Karl Schapper
Encyclopedia
Karl Schapper was a German socialist and labour leader. He was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany and an early associate of Wilhelm Weitling
and Karl Marx
.
. 'Young Germany' was modelled on, and affiliated with, Giuseppe Mazzini's
'Young Italy', and in 1834, Schapper participated in Mazzini's attempt at an armed invasion of Savoy
from Switzerland. This was Mazzini's second attempt; like the first, in 1833, it was unsuccessful. Schapper was once again imprisoned.
(1803-1869) in setting up workers' educational circles. In 1836, Schapper was deported from Switzerland for his political activities and went to Paris, France. He joined the French section of 'Young Germany' and the communist 'League of the Banned', soon renamed 'League of the Just'. It was later renamed the 'Communist League
', on the initiative of Wilhelm Wolff
. The League maintained relations with French utopian communist Étienne Cabet
and the Neo-Babouvists
. In 1839, the League was implicated in an unsuccessful insurrection by the 'Society of the Seasons', led by Auguste Blanqui and Armand Barbès
. Schapper, who had been involved, was caught and imprisoned. In 1840 he was expelled from France and went to London, England, where he re-orgaised the Communist League. In spite of the failure of the Blanquist insurrection, its organisational model left a lasting impression on Schapper's mind.
, with Chartist
leader Julian Harney
. The Fraternal Democrats promoted republicanism and democracy and attempted to give aid to the many radical political refugees in London; they thus helped forge links among the revolutionaries of different countries. The Fraternal Democrats were also affiliated with the British labour movement. Other Chartists with whom Schapper collaborated included Ernest Jones.
lead, but in the 1840s it came under the influence of Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels
. Schapper became head of the 'Communist Correspondence Committee' and organised the publication of Marx' and Engels' Communist Manifesto in 1848. Schapper also contributed to the Communist Journal (Kommunistische Zeitschrift) published by the League. He is thought to have been the author of an anonymous commentary on the Communist Manifesto and polemicized against the radical democrat Karl Heinzen
.
The Revolution of 1848 brought Schapper back to Germany. He went first to Cologne, where he helped publish, and occasionally wrote for, Marx' Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Together with Joseph Moll
, he organized the Workers' Association; this was an embryonic trade union as well as a political organisation. It was a forerunner of Ferdinand Lasselle's
'General German Workers' Association' and, indirectly, of the German Social-Democratic party
. After briefly being imprisoned in Cologne, Schapper went to Nassau, where he participated in the democratic movement in Wiesbaden. In 1849 he was arrested again and charged with high treason for having strongly criticized the new constitution adopted by the Frankfurt parliament. He was acquitted of the capital charge but expelled from Germany. He returned to London, where he lived in dire poverty and tried to support himself as a language tutor. He also resumed work on behalf of the Communist League.
However, in 1850, a bitter quarrel led to a split, with Marx and Engels on one side and Karl Schapper and August Willich
on the other. Schapper's conflict with Marx had been building for some time. The final break came over the question how to react to the defeat of the revolution. Marx argued for building a mass workers' movement for the future; Schapper and Willich wanted to prepare for further insurrections. Schapper and Willich formed their own group, the Communist Central Committee, modelled on the conspiratorial Blanquist organisations they knew from the 1830s. However, their efforts came to nought, and Willich soon emigrated to the USA, where he became a general in the Union army during the Civil War
.
' and the Italian Risorgimento. As a member of the League of the Just, Schapper helped forge links between German socialists and the radical French communist and Blanquist groups of the 1830s and '40s. In the Communist League, Schapper helped pave the way from the utopian communism of Weitling to the 'scientific socialism' of Marx and Engels. In the 1840s, Schapper helped build bridges between German socialists and the radical wing of the British Chartist
movement. Schapper played a role in the 1848 Revolution in Germany and, subsequently, in founding the First International.
Wilhelm Weitling
Wilhelm Weitling was an important 19th-century European radical.Both praised and critiqued by disciples of the growing Marxist philosophy during the 19th century, Weitling was characterized as a "utopian socialist" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, although Engels also referred to Weitling as the...
and Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
.
Young Germany and Mazzini
Karl Friedrich Schapper was born on December 30 in Weinbach. His father, Christian Schapper, was a priest. Karl Schapper studied forestry in Giessen. As a student, he joined a radical fraternity, and in 1832, he participated in an insurrection known as Frankfurter Landsturm. The would-be revolutionaries seized an arsenal and wanted to overthrow the Frankfurt diet and proclaim a republic. Schapper was imprisoned, but after three months, he managed to escape, making his way to Switzerland. There he worked as a forestry worker and typesetter. He joined the radical organisation 'Young Germany' and became a follower of the utopian communist Wilhelm WeitlingWilhelm Weitling
Wilhelm Weitling was an important 19th-century European radical.Both praised and critiqued by disciples of the growing Marxist philosophy during the 19th century, Weitling was characterized as a "utopian socialist" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, although Engels also referred to Weitling as the...
. 'Young Germany' was modelled on, and affiliated with, Giuseppe Mazzini's
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini , nicknamed Soul of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century...
'Young Italy', and in 1834, Schapper participated in Mazzini's attempt at an armed invasion of Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
from Switzerland. This was Mazzini's second attempt; like the first, in 1833, it was unsuccessful. Schapper was once again imprisoned.
The League of the Just and Blanqui
On his release, Schapper resumed his activities in 'Young Germany' and was associated with the exiled German democrat Georg FeinGeorg Fein
Georg Fein was a German democratic journalist, an early German socialist and a liberal nationalist. He was a prominent publicist during the Vormärz period that preceded the Revolution of 1848.-Early life:...
(1803-1869) in setting up workers' educational circles. In 1836, Schapper was deported from Switzerland for his political activities and went to Paris, France. He joined the French section of 'Young Germany' and the communist 'League of the Banned', soon renamed 'League of the Just'. It was later renamed the 'Communist League
Communist League
The Communist League was the first Marxist international organization. It was founded originally as the League of the Just by German workers in Paris in 1834. This was initially a utopian socialist and Christian communist group devoted to the ideas of Gracchus Babeuf...
', on the initiative of Wilhelm Wolff
Wilhelm Wolff
Wilhelm Friedrich Wolff, nicknamed Lupus was a German schoolmaster from Tarnau , Galicia. In 1831 he became active as a radical student organization member, something he was imprisoned for between 1834 and 1838...
. The League maintained relations with French utopian communist Étienne Cabet
Étienne Cabet
Étienne Cabet was a French philosopher and utopian socialist. He was the founder of the Icarian movement and led a group of emigrants to found a new society in the United States.-Biography:...
and the Neo-Babouvists
Neo-Babouvism
Neo-Babouvism is a term commonly used to designate a revolutionary communist current in French political theory and action in the nineteenth century....
. In 1839, the League was implicated in an unsuccessful insurrection by the 'Society of the Seasons', led by Auguste Blanqui and Armand Barbès
Armand Barbès
Armand Barbès , was a French Republican revolutionary and a fierce and steadfast opponent of the July monarchy . He is remembered as a man whose life centers on two days:...
. Schapper, who had been involved, was caught and imprisoned. In 1840 he was expelled from France and went to London, England, where he re-orgaised the Communist League. In spite of the failure of the Blanquist insurrection, its organisational model left a lasting impression on Schapper's mind.
Chartism and Harney
In England, Schapper was involved in organising the German Workers' Educational Association and the Fraternal DemocratsFraternal Democrats
Fraternal Democrats was an international society, founded at a meeting held in London on September 22. 1845. The society embraced representatives of Left Chartists, German workers and craftsmen – members of the League of the Just – and revolutionary emigrants of other nationalities...
, with Chartist
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
leader Julian Harney
George Julian Harney
George Julian Harney was a British political activist, journalist, and Chartist leader. He was also associated with Marxism, socialism, and universal suffrage.-Early life:...
. The Fraternal Democrats promoted republicanism and democracy and attempted to give aid to the many radical political refugees in London; they thus helped forge links among the revolutionaries of different countries. The Fraternal Democrats were also affiliated with the British labour movement. Other Chartists with whom Schapper collaborated included Ernest Jones.
The 1848 Revolution and Marx
The League had originally followed Wilhelm Weitling'sWilhelm Weitling
Wilhelm Weitling was an important 19th-century European radical.Both praised and critiqued by disciples of the growing Marxist philosophy during the 19th century, Weitling was characterized as a "utopian socialist" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, although Engels also referred to Weitling as the...
lead, but in the 1840s it came under the influence of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
. Schapper became head of the 'Communist Correspondence Committee' and organised the publication of Marx' and Engels' Communist Manifesto in 1848. Schapper also contributed to the Communist Journal (Kommunistische Zeitschrift) published by the League. He is thought to have been the author of an anonymous commentary on the Communist Manifesto and polemicized against the radical democrat Karl Heinzen
Karl Heinzen
Karl Peter Heinzen was a revolutionary author who resided mainly in Germany and the United States. He was one of the German Forty-Eighters.-Biography:...
.
The Revolution of 1848 brought Schapper back to Germany. He went first to Cologne, where he helped publish, and occasionally wrote for, Marx' Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Together with Joseph Moll
Joseph Moll
Joseph Moll was a German labour leader and revolutionary. He was a pioneer of the German labour movement and a figure in early German socialism. Moll was an early associate of Karl Marx.-Early life:...
, he organized the Workers' Association; this was an embryonic trade union as well as a political organisation. It was a forerunner of Ferdinand Lasselle's
Ferdinand Lassalle
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German-Jewish jurist and socialist political activist.-Early life:Ferdinand Lassalle was born on 11 April 1825 in Breslau , Silesia to a prosperous Jewish family descending from Upper Silesian Loslau...
'General German Workers' Association' and, indirectly, of the German Social-Democratic party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
. After briefly being imprisoned in Cologne, Schapper went to Nassau, where he participated in the democratic movement in Wiesbaden. In 1849 he was arrested again and charged with high treason for having strongly criticized the new constitution adopted by the Frankfurt parliament. He was acquitted of the capital charge but expelled from Germany. He returned to London, where he lived in dire poverty and tried to support himself as a language tutor. He also resumed work on behalf of the Communist League.
However, in 1850, a bitter quarrel led to a split, with Marx and Engels on one side and Karl Schapper and August Willich
August Willich
August Willich , born Johann August Ernst von Willich, was a military officer in the Prussian Army and a leading early proponent of Communism in Germany. In 1847 he discarded his title of nobility...
on the other. Schapper's conflict with Marx had been building for some time. The final break came over the question how to react to the defeat of the revolution. Marx argued for building a mass workers' movement for the future; Schapper and Willich wanted to prepare for further insurrections. Schapper and Willich formed their own group, the Communist Central Committee, modelled on the conspiratorial Blanquist organisations they knew from the 1830s. However, their efforts came to nought, and Willich soon emigrated to the USA, where he became a general in the Union army during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
The First International
Schapper and Marx were reconciled in 1856. Schapper was involved in founding the International Working Men's Association (the First International) in London in 1864. His long-standing contacts with French, British, Swiss, Italian, Belgian and American radicals, socialists and trade unionists were a valuable asset to Marx. In 1865 Schapper was elected to the General Council of the First International, the organisation's governing body. In the factional conflicts within the International, Schapper loyally supported Marx. However, Schapper's health had been poor for some time. He suffered from tuberculosis. Karl Schapper died in London on April 28, 1870.Significance
Karl Schapper was important for several reasons: As a communist of working class background, he was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany. As a member of Young Germany, he was one of the most important links between the German 'VormärzVormärz
' is the time period leading up to the failed March 1848 revolution in the German Confederation. Also known as the Age of Metternich, it was a period of Austrian and Prussian police states and vast censorship in response to calls for liberalism...
' and the Italian Risorgimento. As a member of the League of the Just, Schapper helped forge links between German socialists and the radical French communist and Blanquist groups of the 1830s and '40s. In the Communist League, Schapper helped pave the way from the utopian communism of Weitling to the 'scientific socialism' of Marx and Engels. In the 1840s, Schapper helped build bridges between German socialists and the radical wing of the British Chartist
Chartism
Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...
movement. Schapper played a role in the 1848 Revolution in Germany and, subsequently, in founding the First International.
Sources
- Lewiowa, S., 'Karl Schapper.' In: Marx und Engels und die ersten proletarischen Revolutionäre. Berlin 1965.
- Becker, G, 'Karl Schapper.' In: Männer der Revolution von 1848. Berlin, 1970.
- Kuhnigk, A.M., Nassaus Tribun deutscher Arbeiterbewegung: Karl Schapper aus Weinbach (1812-1870). Weinbach, 1980.
- Idem, Karl Schapper. Ein Vater europäischer Arbeiterbewegung. Limburg, 1980.
- Kuhn, A., Die deutsche Arbeiterbewegung. Stuttgart 2004.
- Gant, B., 'Schapper, Karl Hermann Christian Friedrich.' In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Volume 22. Berlin 2005, p. 564 f.
- Henderson, W.O., The life of Friedrich Engels. Volume 1. London, 1976.
- Lattek, C., Revolutionary Refugees: German Socialism in Britain, 1840-1860. New York, 2006.
- Weisser, H., British Working-Class Movements and Europe, 1815-48. Manchester, 1975.
- The Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Moscow, 1979.