currencies to pay for vital food imports. [1]
The members of the cabinet were as follows: [2] [lower-alpha 1]
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chancellorship | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | DVP | ||
Vice-Chancellorship | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | SPD | ||
Foreign Affairs | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | DVP | ||
Interior | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | SPD | ||
Justice | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | SPD | ||
Labour | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | Centre | ||
Reichswehr | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | DDP | ||
Economic Affairs | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | DVP | ||
Finance | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | SPD | ||
Food and Agriculture | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | Independent | ||
Transport | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | DDP | ||
Postal Affairs | 29 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | Centre | ||
Reconstruction | 29 March 1923 | 6 October 1923 | SPD | ||
Occupied Territories | 13 August 1923 | 6 October 1923 | Centre |
From 15 August to 27 September, the Reichstag was not in session. During that time, the government relied on Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which allowed the president to issue emergency decrees with the consent of the chancellor. [1]
In the cabinet meeting of 30 September, the government discussed the necessity of a further transfer of power from parliament to the cabinet. In particular, the situation in Bavaria – which was moving towards a right-wing dictatorship under State Commissioner Gustav Ritter von Kahr – gave rise to concern over Germany's unity. Several cabinet members argued in favour of a far-reaching independence of the government from the political parties, but the Reichstag party groups refused to cooperate. There was consensus on the need to put an extra burden both on wealth and on workers by extending working hours from the current norm of an eight-hour workday and a six-day working week (seven hours in the crucial coal industry), although the extent and manner of increasing working hours was a matter of controversy. [1]
On 1 October, the cabinet agreed on the need for an enabling act that would give the government wide-ranging powers not just in the financial and economic sphere but also allow it to increase working hours in industries it considered vital. The next day, however, the party leaders clashed on the issue. Hermann Müller, chairman of the SPD, with an eye towards the unions and political competition from the Communist Party (KPD), argued against it. Ernst Scholz of the DVP demanded a decree raising working hours in addition to including the right-wing German National People's Party (DNVP) in the government. [1]
The increase in the working day was included in the government proclamation of 2 October. The enabling act was to be limited to financial and economic issues, with the understanding that the latter would encompass social measures. The Reichstag SPD party membership refused to agree and insisted on the parliament's involvement in changes to working hours. The DDP and Centre Party were willing to go along. Hans Luther (an independent) and Otto Gessler (DDP) were opposed, with the latter arguing against the asymmetry of "burdening wealth by decree, but the working class only by law". Stresemann tried and failed to win agreement from his party. As a result, the cabinet resigned late on 3 October. It was followed by a reshuffled cabinet, led once again by Stresemann, on 6 October. [1]
The German People's Party was a conservative-liberal political party during the Weimar Republic that was the successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire. Along with the left-liberal German Democratic Party (DDP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933.
Hermann Müller was a German Social Democratic politician who served as foreign minister (1919–1920) and was twice chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Wilhelm Carl Josef Cuno was a German businessman and politician who was the chancellor of Germany from 1922 to 1923 for a total of 264 days. His tenure included the beginning of the occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops and the period in which inflation in Germany accelerated towards hyperinflation.
Wilhelm Marx was a German judge, politician and member of the Catholic Centre Party. During the Weimar Republic he was the chancellor of Germany twice, from 1923 to 1925 and from 1926 to 1928, and served briefly as the minister president of Prussia in 1925. With a total of 3 years and 73 days, he was the longest-serving chancellor during the Weimar Republic.
Karl Rudolf Heinze was a German jurist and politician. During the Weimar Republic, as a member of the right-of-centre German People's Party (DVP) he was vice-chancellor of Germany and minister of Justice in 1920/21 in the cabinet of Constantin Fehrenbach and from 1922 to 1923 again minister of Justice under Wilhelm Cuno.
The Great Coalition was a grand coalition during the Weimar Republic that was made up of the four main pro-democratic parties in the Reichstag:
The Scheidemann cabinet, headed by Minister President Philipp Scheidemann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was Germany's first democratically elected national government. It took office on 13 February 1919, three months after the collapse of the German Empire following Germany's defeat in World War I. Although the Weimar Constitution was not in force yet, it is generally counted as the first government of the Weimar Republic.
The Bauer cabinet, headed by Gustav Bauer of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was the second democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. Bauer's title was minister president until the Weimar Constitution came into force on 14 August 1919, after which he became chancellor of Germany. The cabinet took office on 21 June 1919 when it replaced the Scheidemann cabinet, which had resigned the day before in protest against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Although the Weimar Constitution was not in force at the time, the Bauer cabinet is generally counted as the second government of the Weimar Republic.
The first Müller cabinet, headed by Chancellor Hermann Müller of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was the third democratically elected government of Germany and the second in office after the Weimar Constitution came into force in August 1919. The cabinet was based on the same three centre-left parties as the preceding Bauer cabinet: the SPD, Centre Party and German Democratic Party (DDP), a grouping known as the Weimar Coalition. It was formed on 27 March 1920 after the government of Gustav Bauer (SPD) resigned as a result of the unsuccessful Kapp Putsch, which it was seen as having handled badly.
The Fehrenbach cabinet, headed by Chancellor Constantin Fehrenbach of the Centre Party, was the fourth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It took office on 25 June 1920 when it replaced the first cabinet of Hermann Müller, which had resigned due to the poor showing of the coalition parties in the June 1920 elections to the new Reichstag. The 1920 Reichstag replaced the Weimar National Assembly, which had served as Germany's interim parliament and written and approved the Weimar Constitution.
The first Wirth cabinet, headed by Chancellor Joseph Wirth of the Centre Party, was the fifth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. On 10 May 1921 it replaced the Fehrenbach cabinet, which had resigned as a result of differing opinions among its members over the payment of war reparations to the Allied powers. It was based on the Weimar Coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Centre Party and the German Democratic Party (DDP).
The second Wirth cabinet, headed by Joseph Wirth of the Centre Party, was the sixth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It assumed office on 26 October 1921 when it replaced the first Wirth cabinet, which resigned in protest after the industrially important eastern part of Upper Silesia was awarded to Poland even though the majority of its inhabitants had voted in a plebiscite to remain part of Germany.
The Cuno cabinet, headed by Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, a political independent, was the seventh democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It took office on 22 November 1922 when it replaced the second cabinet of Joseph Wirth, which had resigned after being unable to restructure its coalition following the loss of a key vote in the Reichstag.
The second Stresemann cabinet, headed by Chancellor Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party (DVP), was the ninth democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It took office on 6 October 1923 when it replaced the first Stresemann cabinet, which had resigned on 3 October over internal disagreements related to increasing working hours in vital industries above the eight-hour per day norm. The new cabinet was a majority coalition of four parties from the moderate left to centre-right.
The first Marx cabinet, headed by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party, was the tenth democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. It took office on 30 November 1923 when it replaced the Second Stresemann cabinet, which had resigned on 23 November after the Social Democratic Party (SPD) withdrew from the coalition. Marx's new cabinet was a minority coalition of three centre to centre-right parties.
The second Marx cabinet, headed by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party, was the 11th democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. It took office on 3 June 1924 when it replaced the first Marx cabinet, which had resigned on 26 May following the unfavourable results of the May 1924 Reichstag election. The new cabinet, made up of the Centre Party, German People's Party (DVP) and German Democratic Party (DDP), was unchanged from the previous one. The three coalition parties ranged politically from centre-left to centre-right.
The first Luther cabinet, headed by the political independent Hans Luther, was the 12th democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. It took office on 15 January 1925, replacing the second cabinet of Wilhelm Marx, which had resigned when Marx was unable to form a new coalition following the December 1924 Reichstag election. Luther's cabinet was made up of a loose coalition of five parties ranging from the German Democratic Party (DDP) on the left to the German National People's Party (DNVP) on the right.
The second Luther cabinet, headed by the independent Hans Luther, was the 13th democratically elected government of the Weimar Republic. On 20 January 1926 it replaced the first Luther cabinet, which had resigned on 5 December 1925 following the withdrawal of the German National People's Party (DNVP) from the coalition in protest against the government's support of the Locarno Treaties. Luther had wanted to build a more stable majority coalition but had to settle for a second minority government with the same parties as his first cabinet but without the DNVP.
The third Marx cabinet, headed by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party, was the 14th democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. On 17 May 1926 it replaced the second Luther cabinet after the resignation of Chancellor Hans Luther (independent) four days earlier. The Reichstag had passed a vote of censure against him for supporting a decree that permitted flying a German trade flag with the colours of the former German Empire in certain mostly overseas locations. The new Marx cabinet was a four-party centrist minority government.
The fourth Marx cabinet, headed by Wilhelm Marx of the Centre Party, was the 15th democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. On 29 January 1927 it replaced the third Marx cabinet, which had resigned after information concerning clandestine operations by Germany's armed forces, the Reichswehr, had come to light.
.