August Bebel

Ferdinand August Bebel (22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German social democratic politician. One of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he was a leader of the German workers' movement for over four decades. Bebel served as a member of parliament in the North German Confederation from 1867 to 1870 and in the German Empire from 1871 until his death in 1913, becoming the movement's leading parliamentary voice.

Born into poverty in Prussia, Bebel was orphaned at a young age and apprenticed as a woodturner. His experiences as a traveling journeyman exposed him to the hardships of the working class and led him to socialist politics in the 1860s. With Wilhelm Liebknecht, he was a founder of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1869, which in 1875 merged with the General German Workers' Association to form what would become the SPD. Bebel became a central figure in the German socialist movement, opposing the nationalist and state-oriented socialism of Ferdinand Lassalle in favor of a more orthodox Marxist, internationalist position. During the Franco-Prussian War, he gained notoriety for his opposition to the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, which led to his conviction for high treason in 1872.