Expellee political power rested on refusing to commit to a major party
Evidence
In 1949, expellees left the ‘people’s parties’ – the CDU/CSU and SPD – in droves and supported, mostly as voters, their newly founded own special interest party, the BHE. Instead of organizing themselves in political parties, they did so in expellee organizations. In the 1950s their persistently interest-driven politics were successful precisely because they did not commit themselves to one major party. At the same time this impeded their integration, underscoring their interests as expellees and not as ordinary Germans. — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 761
Categorization
- XREF: Directly parallels the reader’s core question about the BHE party engine of unmet grievance producing solidarity — a special-interest party thrives by remaining unsullied by general politics. — connects to: Once expellees integrated, their protests lost power to influence party loyalties — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 760; Expellee groups could veto policy options but not shape policy positively — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 178; Expellees integrated into the SPD lost their group-based identity politics — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 751 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Once expellees integrated, their protests lost power to influence party loyalties
#expands(0.85) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 760 - Expellees integrated into the SPD lost their group-based identity politics
#expands(0.85) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 751 - Expellee groups could veto policy options but not shape policy positively
#complicates(0.80) — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 178