Robert Dißmann (8 August 1878 – 30 October 1926) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

trade unionist and politician. Born in Hülsenbusch, Dißmann became a machinist and joined the

German Metal Workers' Union The German Metal Workers' Union (, abbreviated DMV) was a German industrial union for metalworkers formed in 1891 and dissolved after the Nazis' accession to power in 1933. History German metalworkers started to organize in labor unions in 18 ...

(DMV) and 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). In 1900, he began working on a full-time basis for the union in

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

. He later moved to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. In 1908, he became a full-time local party secretary for the Social Democratic Party in

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

. He then became district secretary in Frankfurt. He stood for the party's national executive in 1913 and was narrowly defeated. Dißmann opposed

World War I 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 ...

. In 1917, he left the SPD and joined the new

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of anti-war members of t ...

(USPD). In 1919, he was elected as joint president of the DMV, and in 1920, he was also elected to the Reichstag. He rejoined the SPD with the majority of the USPD in 1922, and remained prominent in its left-wing faction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dißmann, Robert 1878 births 1926 deaths German trade unionists Independent Social Democratic Party politicians Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians