Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A akida, jam'iyyar, tun daga kafuwarta, ta bi Marxism-Leninism, haɗuwa da ra'ayoyin asali na masanin falsafa da masanin tattalin arziki Karl Marx, da na Lenin, wanda Joseph Stalin ya gabatar a 1929, wanda aka tsara a matsayin jagorar ra'ayin jam'iyyar kuma ya kasance haka a duk tsawon rayuwarsa. Jam'iyyar ta bi tsarin gurguzu na jihar, wanda a karkashinsa duk masana'antu a Gabashin Jamus suka zama na ƙasa, kuma an aiwatar da tattalin arziƙi. SED ta sanya koyarwar Marxism-Leninism da yaren Rasha a cikin makarantu. Walter Ulbricht shi ne babban jami'in jam'iyyar da kuma jagorancin Jamus ta Gabas daga 1950 zuwa 1971. A shekara ta 1953, wani tashin hankali da jam'iyyar
an sadu da zalunci mai karfi daga Ma'aikatar Tsaro ta Jiha da Sojojin Soviet. A shekara ta 1971, Erich Honecker ya gaje Ulbricht wanda ya jagoranci wani lokaci mai zaman kansa a ci gaban GDR har sai an tilasta masa ya sauka a lokacin juyin juya halin 1989. Shugaban jam'iyyar na karshe, Egon Krenz, bai yi nasara ba a kokarinsa na ci gaba da rike SED a kan mulkin siyasa na GDR kuma an daure shi bayan sake hadewar Jamus.