The Proletarian Dream Socialism, Culture, and Emotion in Germany 1863-1933

Fig..“Lassalle, der Kämpfer gegen die Ka-
pitalmacht/Lassalle, Fighteragainst the Power
of Capital,”c.,color lithograph. With
permission of Deutsches Historisches Muse-
um, Berlin/A. Spille.

Fig..“–.Zur Erinnerung an das

-jährige Gründungsjahr der deutschen So-

zialdemokratie/InCelebration of theth An-

niversary of the Founding of GermanSocial

Democracy,”postcard. Withpermission of Ar-

chivder Sozialen Demokratie Bonn.

TodayFerdinand Lassalle (1825–1864) is rememberedbest as one of the
founding fathers of Social Democracy (see figures6.1and 6.2).Having been ap-
proached byagroup of socialists who felt that his reputation as an inspiring
public speaker would attract more followersto the movement,hebecame the
first president of the first German workers’party,the ADAV(General German
Workers’Association).³His earlydeath at agethirty-nine onlyafew months
after the party’sfounding congress on23 May1864 made Lassalle,rather than
Marx or Engels, the perfect embodiment of theromance of socialism that united
radicalizedworkers with middle-class intellectuals in their fight forabetter so-
ciety.Accordingtothe historian Heiner Grote, the fascination with Lassalle was
most pronounced in small provincial towns and widespread among petty bour-

The reformist Lassallians and the moremilitant Eisenacher eventuallyjoined forcesatthe
1875 Unity Congress in Gothato form the SozialistischeArbeiterpartei Deutschlands(SAP,Social-
ist Workers’Party of Germany); after the lapse of the Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890,that party was
renamed Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands(SPD,Social Democratic Party of Germany).

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