Those subsequent meetings were consciously non-conspiratorial in spirit, but it was nevertheless quickly concluded that creating a political party would be a more effective way of progressing. Events elsewhere suggested that such a move might actually be becoming possible. Then, towards the end of October, news came through that an East German Social Democratic Party had been founded at Schwante, just outside Berlin. Members of Lippmann's group set about making contact with members of similar groups in neighbouring towns. He started by meeting up with Simone Manz, a dentist in Rudolstadt: they agreed to stay in touch. Studiously casual encounters took place with embryonic SDP groups from nearby Greiz, Gera, Pößneck und Saalfeld. In October 1989 Lippmann, like many others, joined the re-emerging (East German) Social Democratic Party. In November 1989 protesters broke through the Berlin Wall, and it quickly became clear that the Soviet troops had received no instructions from Moscow to undertake a fraternal intervention and put a stop to political developments on the East Berlin streets, as their predecessors had done back in 1953 (or, more recently in Czechoslovakia, in 1968). By the end of 1989 Lippmann had become chair of the SDP's Saalfeld group. In January 1990 the new party held its first national congress at Gotha, followed by a political rally in the town square at which Lippmann, standing crushed with others in the crowd, had the surreal experience of being able to cheer Willy Brandt. That month he became SPD chair for the Saalfeld sub-region. Later that year he became deputy chair of the regional party executive for the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district.