West Germany Schizophrenia in the Ranks

By Thomas A. Sancton

There was something schizophrenic about last week's Social Democratic Party congress in Nuremberg. On one hand the 430 delegates overwhelmingly endorsed a moderate, Johannes Rau, 55, as their candidate for Chancellor in next January's general election. On the other, they saddled him with a left-leaning party platform that called for, among other things, the total phase-out of nuclear energy, the withdrawal of NATO missiles from West Germany, the formation of "partnerships for peace" with the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe, and the reorganization of the West German army in order to "render it incapable of offensive action."

Rau, who has little personal influence within the S.P.D. leadership, faithfully echoed the party line in a 90-minute speech on the second day of the conference. "Our goal," he said, "is a European peace order that goes beyond the (East-West) blocs and finally overcomes them." Calling for a "nuclear-free corridor in Central Europe," he demanded the withdrawal from West Germany of NATO's U.S.-built Pershing and cruise missiles as well as a pullout from Eastern Europe of Moscow's tactical missiles and a "drastic reduction" in Soviet SS-20 medium-range rockets. He promised, if elected, to cut the defense budget and cancel plans for West German participation in the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars. He also vowed to "stop nuclear energy production in stages." Turning to economic and social issues, Rau condemned the ruling conservative coalition of Chancellor Helmut Kohl for creating a "new poor" class and promised to fight unemployment, currently at 8.6%. His speech was rewarded with applause but no foot-stomping exuberance.

Nor was there much enthusiasm for former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's admonition that Rau "will need your solidarity and self-discipline to win." The delegates' tepid response seemed emblematic of the near-total exclusion of Schmidt's moderate, pragmatic faction from the party leadership since he ) resigned as the Social Democratic vice chairman in 1983. Since then, Schmidt's pro-NATO, anti-Communist views have been eclipsed by party chairman and ex- Chancellor Willy Brandt's policies, which are based on the view that the Soviet Union poses no military threat to Western Europe. If there is a threat of war in Europe, in Brandt's opinion, it stems from the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons in West Germany. As Brandt noted in his keynote speech last week, "the interests of our people are not served by people who say 'amen' when Washington prays."

Rau, who has won two five-year terms as minister-president of his native North Rhine-Westphalia, faces an uphill battle for the chancellorship. Polls taken before last week's congress gave Kohl's conservative-liberal coalition 51%, a ten-point lead over the S.P.D. The Chancellor's main source of strength is a solid economic record that, despite high unemployment, boasts zero inflation, a 3.5% growth rate and a $25 billion trade surplus during the first six months of the year. In personal appeal, Rau, who married only four years ago, has two young children and whose wife is expecting a third, might have an advantage over the rather stodgy, solemn-faced Kohl. But the cumulative effect of his party's platform, particularly the prospect of much higher energy costs if nuclear power is scrapped, will almost certainly prove costly to Rau.

With reporting by William Rademaekers/Nuremberg