Bebel became a Marxist. Under his leadership the South-German workers’ unions broke with the liberals and united to form the Social-Democratic Party. In 1867, the German workers elected Bebel to the Reichstag. Lenin noted that Bebel, one of the first workers’ deputies, was entitled to considerable merit for his direct participation in devising the Social-Democratic Party’s parliamentary tactics. During the Franco-Prussian War Bebel together with Wilhelm Liebknecht, also a Reichstag deputy, adopted a correct internationalist line by refusing to vote for war credits to the German army. This revolutionary action, as also their open support of the heroic Paris Commune (for which Bebel and Liebknecht were sent to prison won them widespread popularity with the working class.
SOCIETY OF THE FUTURE
August Bebel
Progress Publishers, Moscow 1971
