Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Wolff, nicknamed "Lupus" (21 June 1809 – 9 May 1864) was a German

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

, political activist and publicist.

Life

Wolff was born in Tarnau, Kreis Schweidnitz,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

(now Tarnawa, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Gmina Żarów, Poland) in to a family of farmers. In 1831 he became active as a radical student organization member, for which he was imprisoned between 1834 and 1838. In 1846, in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Wolff became a close friend 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 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Communist Correspondence Committee and a member of the

League of the Just The League of the Just (German: ''Bund der Gerechten'') or League of Justice was a Christian communist international revolutionary organization. It was founded in 1836 by branching off from its ancestor, the League of Outlaws (German: ''Bund der ...

in addition to being co-founder of the League of Communists in 1848 as a member of its central authority. He served as an editor of the ''

Neue Rheinische Zeitung The ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie'' ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between 1 June 1848 and 19 May 1849. It is recognised by historians as one of the ...

'' in 1848-1849 and as a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly. Wolff emigrated to Switzerland in 1849 and then to England in 1851.

Legacy

On his death, Wolff left a substantial fortune to Marx, who dedicated the first volume of ''

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...

'' to him with the line "To my unforgettable friend, Wilhelm Wolff. Intrepid, faithful, noble protagonist of the proletariat." According to American economics Professor Richard D. Wolff, Wilhelm Wolff is one of Richard Wolff's distant relatives.

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He rece ...

's play '' Die Weber'' (The Weavers) is based on Wolff's essay about the weavers' uprising in

in 1844 and its suppression, ''Das Elend und der Aufuhr in Schlesien''.Eyck, Frank ''The Revolutions of 1848'' Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1972 p. 19

References

External links

* Archive o
Wilhelm Wolff Papers
at the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...

* Frederick Engels, 1876
Wilhelm Wolff biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Wilhelm Friedrich 1809 births 1864 deaths German communists German socialists Members of the Frankfurt Parliament People from Zielona Góra County People from the Province of Silesia People from Żarów