The German Social Democratic Party was the world’s first million-strong political party and was the main force pushing for the democratisation of Imperial Germany before the First World War. This book examines the themes around which the party organized its mainly working-class membership, and analyses the experiences and outlook of rank-and-file party members as well as the party’s press and publications. Key topics of inquiry include: the Lassalle cult and leadership, nationalism and internationalism, attitudes to work, the politics of subsistence, the effects of military service, reading and the diffusion of Marx’s ideas, cultural organisations, and socialism and republicanism under the Imperial German state. Through these various avenues, Bonnell explores the remarkable degree to which the party successfully addressed workers’ everyday concerns while also offering the prospect of a better future.
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"Andrew Bonnell’s scholarly study of the milieu and mentalité of nineteenth-century German social democrats is replete with well-crafted reconstructions of this lost working-class culture." – James McSpadden, Europe Now
"We should thank Bonnell for bringing to light such important and relevant lessons from the history of socialism in Germany, which should be carefully studied by all those interested in applying Marxist theory to actual revolutionary political practice." – Daniel Gaido, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
"Bonnell’s study convincingly demonstrates that labour history is not just a specialized field, but highly important for modern German history." – Anna Strommenger, International Review of Social History