Wilhelm Hasselmann

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Wilhelm Hasselmann (born September 25, 1844 in Bremen – died February 25, 1916 in New York, United States) was a German socialist politician and activist and editor of various social democratic newspapers.

Biography[]

Early life[]

He was born in Bremen and baptized Protestant however later became an atheist. Hasselmann attended the polytechnic school in Hanover and continued his studies in Berlin where he came in to contact with the rising labour movement in Prussia. He eventually abandoned his studies and became a journalist.^[1]

Entry in to politics and leader of German social democracy[]

Hasselmann joined the General German Workers' Association of Ferdinand Lassalle and became the chief editor of the party's newspapers Social-Demokratie and Der Agitator which were under the direction of Johann Baptist von Schweitzer who later became the party's chairman.

After Schweitzer's resignation as chairman possibly due to his agreements with Otto von Bismarck, Wilhelm Hasenclever waz elected the chairman of the AVDA, and from that point on Hasselmann and Hasenclever worked closely together. The Social Democrat and The Agitator became the new party newspaper, renamed The New Social Democrat in summary; Hasselmann remained its content-wise defining editor. Hasselmann also worked for various other partly regional, workers' newspapers, some of which he founded himself and of which he was the chief editor in charge. The ADAV grew from 5,300 members in 1871 to more than 19,000 party members by the turn of the year 1873/74. By then, the New Social Democrat had increased its customer base to over 11,000 subscribers.

Hasselmann was elected in the Reichstag for the first time and was one if the three members of the ADVA elected. Because of the increasing pressure of the anti socialist and union laws implemented by the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the two formerly competing parties, the General German Workers' Association and The Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany decided to unite in a joint congress initiated by Hasselmann and the spokesperson of the SDAP Wilhelm Liebknecht. Hasselmann was decisive in the creation of the newly formed Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (later Social Democratic Party of Germany) Gotha Programme. Karl Marx later mockingly referred to Hasselmann as the "Berlin Marat" in his work Critique of the Gotha Programme.^[2]

In 1876 he published the newspaper Die Rote Fahne (the name was later re-used for the KPD organ), which was initially conceived as a pamphlet and then as a revolutionary weekly newspaper, Hasselmann came in to conflict with August Bebel. Babel accused him of using his newspaper to displace the new party organ of the Social Democrats, Vorwärts behind the backs of the party executive (Central Election Committee) and thus wanting to split the SAP.^[3]

After the two unsuccessful assassination attempts at the life of Kaiser Wilhelm II the situation for the social democratic movement in Prussia worsened. The Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck implemented the repressive Anti-Socialist Laws with the majority votes of the Conservatives and National Liberals.

Hasselmann who was becoming more of an outcast with his radical positions both in the pro government conservative circles and within the SAP, he remained relatively popular among the poorer working class. His popularity with the underprivileged classes of the population was expressed for example, in a nursery rhyme that was widespread locally at the time: "Now we choose the Hasselmann then eat the Brodt en Kastemann" ("Kastemann": Colloquial expression for a small coin with a current value of around €0.03).^[4] Wilhelm Hasselmann was re-elected to the Reichstag in 1878 for this constituency, in which he had published the regional party newspaper Bergische Volksstimme since 1876. Even in the Reichstag he continued to express his radical and anti-state views and spoke fondly of the narodniks in Russia and their assassination attempts on Alexander II.

After Johann Most lost his mandate, Hasselmann was the only one in the legislative period from 1878 who openly represented positions with an anarchist tendency in the nine-member Reichstag faction of the SAP, which made him increasingly exposed to political isolation.

Expulsion from the SPD and emigration to the United States[]

In August 1880 Wilhelm Hasselmann was expelled from the party at the first exiled party congress of the SAP since the Anti-Socialist Act came into force at Wyden Castle in the Swiss canton of Zurich because of his internal opposition to the party.

Together with his expulsion from the party, the one against Most, which had already been pronounced three months earlier, was formally confirmed. Most had been in exile in London since the Anti-Socialist Act came into force, where he published the journal Freiheit, which was illegally distributed in Germany in which not only the Bismarck system was attacked, but was also increasingly critical against the moderate attitude of the party leadership of the SAP. Hasselmann had also written some articles for Freiheit. With the exclusion of the two best-known protagonists of anarchism from German social democracy, their leading representatives, led by Ignaz Auer, who was also able to win August Bebel for his position, hoped to get rid of the radical social-revolutionary wing of the party and thus the anti-socialist propaganda of the pro-government parties and to deprive their press of the basis.^[5]

Hasselmann, who was not present at the party congress himself, gave up his parliamentary mandate, which was formally valid until 1881. A few weeks after being expelled from the party, he emigrated to the US and settled in New York. There, too, he tried to gain a political foothold by founding various revolutionary-socialist associations, but was ultimately unsuccessful. After the "American Workers' Newspaper" founded by him had failed, he stopped his public political activities from 1885/86. In 1888 he received American citizenship. Among other things, he was able to secure his livelihood by later running a beer bar in New York.

Wilhelm Hasselmann died in 1916 unknown by the public at the age of 71.

Works[]

• Sozial-politische Blätter zur Unterhaltung und Belehrung für die deutschen Arbeiter. Ihring, Berlin 1873–1874 (Jg. 1. 1873, Lieferg 1. Jg. 2. 1874, Lieferg 12, Nr 3. Hrsg. u. red. v. W. Hasenclever; W. Hasselmann)
• Die Regierung des Deutschen Reichs und der Deutsche Reichstag in ihrer Stellung zur Sozialdemokratie. Die Reden des Preußischen Ministers Eulenburg und der Abgeordneten Hasselmann und Bamberger in der Reichstagssitzung am 29. Januar 1876. Verlag der Genossenschafts-Buchdruckerei, Leipzig 1876
• Die Angelegenheit Fritzsche-Hasselmann vor dem Deutschen Reichstage. Stenographischer Bericht über die Reichstagssitzung am 19. Februar 1879. Verlag der Genossenschafts-Buchdruckerei, Leipzig 1879
• Die Angelegenheit Fritzsche-Hasselmann vor dem deutschen Reichstage am 23.Februar 1880. Antrag des Abgeordneten Wilhelm Hasenclever. Verlag der Genossenschafts-Buchdruckerei, Leipzig 1880

References[]