Making the Grand Coalition Work

Like a swarm of locusts, five helicopters descended onto the concrete veran da of the shelterlike municipal auditorium in Braunschweig. From one stepped Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger, 63, there to attend the first convention of his Christian Democratic Union since he took office. Kiesinger quickly made it clear that he was also there to take charge. After a two-hour speech, in which he matter-of-factly demanded full control of the party, he was voted in as chairman of the C.D.U. by an overwhelming majority of 423 to 16, replacing Ludwig Erhard. He also, despite early objections, won almost as massive support for Bruno Heck as secretary-general to handle the party's day-to-day affairs. Cried Kiesinger: "I, the Chancellor, require the full support of my party!" The delegates sprang up and gave him a 55-second ovation.

When Kiesinger took office six months ago, taking on the additional job of party leader was the last thing he wanted to do. He changed his mind for the good of his government, which unites the country's two major political parties--the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats--in an unprecedented coalition. In recent weeks, Kiesinger has been worried by the harsh attacks some C.D.U. politicians were making on the Socialists. Furthermore, C.D.U. gains and minor S.P.D. losses in two recent state elections have made the Socialists sensitive to any political maneuvers by their coalition partners. By taking over the party, Kiesinger expects to be able to keep the more rambunctious members of the C.D.U. party under control and thus be able to avert a split in his coalition.

Unlikely Friendship. How are the coalition partners getting along? So far, amazingly well. Burly Franz Josef Strauss, boss of the C.D.U.'s autonomous Bavarian branch, is working smoothly in his post as Economics Minister with Finance Minister Karl Schiller, who is a Socialist. Kiesinger has correct, if cool, relations with Socialist Leader Willy Brandt, who is both Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister. As a whole, the eleven Christian Democrat ministers and nine Socialists have pretty well buried ideological differences in favor of a get-it-done approach.

The key to the coalition's smooth operation is the unlikely friendship between a onetime Nazi functionary and a former Communist underground agent. Kiesinger seldom lets a morning go by without telephoning Herbert Wehner, the Socialists' No. 2 man, who is Minister for All-German Affairs.

Kiesinger checks out all major policy decisions with Wehner, often spends evenings discussing new ideas with him. In fact, many Germans feel that it is Wehner, and not Brandt, who is the real architect of West Germany's new foreign policy, which aims at closer informal ties with East Germany and a general relaxation of tension with the East Bloc.

Crisis of Identity. Holding the coalition together may be harder in the months ahead. In his new role as C.D.U. chairman, and with polls showing that a remarkably high 65% of the German public likes the way he is running the country, Kiesinger has a strong hold on his party. But Wehner faces trouble with the Socialists. An increasing number are complaining that the C.D.U. is getting all the credit for the Grand Coalition's success and that the Social Democrats are so overshadowed by Kiesinger that they are losing their identity as a party.

Realizing this, Kiesinger is trying to go easy on the Socialists when it comes to partisan politics. In the campaign for next week's state elections in Lower Saxony, a traditional Socialist stronghold where the C.D.U. is now expected to make strong gains, he vetoed the use of any slogans that hit too hard at the Socialists and allowed his picture to be used on posters only in the few cities where he actually made appearances. Kiesinger wants his party to win, but not by so much that it would endanger the existence of the unusual experiment in bipartisan politics.

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