Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19000-4055, Berlin, Leipziger Straße, Deutsche Wirtschaftskommission

The State Planning Commission (SPC) (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Staatliche Plankommission'') was a central state authority of the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

for planning, coordinating and proportional development of all sectors of the economy, public education and other areas of public life in the districts and for solving the most important economic tasks. In the central administrative economy of the GDR, it was responsible for the coordination, elaboration and control of the medium-term perspective plans (five-year plan) and the annual economic plans derived from them. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-63611-0001, Chemie im Siebenjahrplan

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-63611-0001, Chemie im Siebenjahrplan

The chairmen of the State Planning Commission had ministerial rank.

Heinrich Rau Heinrich Gottlob "Heiner" Rau (2 April 1899 – 23 March 1961) was a German communist politician during the time of the Weimar Republic; subsequently, during the Spanish Civil War, he was a leading member of the International Brigades and after ...

was the first chairman of SPC in 1950–1952.

Overview

The State Planning Commission emerged from the Ministry of Planning in 1950. The

state-owned enterprises A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

, agricultural production cooperatives, etc. — each had to defend their plans in front of the planning commission responsible for them. The companies had to regularly document the implementation of the planned services with a large number of plan indicators. Monitoring the fulfillment of the plan was carried out at all levels in parallel by the party organs of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germ ...

, which were authorized to issue instructions to the state leaders. The annual national economic plan passed by the People's Chamber had the force of law. Verifiable violations of the plan discipline could lead to sanctions (fines) for the company. Since almost all company leaders were also members of the

, they could be expelled from the party as a result of not delivering of the state plans. At the intergovernmental level, the SPC coordinated the plans of the GDR with the countries of the

Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along wi ...

Block. For this purpose the East German government agreements were concluded within the framework of socialist economic integration. The SPC was based in the former building of the

Prussian Landtag The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representa ...

(state parliament) at the address

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmarkt in the east. Part of the Bundesstra ...

5–7 in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreu ...

district .

References

{{reflist 1950 establishments Economic planning Economy of East Germany