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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] August Bebel Biography BEBEL, FERDINAND AUGUST (1840-1913). A leader of the Social-Democratic party in Germany. He was born at Cologne, set up as a master turner at Leipzig in 1864, identified himself with the Socialistic movement among the working classes, and in 1867 became chairman of the permanent committee of the German workingmen's unions. In 1869 he assisted at Eisenach in founding the Social-Democratic party, which was closely affiliated with the International Workingmen's Association, established at London by Karl Marx. He was accused in 1872 of projected high treason against the Kingdom of Saxony and the German Empire, and of lèse--majesté against the German Emperor. On the combined charges he was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and nine months. His incarceration on these and subsequent charges, however, served only to increase his prestige among his party associates. In 1867 he was elected deputy to the North German Diet, and after 1871 he was almost continuously in the Reichstag, representing successively the districts of Glauchau-Meerane, Dresden, Strassburg, and Hamburg. In 1868 he became connected with the staff of the Volksstaat at Leipzig and in 1891 with that of the Vorwärts at Berlin. Bebel became known as an effective orator and as the most influential member of his party. He represented the Marx tradition of the Social-Democrats and for this reason was attacked on the one hand by the "opportunists" of the Volmar school and on the other by the "extremists" or "impossiblists." He successfully opposed the efforts of Bernstein in the Congresses of Lubeck (1902) and Dresden (1903) to induce cooperation on given points with the old liberal parties. He received 175 votes for President of the Reichstag in 1912. His publications include Der deutsche Bauernkrieg (1876); Die parlamentarische Thätigkeit des deutschen Reichstags und der Landtage (1876); Die Frau in der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, und Zukunft (1883); later as Die Frau and der Socialismus (33d ed., 1902; Eng. trans. by Daniel De Leon, New York, 1904); Charles Fourier (1888); Die Mohamme-arabische Kultur Period (1889); Die Sonntagsarbeit (1888); Die Lage der Arbeiter in den Bäckerein (1890); Die Socialdemokratie und das allgemeine Wahlrecht (1895); Für Volkswehr gegen Militarismus (1898); and his memoirs Aus meinem Leben (3 vols., 1910-12; Eng. trans. by Ernest Untermann, under the title My Life, New York, 1911-12). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. III (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 27-28. |