German Social Party (German Empire)

The German Social Party (German: Deutschsoziale Partei or DSP) was a right-wing political party active in the German Empire. Also called the Deutschsoziale Antisemitische Partei, the DSP had antisemitism as it ideological basis.

The group was established in 1889 by Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg, already widely known in anti-Semitic circles thanks to his Antisemites' Petition of 1880, his establishment of a short-lived string of discussion clubs called the Deutscher Volksverein and his prominence in the Berlin movement.

The party contested the 1890 Reichstag election with Liebermann von Sonnenberg gaining their only seat. He remained a member of the house until his death in 1911.

The group was strongly influenced by the thoughts of Adolf Stoecker but sought to take his ideas further. Their programme of 1890 called for the "nullification of civil rights laws" as applied to Jews and for the passing of a new Jew law which would treat Jewish Germans as a new category of aliens. Its initial areas of activity were in Bochum and Erfurt.

Vaguely anti-democratic, they sought the gradual elimination of parliament in favour of more of a trades-based system of representation, although these ideas were largely underdeveloped. The DSP also actively supported German colonial expansion, a common feature of contemporary German antisemitic rhetoric that emphasised economic autarky and lebensraum as bulwarks against the Jews.Wilhelm Lattmann, who represented the DSP in the Reichstag, became especially noted for pushing the party's imperialist agenda as well as his attacks on "race-mixing" in the colonies. They also supported protectionism for German artisans, merchants and farmers and were opposed to the free market.

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