Death of August Bebel

© AdsD August Bebel

On August 13th August Bebel, co-founder of the German Social Democratic Party of Germany and its most influential and popular leader for more than 40 years, passes away in Passugg, Switzerland. He is one of the outstanding figures in the history of western European Socialism. Bebel, as no other, embodied the tradition of the German Social Democratic Party. Already in 1882 Engels described him as a unique manifestation of the German, indeed of the European working class. A member of the Reichstag from 1867 almost continuously until his death, he achieved his most celebrated triumphs as a parliamentarian.

Throughout his life Willy Brandt will see a role model in August Bebel.