Based on the author's thesis (doctoral)--St. Anthony's College, Oxford, 1998.

'It should look democratic--' : the German communists and the birth of the SED -- Nationwide goals and zonal priorities : the KPD/SED and the German question from Potsdam to Bizonia -- Between hope and despair : the SED and the consolidation of the SBZ -- Unity postponed : the SED and the founding of the GDR -- Retreat and retrenchment : the SED and the German question in the early 1950s.