Die SPD-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag. Sitzungsprotokolle 1976–1980 // The SPD Parliamentary Party in the German Bundestag. Minutes of the Proceedings 1976–1980

Although the social-liberal coalition emerged once again as the strongest force in the 1976 federal elections, it only gained a narrow majority with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt at the helm. The oil price crises of 1973 and 1979, as well as the structural changes following the boom, weighed heavily on the social-liberal coalition and slowed down the SPD parliamentary group in its reform efforts.

The early years of the eighth legislative period were also overshadowed by acts of terrorism during the so-called German Autumn (Deutscher Herbst) of 1977. There were heated debates within the SPD parliamentary group: about a forward-looking energy policy, about the financing of social transfer payments in the face of increasing government debt, about how to deal with the Nazi past, and about the appropriate foreign, security and defence policy in a time of international economic and political crises. This repeatedly led to conflicts within the parliamentary group and with its coalition partner. The parliamentary group repeatedly negotiated the limits of agreement within its various factions in order to find common ground and secure parliamentary majorities.