The seminar is coordinated by Francesca Traldi, a researcher at the Centre for German-Italian Historical Studies, and is being held on Thursday, 18 June 2009 at 3:00 pm at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Via Santa Croce 77, in Trento.

(m.l.) It was 1959 when the delegates of the SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) came to Bad Godesberg, a town near Bonn (West Germany), from 13 to 15 November to discuss the old programme of Heidelberg (1925). There, they renounced Karl Marx’s notion and embraced the social market economy. This is the background.
Fifty years on, historians are now asking what remains of the momentous decision that brought reformism to the key socio-democratic political parties in Western Europe.
What was reformism in those years and what were its roots? The seminar will explore these questions and seek answers. Open to the public and organized by the Centre for German-Italian Historical Studies at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler, the seminar will be held on 18 June, in the conference hall of Via S. Croce 77 in Trento.
The programme includes an opening address by the director of the Centre for German-Italian Historical Studies, Gian Enrico Rusconi at 3:00 pm; afterwards FBK researcher, Francesca Traldi, an expert on the history of the German SPD and Italian PSI, will discuss “La mancata Bad Godesberg italiana”. The seminar will continue with a discussion led by Patrik Von Zur Muhlen of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung of Bonn “Der Einfluss des deutschen Exils auf das Godesberger Programm” (in German) and Nicola D’Elia (FBK – German-Italian Historical Studies researcher) on “La socialdemocrazia tedesca da Gotha  a Bad Godesberg”.
Prof. Paolo Pombeni, of the University of Bologna, will moderate the closing debate.
ABSTRACT OF THE SEMINAR (by Francesca Traldi - FBK)
The twenty-five years between World War II and the 1960s revolutionized the political and economic landscape of Western Europe. The economic miracle and the second Industrial Revolution changed the political identity of the social democratic parties. In Italy, the long run up to the entry of the Italian Socialist Party into government significantly slowed the race toward reform, which lost much of its early head of steam.
By reconstructing the path taken by the SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, the Social Democratic Party in Germany) toward Bad Godesberg, this seminar aims to reflect on the Italian case of “impossible reformism” to understand if and how a culture of government formed in Italy instituted to make reformist design, that would implement great changes.
Finally, asking what remains today of Bad Godesberg leads us to trace back the relationships between the socialist parties of Western Europe and capitalism. Policies such as economic planning and school reforms were the tools with which the social democratic reformist forces in Italy and Germany attempted to overturn the relationships of strength in the political system, to rise to power.

THE ROADS TO REFORMISM OF GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 1959-2009: WHAT REMAINS OF BAD GODESBERG?
3:00 pm  Opening address by the Director of FBK – German-Italian Historical Studies
GIAN ENRICO RUSCONI
La mancata Bad Godesberg italiana
FRANCESCA TRALDI (FBK – German-Italian Historical Studies)
Der Einfluss des deutschen Exils auf das Godesberger Programm
PATRICK VON ZUR MUHLEN (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - Bonn)
La Socialdemocrazia tedesca da Gotha a Bad Godesberg
NICOLA D’ELIA (FBK – German-Italian Historical Studies )
Debate moderated by
PAOLO POMBENI (University of Bologna)
Link to the seminar programme and the brochure in PDF format