Career in The ADAV, Rivalry With The SDAP
In 1866 Hasenclever was elected secretary of the ADAV under association president Carl Wilhelm Tölcke. From 1868 to 1870 he was responsible for the party's finances. At the same time, from 1867 to 1869, he ran the tannery in Halver that belonged to his sister.
In 1869 Hasenclever became the representative for Duisburg in the Reichstag (parliament) of the North German Confederation, which had been founded in 1876 after Prussia had won the Austro-Prussian War against Austria. After the election he moved to Berlin. The other ADAV representatives were Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche and the anti-Prussian, anti-Marxist Johann Baptist von Schweitzer, who had become president of the ADAV the same year.
Also present in the Reichstag was the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, SDAP), with Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel. The party, which was revolutionary and Marxist, had been formed 1869 in Eisenach, Kingdom of Saxony, from the left wing of the Saxon People's Party (Sächsische Volkspartei). Contrary to the ADAV, the SAP followed a strict anti-Prussian line and worked towards "Großdeutsche" (greater German) unification including Austria and a federal structure, with the goal of constricting the hegemony of Prussia, which was considered reactionary and militaristic by the SAP. That was not only in conflict with the goals of the conservative Prussian president and chancellor of the North German Confederation, Otto von Bismarck, but also with Schweitzer, the controversial leader of the ADAV, who was closer to the chancellor in national matters than the more internationally-oriented SAP.
After the end of his first Reichstag period Hasenclever took part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. After the victory of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership, the southern German states Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria joined the Confederation, forming the German Empire with the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, as Kaiser (Emperor). So, the "Kleindeutsche" (smaller German) solution had been implemented. Bismarck became Reichskanzler and leader of the government that had been specified by the Emperor.
Shortly afterwards, secret communication between the government and Schweitzer (who was known in the ADAV as an authoritarian, bordering on the dictatorial, leader) became known. Schweitzer stepped down as party leader and ended his political career. In 1871, Hasenclever was elected Schweitzer's successor as the president of the ADAV.
In the following years, Bismarck tried to play SDAP and ADAV (both of which he regarded as "enemies of the Reich") against each other. The rivalry between the two parties made it easier for the government to harass worker's associations in the whole Reich with raids and searches.
As newly elected president of the ADAV, Hasenclever began to give a new direction to the ADAV. That, combined with Bismarck's increasingly restrictive line, led to a party line closer to that of the SDAP. However both parties kept their priorities for the time being and criticized each other for it: reform (ADAV) versus revolution (SDAP), national influence of the worker's movement (ADAV) against proletarian internationalism (SDAP), working towards cooperatives (ADAV) versus working towards trade unions (SDAP).
The two papers of the ADAV - Der Social-Demokrat ("The Social Democrat") and Der Agitator ("The Agitator"), both dominated by Schweitzer until he stepped down - now were merged into a new party publication called Der Neue Sozial-Demokrat ("The New Social Democrat"). Editors-in-chief were Hasenclever and his party friend and supporter Wilhelm Hasselmann. Additionally, Hasenclever was editor for the magazine Sozial-politische Blätter ("Socio-Political Papers") and, from 1873 onwards, publisher of the special edition Sozialpolitische Blätter zur Unterhaltung und Belehrung der deutschen Arbeiter ("Socio-Political Papers for the Entertainment and Education of the German Workers").
Under Hasenclever's leadership the ADAV grew from 5300 (1871) to more than 19000 (1873/74) members. Der Neue Sozial-Demokrat had more than 11000 subscribers. For his publications, Hasenclever got multiple criminal sentences, up to one to three months of prison, for crimes such as "publicly encouraging criminal acts", "libel" and "membership in a closed society".
Read more about this topic: Wilhelm Hasenclever, Life and Career
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