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FERDINAND AUGUST BEBEL (184o— )

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 601 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FERDINAND See also:AUGUST See also:BEBEL (184o— )  , See also:German socialist, was See also:born at See also:Cologne on the 22nd of See also:February 1840; he became a See also:turner and worked at See also:Leipzig . Here he took a prominent See also:part in the workmen's See also:movement and in the association of working men which had been founded under the See also:influence of See also:Schultz-See also:Delitzsch; at first an opponent of See also:socialism, he came under the influence of See also:Liebknecht, and after 1865 he was a confirmed See also:advocate of socialism . With Liebknecht he belonged to the See also:branch of the socialists which was in See also:close See also:correspondence with Karl See also:Marx and the See also:International, and refused to accept the leadership of See also:Schweitzer, who had attempted to carry on the See also:work after See also:Lassalle's See also:death . He was one of those who supported a See also:vote of want of confidence in Schweitzer at the See also:Eisenach See also:conference in 1867, from which his party was generally known as " the Eisenacher." In this See also:year he was elected a member of the See also:North German Reichstag for a Saxon See also:constituency, and, with an See also:interval from 1881-to 1883, remained a member of the German See also:parliament . His See also:great organizing See also:talent and. oratorical See also:power quickly made him one of the leaders of the socialists and their See also:chief spokesman in parliament . In 187o he and Liebknecht were the only members who did not vote the extraordinary See also:subsidy required for the See also:war with See also:France; the followers of Lassalle, on the other See also:hand, voted for the See also:government proposals . He was the only Socialist who was elected to the Reichstag in 1871, but he used his position to protest against the See also:annexation of See also:Alsace-See also:Lorraine and to See also:express his full sympathy with the See also:Paris See also:Commune . See also:Bismarck afterwards said that this speech of See also:Bebel's was a " See also:ray of See also:light," showing him that Socialism was an enemy to be fought against and crushed; and in 1872 Bebel was accused in See also:Brunswick of preparation for high See also:treason, and condemned to two years' imprisonment in a fortress, and, forinsulting the German See also:emperor, to nine months' See also:ordinary imprisonment . After his See also:release he helped to organize, at the See also:congress of See also:Gotha, the See also:united party of Social Democrats, which had been formed during his imprisonment . After the passing of the Socialist See also:Law he continued to show great activity in the debates of the Reichstag, and was also elected a member of the Saxon parliament; when the See also:state of See also:siege was proclaimed in Leipzig he was expelled from the See also:city, and in 1886 condemned to nine months' imprisonment for taking part in a See also:secret society . Although the rules of the Social Democratic party do not recognize a See also:leader or See also:president, Bebel subsequently became by far the most influential member of the party . In the party meetings of 1890 and 1891 his policy was severely attacked, first by the extremists, the " See also:young " Socialists from See also:Berlin, who wished to abandon See also:parliamentary See also:action; against these Bebel won a See also:complete victory .

On the other See also:

side he was involved in a See also:quarrel with Volmar and his school, who desired to put aside from immediate See also:consideration the complete attainment of the Socialist ideal, and proposed that the party should aim at bringing about, not a complete overthrow of society, but a See also:gradual amelioration . This conflict of tendencies continued, and Bebel came to be regarded as the chief exponent of the traditional views of the orthodox Marxist party . He was exposed to some natural ridicule on the ground that the " Kladderadatsch," which he often spoke of as imminent, failed to make its See also:appearance . On the other hand, though a strong opponent of militarism, he publicly stated that See also:foreign nations attacking See also:Germany must not expect the help or the See also:neutrality of the Social Democrats . His See also:book, See also:Die Frau and der Socialismus (1893), which went through many See also:editions and contained an attack on the institution of See also:marriage, identified him with the most extreme forms of Socialism . See also Mehring, Geschichte der deutschen Social-Demokratie (See also:Stuttgart, 1898) ; Reports of the See also:Annual Meetings of the Social Democratic Party, Berlin Vorwarts See also:Publishing See also:Company (from 1890) ; B . See also:Russell, German Social-See also:Democracy (See also:London, 1897) . (J . W .

End of Article: FERDINAND AUGUST BEBEL (184o— )
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