Friedrich Adolph Sorge (9 November 1828 – 26 October 1906) was a German communist political leader who emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, where he played an important role in the labor movement, including the foundation of the Socialist Labor Party of America.

Early years

Friedrich Adolph Sorge was born on 9 November 1828 in

Bethau Bethau is a village and a former municipality in the Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Annaburg. It lies right on the boundary with Saxony about 35 km southeast of the district seat at ...

, Saxony,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, son of the Reverend Georg Sorge and Hedwig Lange. His father was a free-thinking person, and often gave shelter to Polish revolutionaries travelling from France and Belgium to Poland. He was 19 when the

revolutions of 1848 in the German states In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

began. He joined a group of armed revolutionaries in Saxony, but they were quickly suppressed by Pomeranian troops and Sorge was forced to take refuge in Switzerland. He returned to Germany and joined the

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Freikorp. His unit fought the Prussians in Baden and the Palatinate, losing both times. In June 1849 Sorge again took refuge in Switzerland. Sorge was condemned to death in Germany for his role in the revolution. In 1851 he was expelled by the Swiss and moved to Belgium. In March 1852 he was expelled from Belgium and moved to London, where he caught cholera. After recovering he boarded a ship for New York, arriving in June 1852. He became a music teacher, married and settled in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. In 1857 he joined

Albert Komp Albert Komp (born Johann Paul Albert Komp; 27 January 1845''Germany, Select Births and Baptisms, 1558–1898'' – 4 April 1910) was a German-American painter who was active in New York City communist circles in the mid-nineteenth century. Komp was ...

and

Abraham Jacobi Abraham Jacobi (6 May 1830 – 10 July 1919) was a German physician and pioneer of pediatrics. He was a key figure in the movement to improve child healthcare and welfare in the United States and opened the first children's clinic in the country. ...

in forming the

New York Communist Club The New York Communist Club was a communist organisation set up in New York City in 1857. It was particularly active in the abolitionist struggle, leading it to become inactive during the American Civil War, as so many of its members were in the Un ...

, which was an educational society involved in the anti-slavery movement.

Socialist leader

Sorge became an active socialist in 1865, after the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, and soon became the leading proponent of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

's views in the United States. In December 1869 he founded Section I of New York of the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

(IWMA, often called the First International), with 46 members. In December 1870 he established the Central Committee of the North American IWMA. In September 1871 Section I of the IWMA organized a demonstration of 20,000 workers, including black workers, demanding an eight-hour day and supporting the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

. From 1872 to 1874 Sorge was general secretary of the First International's worldwide organization. His appointment followed the split between Marx and the anarchists led by

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...

, and a decision in September 1872 by the Hague Congress to transfer the IWA General Council to New York. While he was secretary the IWMA continued to decline in both America and Europe. In 1877 Sorge led a Marxist-oriented group in Newark that founded the Socialist Labor Party of America. Joseph Patrick McDonnell, editor of the ''New York Labor Standard'' gave significant assistance to Sorge. Sorge and McDonnell organized a textile strike in Paterson, New Jersey in 1878. The party, following a European Marxist line, did not succeed in gaining much support, since most workers looked to the mainstream political parties to support their goals. Sorge organized the

International Labor Union The International Labor Union was a trade union in the northeastern United States from 1878-1887. The ILU was founded by members of the Workingmen's Party of the United States who were upset with the parties turn toward political action after t ...

of Hoboken in 1883.

Later years

Sorge and Marx corresponded regularly from the 1860s until Marx died in 1883. Friedrich Engels visited Sorge in Hoboken in 1888, after Sorge had retired from politics. Sorge contributed articles to the German Marxist journal ''

Die Neue Zeit ''Die Neue Zeit'' (German: "The New Times") was a German socialist theoretical journal of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) that was published from 1883 to 1923. Its headquarters was in Stuttgart, Germany. History and profile Founded ...

'' from 1891 to 1895, discussing the history of socialism in the United States. According to

Edward Aveling Edward Bibbins Aveling (29 November 1849 – 2 August 1898) was an English comparative anatomist and popular spokesman for Darwinian evolution, atheism and socialism. He was also a playwright and actor. Aveling was the author of numer ...

, Sorge was "one who was, perhaps, of all men the closest intimate in the later years of both Marx and Engels."

Selig Perlman Selig Perlman (December 9, 1888 – August 14, 1959) was an economist and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Background Perlman was born in Białystok in Congress Poland (then part of Russia) in 1888. His father, ...

called him the father of modern socialism in America. Sorge continued to teach music into his old age. He died on 26 October 1906 in

. The Soviet spy

Richard Sorge Richard Sorge (russian: Рихард Густавович Зорге, Rikhard Gustavovich Zorge; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Azerbaijani journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during Wo ...

was his grandnephew.

Writings

* "Report of the North American Federal Council to the Hague Congress," (German section) in ''Documents of the First International: The Hague Congress...Minutes and Documents''

Sources

Citations Sources * ** Herreshoff, ''American Disciples of Marx'', pp. 57–59, 70-71 ** Kai Schoenhals, "Introduction," Friedrich A. Sorge's Labor Movement in the United States: A History of the American Working Class from 1890 to 1896, pp ix-xi. * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sorge, Friedrich Adolph 1826 births 1906 deaths American communists American Marxists German-American Forty-Eighters German communists German emigrants to the United States German Marxists Members of the International Workingmen's Association People from Wittenberg (district) People from the Province of Saxony