Volkserwählte”¹⁴adds some credencetosuch unflatteringportrayals.Indeed, the
epithet“chosen by the people”openlyrecognizes his active pursuit of, and deep
need for,the mass adoration associated with the celebrity phenomenon. In light
of such surfeit of images and imaginations,his posthumous persona asasocial-
ist martyrcan and must be considered his greatest political achievement.
The elaborate commemorative events after Lassalle’sdeath not onlyconfirm
the dependency of the workers’movement on the emotional regimes shared by
establishedreligious traditions and other social movements. They also attest to
the latter’sacuteawareness of the performative nature of public emotioninthe
ageofmassification and medialization. Thus for the funeral, ADAV functionary
JacobAudorf rewrote the finalverse of theWorkers’Marseillaise, the unofficial
anthem of the workers’movement,todeclare Lassalle their true spiritual leader:
“Weare not countingthe enemy,/and not the dangers all!/ March,march,
march, march./Wefollow the bold course,/ shownto us by Lassalle!”¹⁵Georg
Herwegh, inapoem titled“At the GraveofLassalle,”captured thegeneral
mood when he openly admitted,“for once, tears are allowed to flow even on
men’scheeks.”¹⁶Meanwhile Countess Hatzfeldt,who had initiallyplannedto
displayhis embalmed bodyaspart of somber obsequiesall over Germany,de-
clared herself the sole executor of his political will. Conspiracy theories about
Lassalle’sdeath and succession battlesinthe ADAV added to frequentlyvoiced
feelingsofloss and defeat amongradicalizedworkers.¹⁷Pilgrimagesto his final
restingplace in Breslauand annual celebrations on the dayofhis death estab-
lished his political martyrdom, completewith Christian tropes of sacrifice and
resurrection. After the passing of the Anti-Socialist Laws, commemorative prac-
tices and objectsrangingfromhymns and elegiesto busts and beer steins further
confirmed Lassalle’sstatus asarepository for the illegitimate needs and desires
henceforth identifiedwith the emotional cultureofearlysocialism.¹⁸
The enduringfascination with Lassalle prompted several of his contempora-
riesto consider its libidinal sources and gaugeits political consequences.Bern-
hardBecker,another founding member of the ADAV,conceded thatLassalles’
ideas maynot have been particularlyoriginal or coherent,but their unique pre-
HelenevonRacowitza (néevonDönniges),MeineBeziehungenzu Ferdinand Lassalle(Bre-
slau: Schottländer,1879),109.
See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Arbeiter-Marseillaise,1March2017.
GeorgHerwegh,“Am GrabeFerdinand Lassalles,”Die Neue Zeit1.15 (1896):438.
Foranearlyexample of such conspiracy theories,see BernhardBecker,Enthüllungen über
das tragische LebensendeFerdinand Lassalle’s(Schleitz:Hübscher,1868).
Foranexample of this commemorative discourse, see MaxKegel,Ferdinand Lassalle. Ge-
denkschriftzu seinem 25jährigenTodestag(Stuttgart: J. H.W. Dietz, 1889).
126 Chapter6