Ferdinand August Bebel (; 22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist activist and politician. He was one of the principal founders of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD). Bebel, a woodworker by trade, co-founded the Saxon People's Party with

Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist activist and politician. He was one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP), and in 1875 they helped bring the SDAP and Ferdinand Lassalle's

General German Workers' Association The General German Workers' Association (, ADAV) was a German political party founded on 23 May 1863 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony by Ferdinand Lassalle. It was the first organized mass working-class party in history. The organization existed ...

(ADAV) together to form the party which became the SPD. Bebel played a key role in the drafting and adoption of the party's Marxist

Erfurt Program The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the SPD Congress at Erfurt in 1891. Drafted by theorists Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein, the program set out a Marxist view and superseded the party's Gotha P ...

in 1891. He was also a member of the Reichstag from 1871 until his death, and was involved in the founding of the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

in 1889. He served as chairman of the SPD from 1892 to 1913.

Biography

Early years

Ferdinand August Bebel, known as August, was born on 22 February 1840, in Deutz, Germany, now a part of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. He was the son of a

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n noncommissioned officer in the Prussian infantry, initially from Ostrowo in the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

, and was born in military barracks. The father died in 1844. Bebel1863

As a young man, Bebel apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

."August Bebel, German Socialist Leader, Dies in Switzerland," ''The Weekly People'' ew York vol. 23, no. 21 (23 August 1913), pp. 1–2. Like most German workmen at that time, he travelled extensively in search of work and he thereby obtained a first-hand knowledge of the difficulties facing the working people of the day. At

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, where he lived for some time, he joined a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

workmen's club. When in

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

in 1859 he volunteered for service in the war against Italy, but was rejected; and in his own country he was rejected likewise as physically unfit for the army. In 1860 he settled in Leipzig as a master turner, making horn buttons. He joined various labour organisations. Although initially an opponent of socialism, Bebel gradually was won over to socialist ideas through pamphlets of Ferdinand Lassalle, which popularized the ideas of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

.Lenin, Vladimir, "August Bebel," ''Severnaia Pravada,'' 6 August 1913. Reprinted in Lenin, Vladimir, ''Collected Works: Volume 19.'' Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1963; p. 297. In 1865 he came under the influence of

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist ...

Political career

Following the death of Lassalle, Bebel was among the group of Socialists that refused to follow new party leader Johann Baptist von Schweitzer at the Eisenach Conference of 1867, an action which gave rise to the name "Eisenachers" for this Marxist faction. Together with Liebknecht, he founded the '' Sächsische Volkspartei'' ("Saxon People's Party"). Bebel was also President of the Union of German Workers' Associations from 1867 and a member of the

. Bebel was elected to the

North German Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

Reichstag as a member from

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

in that same year. In 1869 he helped found the

Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany The Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (, SDAP) was a Marxist socialist political party in the North German Confederation during unification. Founded in Eisenach in 1869, the SDAP endured through the early years of the German Empire. ...

(SDAP), which later merged with another organisation in 1875 to form the (SAPD), which in turn became the

(SPD) in 1890. Bebel's great organizing talent and oratorical power quickly made him one of the leaders of the socialists and their chief spokesman in parliament. He remained a member of the North German Parliament, and later of its counterpart for the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, the Reichstag, until his death, except for the interval of 1881–83. He represented successively the districts of Glauchau, Meerane,

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Strassburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, and

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. Later in his life, he acted as chairman of the SPD. Representing as he did Marxian principles, he was bitterly opposed by certain factions of his party. In 1870 he spoke in parliament against the continuance of the war with France. Bebel and Liebknecht were the only members who did not vote the extraordinary subsidy required for the war with France. Bebel was one of only two socialists elected to the Reichstag in

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

, and he used his position to protest against the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine and to express his full sympathy with the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

. German Chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

afterwards said that this speech of Bebel's was a "ray of light" showing him that socialism was an enemy to be fought against and crushed. Falsely accused of being in league with the French and part of a conspiracy to free French

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

held in Germany and to lead them in an attack from the rear, Bebel and Liebknecht were arrested for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

, but no prosecution was possible for lack of evidence. August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht

Not wanting to release such important opponents of the war effort, old charges of preaching dangerous doctrines and plotting against the state were levied against Bebel and Liebknecht in 1872. The pair were convicted and sentenced to two years in ('fortress confinement's), which was spent at the famous Königstein Fortress. For insulting the German emperor, Bebel was additionally sentenced to nine months' ordinary imprisonment. This incarceration served to increase Bebel's prestige among his party associates and the sympathetic public at large. In 1874 Bebel took a partner and founded a small button factory, for which he acted as salesman, but in 1889 he gave up his business to devote himself wholly to politics. In 1868 he became connected with the staff of the ''Volksstaat'' ("The People's State") at Leipzig, and in 1891 with that of the '' Vorwärts'' ("Forward") at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. After his release from prison, he helped to organise, at the congress of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

, the united party of Social Democrats, which had been formed during his imprisonment. After the passing of the Socialist Law he continued to show great activity in the debates of the Reichstag, and was also elected a member of the Saxon parliament; when the

state of siege ''State of Siege'' () is a 1972 French–Italian–West German political thriller film directed by Costa-Gavras starring Yves Montand and Renato Salvatori. The story is based on an actual incident in 1970, when U.S. official Dan Mitrione was k ...

was proclaimed in Leipzig he was expelled from the city, and in 1886 condemned to nine months' imprisonment for taking part in a secret society. August Bebel c1910

In party meetings of 1890 and 1891, Bebel's policies were severely attacked, first by the extremists, the "young" Socialists from Berlin, who wished to abandon parliamentary action; against these Bebel won a complete victory. On the other side he was involved in a quarrel with Volmar and his school, who desired to put aside from immediate consideration the complete attainment of the socialist ideal, and proposed that the party should aim at bringing about, not a complete overthrow of society, but a gradual amelioration. This conflict of tendencies continued, and Bebel came to be regarded as the chief exponent of the traditional views of the orthodox Marxist party. Though a strong opponent of militarism, he publicly stated that foreign nations attacking Germany must not expect the help or the neutrality of the Social Democrats. Already in 1911 amid the rising tensions between the European powers, Bebel publicly predicted an upcoming

great war World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

with millions of soldiers confronting each other followed by a great collapse, "mass bankruptcy, mass misery, mass unemployment and great famine". In 1899, at the Hanover Congress of the SPD, Bebel delivered a speech condemning

Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German Marxist theorist and politician. A prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he has been both condemned and praised as a "Revisionism (Marxism), revisi ...

's revisionism. His resolution, ''Attacks on the Fundamental Views and Tactics of the Party'', garnered the support of the vast majority of the Congress, including Bernstein's supporters.

Class, race, religion and sex

Bebel particularly distinguished himself by his denunciation of the maltreatment of soldiers by officers and still more frequently by non-commissioned officers. His efforts in this matter had received great encouragement when

Albert, King of Saxony Albert (23 April 1828 – 19 June 1902) was King of Saxony from 29 October 1873 until his death in 1902. He was the eldest son of Prince John (who succeeded his brother Frederick Augustus II on the Saxon throne as King John in 1854) b ...

issued an edict dealing with the maltreatment of soldiers in the Saxon contingent, thus cutting the ground from under the feet of the Imperial Government, which had persistently attempted to deny or to explain away the cases put forward by Bebel. Speaking before the ''Reichstag'', Bebel criticised the war to crush the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1900, saying: Bebel is also famed for his outrage at the news of German mistreatment of indigenous people in

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

, the Herero nation in particular. In 1904 following a violent uprising by the Herero people against German officials, soldiers, and settlers,

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

General Lothar von Trotha launched the

Herero and Namaqua Genocide Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Nama genocide * Herero chat, a species of bi ...

to crush the revolt by waging a "war of extermination" against the Herero. In response, Bebel and the German Social Democratic Party became the only party in the Reichstag to oppose increased colonial expenditures, and in a speech in March 1904 Bebel classified the policy in

as "not only barbaric, but bestial". This caused some sections of the contemporary German press to scathingly classify Bebel as "Der hereroische Bebel" (Bebel the Hereroic") (''Coburger Zeitung'', 17 January 1904). Bebel was not deterred; he later followed this up with strongly worded warnings against the rising tide of theories of

racial hierarchy A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that is based on the belief that some racial groups are superior to other racial groups. At various points of history, racial hierarchies have featured in societies, often being formally instit ...

and

racial purity The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

, causing the 1907 general election to the Reichstag in 1907 to go down in history as the " Hottentot Election". Bebel's book, ''Women and Socialism'' was translated into English by

Daniel De Leon Daniel De Leon (; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician (Marxism), theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarde ...

of the

Socialist Labor Party of America The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 192 ...

as ''Woman under Socialism''. It figured prominently in the Connolly-DeLeon controversy after

James Connolly James Connolly (; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish people, Scottish-born Irish republicanism, Irish republican, socialist, and trade union leader, executed for his part in the Easter Rising, 1916 Easter Rising against British rule i ...

, then a member of the SLP, denounced it as a "quasi-prurient" book that would repel potential recruits to the socialist movement. The book contained an attack on the institution of marriage which identified Bebel with the most extreme forms of socialism. In the preface to DeLeon's translation, ''Woman Under Socialism'', DeLeon distanced himself from Bebel on this point, holding that monogamy was the most desirable form of social organisation. In 1898 he voiced his support for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Reichstag. Bebel said that religion is a "private matter", claiming that the SPD should be neutral on the question of religion, while in actuality advocating secularism. Bebel considered himself both a patriot and an internationalist believing them to not be antagonistic but instead supplemental.

Death and legacy

August Bebel died on 13 August 1913 of a heart attack during a visit to a sanatorium in Passugg, Switzerland. He was 73 years old at the time of his death. His body was buried in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. At the time of his death Bebel was eulogized by Russian Marxist leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

as a "model workers' leader", who had proven himself able to "break his own road" from being an ordinary worker into becoming a political leader in the struggle for a "better social system". The well-known saying "Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools" ("''Der Antisemitismus ist der Sozialismus der dummen Kerle''") is frequently attributed to Bebel, but probably originated with the Austrian democrat Ferdinand Kronawetter; it was in general use among German Social Democrats by the 1890s. Along with

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Ferdinand Lassalle, Bebel was among the socialist icons included in ''bas relief'' portraits on the facade of

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

building, erected in 1912 as the headquarters of the New York Yiddish-language socialist newspaper. Bebel's legacy was adopted by the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(East Germany), which named a square and several streets after him. Stamps bearing his likeness were also issued.

English language works

''Women in the Past, Present, and Future.''
London: Reeves, 1885. US Edition: San Francisco: G. Benham, 1897.
''Assassinations and Socialism: From a Speech by August Bebel, Delivered at Berlin, November 2, 1898.''
New York: New York Labor News Co., n.d. . 1899 * ''Beber.'' New York: International Publishers, 1901. * ''Socialism and the German Kaiser: Two Speeches.'' With Georg Heinrich von Vollmar. London: Clarion Press, 1903.
''Women Under Socialism.''
New York: New York Labor News Co., 1904. New translation: ''Women and Socialism.'' New York: Socialist Literature Co., 1910. * ''Trade Unions and Political Parties.'' Milwaukee: Social-Democratic Publishing Co., 1906.
''Bebel's Reminiscences.''
New York: Socialist Literature Co., 1911. * ''The Intellectual Ability of Women.'' New York: Cooperative Press, n.d. . 1912
''My Life.''
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1912. * ''Speeches of August Bebel.'' New York: International Publishers, 1928. *
Society of the Future
'. Moscow: Progress Publishers. 1976 (an abridged translation of the last part of Bebel's ''Women and Socialism'').

References

External links

* *
Biography of August Bebel
Retrieved 31 May 2007.

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...

, www.marxists.org/ Retrieved 31 August 2010. * * Ulrich Rippert:
August Bebel and the political awakening of the working class
', wsws.org Retrieved 28 August 2013. * Archive o
August Bebel Papers
at the

International Institute of Social History International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...