Dropping the Pilot

In their quest for power, West Germany's Social Democrats have depended for nearly two decades on the guidance of Herbert Wehner, a brusque, brilliant tactician whose devotion to the Socialist cause is equaled only by his towering rage at any dissent within his party. Second in the hierarchy after Party Leader Willy Brandt, Wehner formulated the policy that has shaped the party's destiny, including the decision to join the rival Christian Democrats in West Germany's historic Grand Coalition. Last week, in a move that was certain to have profound effects not only on the party but also on the workings of the West German government, the Social Democrats stripped Wehner of his role as chief party strategist. "Who am I to give advice?" cried a hurt Wehner. "I am just a renegade!"

In his role of back-room Moses, Wehner led the Social Democrats out of their postwar desert of opposition into full participation in government. A onetime Communist who broke with his Red masters during World War II, Wehner perceived in the 1950s that the Social Democrats' Marxist shibboleths and anti-everything attitude left them locked in what he called the "30% ghetto," unable to attract a wider following among West German voters. With characteristic iron will power, he set about remolding his party into one that would appeal to all Germans.

No Thanks. Wehner succeeded so well that in the 1965 national elections, even though the ruling Christian Democrats carried the day, the Social Democrats attracted a high enough percentage of the votes--39.3%--to give them serious thoughts about some day coming to power. In December 1966, Wehner led his party into a coalition with the Christian Democrats as its final preparation in the art of government.

The Socialists in Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger's red-black Cabinet have provided the thrust for most of the Grand Coalition's major advances; Socialist ministers halted West Germany's first postwar recession, initiated a bold new foreign policy toward the East Bloc, and presented the first full-scale revision of Germany's outmoded penal code in a century. Ironically, Social Democrats got no thanks from the West German voters, who seem to give the credit for the Grand Coalition's successes to the Christian Democrats. In fact, by joining the government, the Social Democrats have sacrificed the protest vote, which has ominously shifted mainly to the far-right National Democrats. In the past 15 months, the Social Democrats have lost ground in six successive state elections, slipping to a bare 29% of the vote in the most recent test in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Inevitably, the blame centered on Wehner. Last March, outside the hall in Nuernberg where the Socialists were holding their convention, a mob of young party dissidents attacked Wehner, loosening a tooth and knocking off his glasses. Since then, hecklers have hounded him at nearly every speech with cries of "Labor traitor" and "Fascist." Erupting in fierce outbursts, Wehner has replied in kind, calling his detractors "Communists," and warning that their leftist attacks against the party's moderate policies would only encourage the growth of the new rightist extremists. "As you bellow into the German forest," he declared repeatedly, "so will it answer back."

Curing the Sniffles. The party's answer to Wehner, 61 and ill with diabetes, was a shift designed to reduce his influence. In the newly created post of party general manager, Brandt installed a trusted helper, Hans-Juergen Wischnewski, 45. Now the minister for aid to developing countries, he will take over from Wehner the responsibility for getting the party into shape for next year's national elections. The appointment also meant that the Social Democrats, who under Wehner's influence have played down their differences with the Christian Democrats in the Grand Coalition, now intend to play them up in order to impress voters with what they are doing in Bonn. Explained Brandt: "In Germany, when the Social Democrats have a slight cold, it can turn into a serious pneumonia for democracy"--a reference to the fact that in the Weimar Republic, the decline of the Social Democrats coincided with the rise of the Nazis. By sidetracking Wehner, Brandt hoped to cure his party's sniffles--and ensure the continuance of two healthy parties in West Germany.

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