Anti-Socialist Laws

The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (Sozialistengesetze; officially Gesetz gegen die gemeingefährlichen Bestrebungen der Sozialdemokratie, 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 passed on 19 October 1878 by the Reichstag lasting until 31 March 1881 and extended four times (May 1880, May 1884, April 1886 and February 1888). The legislation gained widespread support after two failed attempts to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany by the radicals Max Hödel and Karl Nobiling. The laws were designed by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck with the goal of reversing the growing strength of the Social Democratic Party (SPD, named SAP at the time) which was blamed for inspiring the assassins. However, the laws caused the socialist movement to strengthen at times. This resulted in Bismarck dropping the laws and changing his coalition, eventually becoming an ally of his former enemies the Catholic Centre Party which appealed to Catholic workers who opposed socialism. The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD), later renamed the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was formed with the merger General German Workers' Association founded in 1863 in Leipzig, on the initiative of Ferdinand Lassalle, and the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany founded in 1869 in Eisenach by Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel. The terms "socialism" and "social democracy" at that time were understood as synonyms. They were formed under the influence of the philosophical, political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were then living in exile in London. According to the revolutionary theory, the "Social Democratic Party of Germany" claimed to represent the political interests of the labor movement and the working-class. The Social Democrats sought to improve the social position of the working class and ultimately eliminate the existing "non-democratic" structures of government.