The Party of Democratic Socialism (German: Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus PDS) was a democratic socialist political party in Germany active between 1989 and 2007. It was the legal successor to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) which ruled the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as a one-party state until 1990. From 1990 through to 2005 the PDS had been seen as the left-wing party of the East.