Wilhelm Liebknecht

Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist activist and politician. One of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), his political career was a pioneering project in steering a revolutionary workers' movement into legal, parliamentary politics while navigating governmental repression and internal party disputes.

Born into an educated family of civil servants, Liebknecht was radicalized during his university studies and became a "conscious socialist" through the writings of early socialist thinkers. He was an active participant in the German revolutions of 1848–1849, fighting in the Baden uprisings, after which he began a thirteen-year exile, first in Switzerland and then in London. During his time in London, he became a close associate and student of Karl Marx.

After returning to Germany in 1862, Liebknecht became a prominent figure in the nascent German labour movement. In opposition to the state-oriented socialism of Ferdinand Lassalle's General German Workers' Association (ADAV), Liebknecht, in partnership with August Bebel, founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1869. A firm opponent of Prussian domination, he and Bebel famously refused to vote for war credits at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, a stance that led to their conviction for treason in 1872.

Liebknecht was the chief architect of the 1875 Gotha Congress, which merged his SDAP with the ADAV to form the (SAP), the forerunner of the modern SPD. He served as a member of the Reichstag from 1874 until his death, using his position as a platform to criticize the government of Otto von Bismarck, especially during the period of the Anti-Socialist Laws (1878–1890). Throughout his later career, he was a leading figure in the Second International, the editor of the central party organ ''Vorwärts'', and was regarded as the "elder statesman" of German socialism. He was the father of socialist politicians Theodor and Karl Liebknecht. Provided by Wikipedia