The Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (, SDAP) was a Marxist socialist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the North German Confederation during unification. Founded in Eisenach in 1869, the SDAP endured through the early years of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. Often termed the Eisenachers, the SDAP was one of the first political organizations established among the nascent German

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s of the 19th century. It officially existed under the name SDAP for only six years (1869–1875). However, through name changes and political partnerships, its lineage can be traced to the present-day Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Origins

VDAV and ADAV

The SDAP was one of the earliest organizations to arise from German workers' unionizing activity, but it was not the first. At the group's founding in 1869, the fast-growing working class of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

had already established several notable associations for workers' advocacy. Chief among these were Leopold Sonnemann's Assembly of German Worker Associations (''Verband Deutscher Arbeitervereine'', VDAV) and Ferdinand Lassalle's General German Workers' Association (''Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein'', ADAV).Barclay, Weitz, p. 121. The largest group by far was the VDAV. Through the 1860s, it remained mostly apolitical, dedicated to pocketbook matters and fully integrated with the paradigms of liberal economic interests. The VDAV did its best to ignore the political agitation of Lassalle's much smaller yet more active ADAV. The Lassalleans were seen as insufficiently committed to basic economic matters. Much of their political appeal was based on what socialists considered to be an alarming militancy in support of German nationalism and the question of Greater Germany. They displayed a discomfiting closeness to the militaristic

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Eventually, the sundry turmoil created by the German unification wars helped politicize large elements of the previously unmoved VDAV. Some followed Sonnemann to the new moderately socialist German People's Party (founded in 1868), while others were ready to abandon the VDAV structure altogether and establish a more radical political party.

Eisenachers

Meeting in the city of Eisenach in Saxony, the VDAV activists founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) on 7–9 August 1869. The Eisenachers, as they came to be called, were under the leadership of Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel. The political theorist Karl Marx had a significant personal influence upon the newly formed party, being a friend and mentor to both Bebel and Liebknecht. Marx and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Marxian socialism and welcomed them (as far as German law would allow) into their International Workingmen's Association (IWA).Lindemann, p. 104.

Platform and organisation

The SDAP was typically deemed

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

by most observers although that term was somewhat amorphous during Marx's lifetime. The party was described as such mainly because of its IWA membership and Liebknecht's close personal relationship with Marx. The true nature of Eisenacher Marxism was closer to

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

than the communist parties of later decades. The party platform called for a free people's state (''freier Volkstaat''), which could align private co-operatives with state organisations. The party primarily supported trade unionism as the utility by which workers could prosper in the context of capitalism.

''Der Volksstaat''

The party press was a vital element of the SDAP's political strategy. The party's newspaper was first called ''Demokratisches Wochenblatt'' (''Democratic Weekly Paper'') and later '' Der Volksstaat'' (''The People's State'') and was edited by Liebknecht. The paper was published in Leipzig from 2 October 1869 to 23 September 1876. The party did not yet have its own printers, but Liebknecht was ambitious in his efforts to promote its publications on a wide scale as educational tools for workers. Although most issues of ''Der Volksstaat'' were primarily composed of incendiary writing about the German political situation, Liebknecht attempted as much as possible to include essays on political theory, transcripts of academic lectures and even some popular fiction.

Congress at Gotha

Despite their differences, the SDAP and Lassalle's ADAV shared a largely identical interpretation of

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. The similarity was significant enough to mean that they were both routinely monitored and considered equally suspicious by the authorities. The two parties were vying for the same audience among the working class, and they were doing so simultaneously with several more moderate liberal organizations. The critical distinction among all the groups' positions was their level of commitment to the right to strike.Barclay, Weitz, p. 122.

SAPD and SPD

The competition between moderate and radical factions reached a boiling point when SDAP and Lassalle's ADAV finally merged to form a united front. In a convention at Gotha in 1875, the new fusion party was renamed the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (German: ''Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands'', SAPD). The resultant Gotha Program largely satisfied the conventioneers, but when Marx was asked for comment, he denounced the new policies in the scathing '' Critique of the Gotha Program'' (1875). Despite its relatively moderate stance, the SAPD organization was deemed subversive and officially banned by the

under the Anti-Socialist Laws of 1878. Under proscription, the party's members continued to organize successfully. After the ban was lifted in 1890, it renamed itself the Social Democratic Party of Germany (''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'', SPD) and surged at the polls. By the 1912 elections, the SPD, a direct descendant of the small SDAP, had become the largest party in Germany.

Legacy

Though the SDAP dissolved after a brief lifespan of just six years, it was an essential catalyst in creating the first significant labor party in Germany. After World War II, members of the SPD in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

were compelled to join forces with the Communist Party to form the Socialist Unity Party. Throughout its 41-year rule, the party paid regular tribute to its Marxist progenitor. In

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, the SPD became one of the two major parties and continues to wield vast influence in the post-reunification era. It still traces its lineage back to the SDAP at Gotha and Eisenach.

Notes

* Sometimes translated as Social Democratic Labor Party of Germany. See Lindemann ''et al''. * Not to be confused with the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (also SAPD) which existed from 1931 to 1945.

References

Bibliography

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