Seeheimer Kreis

The Seeheimer Kreis (German for "Seeheim Circle")) is an official internal grouping in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The group describes itself as "undogmatic and pragmatic", generally taking relatively liberal economic positions.

It was founded in September 1974. One of the prominent founding members is Gesine Schwan, a former SPD candidate for the German Presidency. The group is led by Petra Ernstberger, Carsten Schneider, and Johannes Kahrs. The Circle is named after their long-standing meeting place, Seeheim (Bergstraße) a short distance to the south of Frankfurt.

In the 1950s, a group of conservative or traditional members of the SPD met regularly in an informal group known as the Kanalarbeiter (Canal Workers). They were considered to be one of the most influential groups within the larger Social Democratic Party.

The most prominent members of the Canal Workers were Egon Franke and Annemarie Renger. Annemarie Renger's membership shows that the lineage of the national wing of the Social Democrats goes even further back in history, as Renger's former employer was Kurt Schumacher, who through his Doctoral Advisor Johann Plenge could claim a connection all the way to the Lensch-Cunow-Haenisch-Gruppe, established during the First World War.

Parallel to the development of the Canal Workers, starting in 1969 an additional conservative grouping within the SPD was initiated by Günther Metzger, known as the Metzger Circle, which soon developed in 1972 into the Arbeitskreis Linke Mitte (Centre Left Work Circle), which can be considered the forerunner of today's Seeheim Circle. In the course of the late 1960s leftward shift of the Jusos, the youth organization of the Social Democrats, the left wing of the SPD increased in influence and numbers.

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