Chapter 6
Ferdinand Lassalle, the First SocialistCelebrity
IbelieveinFerdinand Lassalle,
the messiah of the nineteenth century,
and in the social and political resurrection
of my people languishinginmisery,
in the irrefutable dogmasofthe workingclass
as taught by Ferdinand Lassalle,
whowas born withareviled name,
livedinthe heart of the people,
suffered under bourgeoisie and political reaction,
died throughtreacherous hands,
roseagaininthe bosom of faithful disciples,
and ascended in the spirit of theworking people
through whom he will one dayreturn
to sit in judgment over all enemies of his creed.Karl FreundschuhWho was the“I”speakingwith suchreligious fervor?Why did the“workingpeo-
ple”chooseFerdinand Lassalle as theirmessiah?And how did they become his
“faithful disciples”?¹These questions are essential to understandingthe emo-
tional attachments that sustainedproletarian identificationswithin the workers’
movement,ofteninblissfulignorance of Marxist theories. Making sense of such
declarations of faith meansto takeacloser look at Lassalle’sunique status as
the first socialist celebrity–that is, as an object of intense admiration, infatua-
tion, and fantasy production especiallyafter his death. Unlikefame and renown,
whichrequire some measurable talent or accomplishment,celebrity is primarily
media-drivenand inseparable from the rise of the modern culture industry in the
mid-nineteenth century.²Andunlike charisma, which accordingtoMax Weber
Karl Freundschuh, quoted in Heiner Grote,Sozialdemokratie undReligion. Eine Dokumentation
fürdie Jahre 1863 bis 1875(Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr,1968),17.The referenceistoThe Apostles’
Creed. The prevalenceofmessianic thoughtinthe earlysocialist movement can also be seen
in the writings ofWilhelmWeitling, including his notion of messianicdictatorship.
Forahelpful introductionto the notion of celebrity,see P. David Marshall,Celebrity and
Power:Fame in ContemporaryCulture(Minneapolis:Univ ersity of MinnesotaPress, 1997). On
posthumouscelebrity,see SteveJones andJoli Jensen, eds.,Afterlife asAfterimage: Understand-
ing PosthumousFame(NewYork: Peter Lang,2005). MaxWeber famouslydefines charisma (in
the secular sense) in“CharismaticAuthority,”inEconomy and Society,ed. Guenther Roth and
ClausWittich (Berkeley:University of California Press, 1978), 241–254. On the changingconfig-
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110550863-010