In the spring of 1953, after the death of Josef Stalin and in preparation for Walter Ulbricht's 60th birthday, Baum called for a "voluntary" increase in the labor standard by 10% while reducing real wages by 30%. Although on June 14 "Neues Deutschland" called for the end of Baum's "mallet methods", the SED complied. Baum classified every protest as “hostile to the working class." Three days later, the East German uprising of 1953 occurred.