Latest / The History of Germany: Kingdoms, War, and Rebuilding Europe — Fexingo History / Bismarck's Anti-Socialist Laws: Cracking Down on the SPD
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Bismarck's unification, his wars, his welfare state. But there's another side to him that's less comfortable — the repressive side. And nothing shows that better than the Anti-Socialist Laws, the Sozialistengesetze, that he pushed through in 1878. Luna: Right, the laws that banned the Social Democratic Party. I've heard about them, but I'm fuzzy on the details. Lucas: Exactly. And it's a fascinating story because it backfired spectacularly. But first, let me set the scene. By the 1870s, Germany was industrializing fast. Cities were swelling with factory workers, and with them came socialist ideas. The Social Democratic Workers' Party — later just the SPD — was founded in 1875 at a congress in Gotha, uniting two earlier socialist groups. By 1877, they had 12 seats in the Reichstag, and their newspaper, Der Sozialdemokrat, was gaining readers. Luna: So Bismarck saw them as a threat. Lucas: Absolutely. He'd already tried to curb them through other means — including the welfare state, which was partly a carrot to win workers' loyalty. But then in May 1878, a man named Max Hödel tried to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm I. He was a deranged individual, not really a socialist, but he had some ties to anarchist circles. Then, just a few weeks later, another attempt by Dr. Karl Nobiling — again, not a socialist, but the damage was done. Bismarck used public outrage to push through a law specifically targeting the socialists. Luna: So he blamed them even though they weren't involved? Lucas: Pretty much. He dissolved the Reichstag and called new elections, campaigning on a platform of 'enemies of the empire'. The new Reichstag, with a more conservative majority, passed the Anti-Socialist Law in October 1878. The law banned all organizations that aimed to overthrow the state or society — basically any socialist group. It outlawed their meetings, their publications, their unions. Socialist newspapers were shut down, and hundreds of activists were arrested or expelled from Berlin and other cities. Luna: But the SPD itself wasn't outlawed as a party, right? I thought they kept running for office. Lucas: That's the crucial loophole. The law didn't ban the party as such — it banned its 'activities'. So SPD candidates could still stand for election, and they could still speak in the Reichstag. But they couldn't organize publicly. So they went underground. The party established a secret exile base in Zurich, then later in London. They smuggled their newspaper, Der Sozialdemokrat, into Germany by train and ship, often hidden in shipments of cheese or books. And August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht — the party's leaders — continued to give speeches in the Reichstag, protected by parliamentary immunity. Luna: So Bismarck's law just drove them underground and made them more determined. Lucas: Exactly. And the results in elections were stunning. In 1878, the SPD got about 7% of the vote. By 1881, despite the repression, they had 6%. But by 1884, they were at 10%, and by 1890 — the year the law expired — they got nearly 20% of the vote and 35 seats. They became the largest socialist party in Europe. The repression had actually strengthened them: it radicalized their base, gave them a martyr narrative, and forced them to organize with incredible discipline. Luna: It reads like a textbook case of how not to suppress a movement. Lucas: It really does. And Bismarck, for all his tactical brilliance, couldn't see that. He kept renewing the law every few years, each time with more difficulty. By 1888, when Wilhelm II became Kaiser, the political climate changed. Wilhelm II wanted to be his own man, and he didn't share Bismarck's obsession with the socialist threat. When the law came up for renewal in 1890, the new Reichstag voted it down. Bismarck was furious, and it was one of the factors that led to his dismissal later that year.