Wilhelm Hasenclever (19 April 1837 – 3 July 1889) was a German politician. He was originally a tanner by trade but later became a journalist and author. However, he is most known for his political work in the predecessors of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In 1869 and 1870, Hasenclever was a representative for the

General German Workers' Association The General German Workers' Association (german: Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiter-Verein, ADAV) was a German political party founded on 23 May 1863 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony by Ferdinand Lassalle. It was the first organized mass working-class ...

(''Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein'', ADAV) in the '' Reichstag'' (

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

) of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

. From 1871 on, he was the last president of the ADAV, until it merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party (''Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei'', SDAP) to form the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (''Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands'', SAP). From 1874 to 1888 he was again a

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

representative in the Reichstag of the German Empire that had been formed in 1871: Originally for the ADAV, later for the SAP. Hasenclever was member of the party board there as well. Together with

Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Vorwärts ''Vorwärts'' (, "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as ...

'', the official newspaper of the SPD until the 1990s.

Life and career

Wilhelm Hasenclever was born in

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hoch ...

, the son of a self-employed tanner. The family had

protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

roots and had migrated to the

catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Arnsberg. After visiting secondary school up to the "Sekunda" (equivalent to today's

Mittlere Reife The Mittlere Reife (, lit. ''"Middle Maturity"'') is a school-leaving certificate in Germany that is usually awarded after ten years of schooling. It is roughly comparable with the British GCSE. The official name varies between the federal stat ...

, a diploma of

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

below the full-blown Abitur), he learned the tanning trade from his parents. In 1857/58 he was forced into a year of military service; in 1859, another period of military service with the Prussian army in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

followed. In between and afterwards, Hasenclever – like many

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s of the time – took to the road, taking on various short-term jobs and visiting most member states of the

, Switzerland, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. His experiences, which made him aware of the problems of the proletariat, greatly influenced his later political stance.

Early journalistic and political work

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R66693, Ferdinand Lassalle

Through work in

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

s, Hasenclever discovered his love of writing and holding speeches. In 1862/63 he became editor for the democratically oriented newspaper ''Westfälische Volkszeitung'' in Hagen. As a journalist, he became aware of the writings of the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

Ferdinand Lassalle, in particular Lasalle's programme for the working class. This became the foundation of the first German

party, with subgroups in most states of the Confederation: the

(''Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein'', ADAV), founded on 13 May 1863 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and instigated by Lasalle. During the Second War of Schleswig Hasenclever was once again drafted into the Prussian army for a short time. Shortly after his release he was sentenced to six weeks in prison on grounds of ''Ehrfuhrchtsverletzung gegenüber Sr. Majestät'' ('' Lèse majesté'' against the Prussian king

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the ...

) due to an article he had written for the ''

Rheinische Zeitung The ''Rheinische Zeitung'' ("Rhenish Newspaper") was a 19th-century German newspaper, edited most famously by Karl Marx. The paper was launched in January 1842 and terminated by Prussian state censorship in March 1843. The paper was eventually su ...

''. However, he was acquitted on appeal. After these experiences with the Prussian judicial system he joined the ADAV the same year – only a few months after Lasalle had died in a duel.

Career in the ADAV, rivalry with the SDAP

In 1866 Hasenclever was elected secretary of the ADAV under association president Carl Wilhelm Tölcke. From 1868 to 1870 he was responsible for the party's finances. At the same time, from 1867 to 1869, he ran the tannery in

Halver Halver is a town in Germany. History Around 950 the ''Oberhof Halvara'' was first mentioned in the ''Werdener Probsteiregister''. For more than 500 years Halver was the seat of a Fehmic court, the earliest definite evidence of which is in 1243; i ...

that belonged to his sister. In 1869 Hasenclever became the representative for

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...

in the '' Reichstag'' (

) of the

, which had been founded in 1876 after Prussia had won the Austro-Prussian War against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. After the election he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. The other ADAV representatives were Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche and the anti-Prussian, anti-Marxist Johann Baptist von Schweitzer, who had become president of the ADAV the same year. Also present in the Reichstag was the Social Democratic Workers' Party (''Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei'', SDAP), with

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...

, from the left wing of the

Saxon People's Party The Saxon People's Party (german: Sächsische Volkspartei) was a left-liberal and radical democratic party with socialist leanings in Germany, founded by Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel on 19 August 1866 in Chemnitz, and integrated into the n ...

(''Sächsische Volkspartei''). Contrary to the ADAV, the SAP followed a strict anti-Prussian line and worked towards "'' Großdeutsche''" (greater German) unification including Austria and a federal structure, with the goal of constricting the

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

of Prussia, which was considered reactionary and militaristic by the SAP. That was not only in conflict with the goals of the conservative Prussian president and chancellor of the North German Confederation, Otto von Bismarck, but also with Schweitzer, the controversial leader of the ADAV, who was closer to the chancellor in national matters than the more internationally-oriented SAP. After the end of his first Reichstag period Hasenclever took part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. After the victory of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership, the southern German states

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

joined the Confederation, forming the German Empire with the King of Prussia,

, as '' Kaiser'' (Emperor). So, the "'' Kleindeutsche''" (smaller German) solution had been implemented. Bismarck became ''

Reichskanzler The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

'' and leader of the government that had been specified by the Emperor. Shortly afterwards, secret communication between the government and Schweitzer (who was known in the ADAV as an authoritarian, bordering on the dictatorial, leader) became known. Schweitzer stepped down as party leader and ended his political career. In 1871, Hasenclever was elected Schweitzer's successor as the president of the ADAV. In the following years, Bismarck tried to play SDAP and ADAV (both of which he regarded as "enemies of the Reich") against each other. The rivalry between the two parties made it easier for the government to harass worker's associations in the whole Reich with raids and searches. As newly elected president of the ADAV, Hasenclever began to give a new direction to the ADAV. That, combined with Bismarck's increasingly restrictive line, led to a party line closer to that of the SDAP. However both parties kept their priorities for the time being and criticized each other for it: reform (ADAV) versus revolution (SDAP), national influence of the worker's movement (ADAV) against proletarian internationalism (SDAP), working towards

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

s (ADAV) versus working towards

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s (SDAP). The two papers of the ADAV – ''Der Social-Demokrat'' ("The

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

") and ''Der Agitator'' ("The

Agitator Agitator may refer to: Politics *A person who carries out political agitation; see agitation *A member of the Agitators, political movement and elected representatives of soldiers during the English Civil War * Levellers, also called Agitators ...

"), both dominated by Schweitzer until he stepped down – now were merged into a new party publication called ''Der Neue Sozial-Demokrat'' ("The New Social Democrat"). Editors-in-chief were Hasenclever and his party friend and supporter Wilhelm Hasselmann. Additionally, Hasenclever was editor for the magazine ''Sozial-politische Blätter'' ("Socio-Political Papers") and, from 1873 onwards, publisher of the special edition ''Sozialpolitische Blätter zur Unterhaltung und Belehrung der deutschen Arbeiter'' ("Socio-Political Papers for the Entertainment and Education of the German Workers"). Under Hasenclever's leadership the ADAV grew from 5300 (1871) to more than 19000 (1873/74) members. ''Der Neue Sozial-Demokrat'' had more than 11000 subscribers. For his publications, Hasenclever got multiple criminal sentences, up to one to three months of prison, for crimes such as "publicly encouraging criminal acts", "libel" and "membership in a closed society".

Fusion of the ADAV and the SDAP – the SAP

After a hiatus of four years, Hasenclever was once again elected to the Reichstag (which had become the Reichstag of the German Empire), this time representing Altona. Since then, the positions of the ADAV and the SDAP increasingly converged. On a joint party meeting on 5 May 1875 in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

, the two parties finally merged, forming the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (''Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands'', SAP). Hasenclever and Wilhelm Liebknecht, the leaders of the two parties, had struck a compromise that was written down in the

Gotha programme The Gotha Program was the party platform adopted by the nascent Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) at its initial party congress, held in the town of Gotha in 1875. The program called for universal suffrage, freedom of association, limi ...

(''Gothaer Programm'') of the SAP. It included toning down the revolutionary goals of the SDAP to work within legal bounds: Additionally, these goals should be reached primarily on a national level, which weakened the internationalist aspect of social democrat politics. The party programme was also much more insistent on furthering cooperative economics than the previous programme of the SDAP. While the Marxist goals of Liebknecht were not gone entirely,

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 ...

himself criticized the more reform-oriented compromise in his ''Kritik des Gothaer Programms'' ("

Critique of the Gotha Programme The ''Critique of the Gotha Programme'' (german: Kritik des Gothaer Programms) is a document based on a letter by Karl Marx written in early May 1875 to the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP), with whom Marx and Friedrich Engels wer ...

") from his exile in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Hasenclever was on the board of the new SAP in 1975/76 together with Liebknecht and August Bebel. Together with Liebknecht, he founded the new central party publication ''

Vorwärts ''Vorwärts'' (, "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as ...

'' ("Forward") 1876 in

. The first issue was published on 1 October 1876. ''Vorwärts'' is still the official publication of the SAP's successor party, the SPD. The same year, Hasenclever moved to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and founded the ''Hamburg-Altonaer Volksblatt'' (" Hamburg-Altona People's Paper") . Additionally, he published a satirical worker's newspaper in Leipzig.

Work in the Reichstag and the anti-socialist laws

Because of the steady increase of support for the social democrats Bismarck tried to suppress the party and related associations more firmly. Two assassination attempts on Kaiser Wilhelm I in May and June 1878 gave him the opportunity to act. Even though he knew the contrary was true, he accused the SAP of commissioning the assassins. After a majority decision of the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and the

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

representatives of the Reichstag Bismarck submitted the ''Gesetz gegen die gemeingefährlichen Bestrebungen der Sozialdemokratie'' ("Law against the highly dangerous endeavors of Social Democracy", known today as the ''Sozialistengesetze'' in German and "

Anti-Socialist Laws The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (german: Sozialistengesetze; officially , approximately "Law against the public danger of Social Democratic endeavours") were a series of acts of the parliament of the German Empire, the first of which was ...

" in English) for the Kaiser to sign. It prohibited all activities, meetings and publications of the SAP outside of the Reichstag and the ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

e'' (state parliaments). It went into effect on 22 October 1878 and was rescinded in 1890 – one year after Hasenclever's death and shortly after Bismarck had been relieved of his post as chancellor by the new Kaiser

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

. The ''Vorwärts'' was prohibited in this time as well. '' Der Sozialdemokrat'' was one of the few party papers that were distributed illegally in the Reich. It was printed in Zurich since 1880, and in

from 1887. Many Social Democrats were forced to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to neighboring countries, others were jailed for breaching the anti-socialist laws or were expelled from the towns they were living in as "agitators". When the government declared the so-called ''Kleiner Belagerungszustand'' (small state of siege) on several cities that were Social Democrat strongholds, these sanctions further increased. Hasenclever, Liebknecht, Bebel and other SAP party members kept their seats in the Reichstag and continued to oppose Bismarck's politics and the parties that supported him. However, they were not allowed to publicly represent Social Democracy within the Reich's borders outside the Reichstag. Even though these heavy sanctions, their seats were confirmed in the next Reichstag elections, in which the SAP continued to gain additional votes. Against Bismarck's intentions, the anti-socialist laws had led to a surge of solidarity in the working class that politicized the workers and moved them closer to the party. Between 1881 and 1890 the number of Reichstag votes for the SAP rose from 312000 in 1881 to more than 1.4 Million in 1890, an increase of more than 450%. That made the SAP the party with the highest number of votes in the Reich. The new ''Sozialgesetzgebung'' (social laws) of the chancellor, which created the basis for a system of social security, failed to stop that trend. Like many socialists, Hasenclever was active with the

s during the anti-socialist laws, independent of his party membership. For example, after 1878 he co-founded the ''Berliner Arbeiterbund'' ("Berlin Worker's Association"). His publications were partially written under a pen name. Even though he had a seat in the Reichstag, he was forced to change his German place of residence multiple times by the ''Kleiner Belagerungszustand'', since he was expelled from Leipzig in 1881 and from Berlin in 1884. He lived as a self-employed writer in

Wurzen Wurzen () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig on the main line via Riesa to Dresden. It has a cathedral datin ...

, Halle and Dessau. Because he was mostly unable to finance his political work by himself, he had to rely on support by his wife Clara, which owned a cigar trade in Berlin.

Illness and death

In the late 1880s Hasenclever increasingly suffered from a neurological and psychiatrical condition that was not specifically diagnosed at the time. This made his political work harder and harder, and in the end impossible. In 1888 he stepped down from the Reichstag, after he had collapsed during the ''Geheimbund-Prozess'' ("secret society trial") in Düsseldorf. He tried to regain his health in the ''Maison de la santé'' ( French for "house of health"), a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempe ...

south of Berlin. There he died, reliant on support by staff and mentally incapable, on 3 July 1889, aged 52. He did not experience the end of the anti-socialist laws and the renaming of the SAP to Social Democratic Party of Germany (''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'', SPD) a year later. He was buried on the ''Friedhof der freireligiösen Gemeinde Berlins'' ("Cemetery of the independently religious community of Berlin") on

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incor ...

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. ...

. About 15000 workers attended the funeral. A year later, in 1890, party members of the SPD collected money for a memorial there. Its inscription is "''Dem alten Kämpfer für Wahrheit, Freiheit und Recht''" ("To the old fighter for truth, freedom and justice"). Today, the Wilhelm-Hasenclever-Platz, a square in Berlin-Wedding which features another memorial plaque, is named in his honor. Also, a street in Treptow is named after him. In 1987, Hasenclever's house of birth in Arnsberg was fitted with a memorial plaque as well.

Work as a writer

Hasenclever's work as a writer went beyond the numerous publications in newspapers and magazines, many of which he had founded himself. He wrote various treatises on sociopolitical problems of the time, but also novellas,

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

s and

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

s, in which he addressed the cause of the workers in emotionally and full of pathos. The roots of his poems were the political poems of the

Vormärz ' (; English: ''pre-March'') was a period in the history of Germany preceding the 1848 March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation. The beginning of the period is less well-defined. Some place the starting point directly after the ...

and were intended to be more political than artistical. In day-to-day politics, however, Hasenclever was regarded as more moderate than other leading Socialists of the time. Inside the party, one of his most controversial works was the treatise "''Der Wahrheit die Ehre. Ein Beitrag zur Judenfrage in Deutschland''" ("Truth Honored. A Submission on the Question of Jews in Germany"), which he had published in 1881 under the pen name "Wilhelm Revel". In it, Hasenclever addressed the racist-antisemitic position of Adolf Stoecker, who had founded the Christian Social Party (''Christlich-soziale Partei'') to promote an anti-Semitic agenda politically. However, by criticizing this "movement", which tried to attract and subvert the social democrat voters (with limited success), Hasenclever touched upon the anti-Semitic '' ressentiments'' in the worker's movement and showed understanding for their anti-capitalist and anti-intellectual motivations. So, he showed his own latent antisemitical bias, which led to criticism by other leading party members, who saw it as a threat to the official party line of

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...

and assimilation of Jews.

Partial bibliography

*''Über die Beeinflussung des Arbeiterstandes durch die gegenwärtige Presse'' ("On the Influence of the Current Press on the Working Class"), Heidelberg 1864. *''Erlebtes – Skizzen und Novellen'' ("Experiences – Sketches and Novellas"), Leipzig 1877. *''Erlebtes. Erinnerungen aus dem Soldatenleben 1857 bis 1871'' ("Experiences. Recollections of Life as a Soldier 1857 to 1871"), Leipzig 1877. *''Liebe, Leben, Kampf. Gedichte'' ("Love, Life, Struggle. Poems."), Hamburg 1878. *''Noch einmal Herr Findel und die Socialdemokratie'' ("Once Again Mister Findel and Social Democracy"), Leipzig 1880. *''Der Wahrheit die Ehre. Ein Beitrag zur Judenfrage in Deutschland'' ("Truth Honored. A Submission on the Question of Jews in Germany"), Nuremberg 1881 (published under the pen name Wilhelm Revel).

References

* Eduard Bernstein: ''Die Geschichte der Berliner Arbeiterbewegung.''. Berlin 1907. *

Franz Mehring Franz Erdmann Mehring (27 February 1846 – 28 January 1919) was a German communist historian, literary critic, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist politician who was a senior member of the Spartacus League during the German Revolution of 191 ...

: ''Die Geschichte der deutschen Sozialdemokratie.'' Dietz, Berlin 1898, 1980. *Ludger Heid, Klaus-Dieter Vinschen, Elisabeth Heid (publishers): ''Wilhelm Hasenclever. Reden und Schriften.'' Dietz, Bonn 1989. *Georg Eckert (publisher): ''Wilhelm Liebknecht. Briefwechsel mit deutschen Sozialdemokraten. 1862 bis 1878.'' Vol. 1. Assen 1973. *Ludger Heid: "Pazifist – Patriot – Parlamentarier. Wilhelm Hasenclever in der antimilitaristischen Tradition der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung". In: ''Wilhelm Hasenclever. Erlebtes.'', published by Ludger Heid and others. F. Franke, Arnsberg 1987. *Anne Roerkohl: ''Wilhelm Hasenclever.'' Westfalen im Bild. Bildmediensammlung zur westfäl. Landeskunde. Persönlichkeiten aus Westfalen. Volume 3. Münster 1991.

External links

*
Biographical portrait of Wilhelm Hasenclever by Konrad Beck

* The Gotha programme of the SAP on

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasenclever, Wilhelm 1837 births 1889 deaths People from Arnsberg People from the Province of Westphalia German Protestants General German Workers' Association politicians Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 6th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 7th Reichstag of the German Empire Vorwärts editors