geois elements of the working class.⁴Women, who werelargelyexcluded from
workers’associations, playedanimportantrole in preservinghis legacyafter
his death, and in the manybiographies,novels, and dramas inspired by his
life, often appeared in the place of the working class as his designated lovein-
terest.Extending far beyond German borders andmaking use of various literary
genres and styles,the Lassalle cultreachedahighpoint duringthe 1880s and
continued until the 1920swhenvery different heroes,martyrs, and cultsofper-
sonality took holdofthecommunist imagination.
Lassalle’sbiographyproved to be well suited for posthumous appropria-
tions.Born in Breslauasthe son ofaJewish silk merchant,hestudied philoso-
phyinBerlin and quickly came underthe influenceofHegelian thought.A
strongbeliever in the republic as the best form ofgovernment,hebecame in-
volved inradical democratic causesduring the Revolutions of 1848. Charged
with inciting armed rebellion, he spent six months in prison–agood time to
concentrate on writing.Hefty tomes on the philosophyofHeraclitus and the
theory of retroactive rights established his credentials asascholar. Meanwhile,
he devoted much timeto Countess SophievonHatzfeldt who was seekingadi-
vorcefrom an abusive husband.Taking her on asahuman rights case, Lassalle
represented the older woman’sclaims in an almost decade-longlawsuit thatwas
settled in her favorin1854. An annual stipendfrom the countess, by then also
his closest confidante, allowed himto live as apublic intellectual equallyat
home in the literary salons of the Prussian capital and the meeting halls of dis-
gruntled workers.Soon he spokeout in favorofuniversal suffrage, commented
on the constitutional struggle in Prussia, and wroteabout current political and
economic topics,includingthe so-called iron lawofwages. Lassalle’sdreams
of agreat political future came to an unexpected end when he died in Geneva
on 31August 1864 fromafatalshot in the groin sustainedduringaduel with
the fiancé of the woman he wanted to make his wife, twenty-one-year old Helene
vonDönniges (1843–1911).
This melodramatic ending straight out ofapulp novel bringstogetherthe
seemingly irreconcilable elements–great romance, highsociety,and radical
politics–that characterized the Lassalle cult asawhole. The unusual circum-
stances of his death and the romantic fantasies thatkept his legacyalive validat-
ed the utopian project of socialism preciselybyblurringthe boundaries between
See Grote,Sozialdemokratie undReligion,8–25.For avoluminous psychobiography that also
discusses Lassalle’sJewishness,see Shlomo Na’aman,Lassalle(Hanover:Verlagfür Literatur
und Zeitgeschehen,1970). Forabrief English-languagesummary of the Lassalle cult,see An-
drew G.Bonnell,“The LassalleCult in German Social Democracy,”AustralianJournal of Politics
&History 35.1 (1989): 50–60.
Ferdinand Lassalle, the FirstSocialistCelebrity 123