The early 1950s were a period of heightened political nervousness in the German Democratic Republic with a series of high-profile show trials and, in 1953, the uncompromising suppression of an insurrection. Within the Liberal Democratic party Täschner was the most prominent member of a four-man leadership collective, of which the other three were Johannes Dieckmann, and Hans Loch. The party leadership maintained good relations with East Germany's ruling SED (party), but by 1954 they had become increasingly estranged from the rest of the party membership. The SED would have preferred for Herbert Täschner to have remained in his post as Liberal Democratic Party General Secretary, but he was nevertheless relieved of the position in May 1954. As one unsympathetic commentator pointed out at the time, the periodic sacrifice from among least loved of the party apparatchiks made the remaining comrades more docile.„Opfere von Zeit zu Zeit den unbeliebtesten des Apparates, um so gefügiger werden die Genossen wieder!“ His successor as party General Secretary was Manfred Gerlach, still aged only 28, who took a less confrontational approach to the role, though there was little he could do to change the undemocratic character of the party.
