Wilhelm Liebknecht espouses the political philosophy of…

Wilhelm Liebknecht espouses the political philosophy of Karl Marx and attacks the growing personality cult around Ferdinand Lassalle among workers on May 21 in Berlin at the first anniversary of the founding of the  General German Workers' Association (German: Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, ADAV).

The ADAV had been founded on May 23, 1863, in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, by Lassalle and twelve delegates from some of the most important cities in Germany: Barmen, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Harburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Mainz and Solingen.

About six hundred workers were present, having traveled on the newly opened Dresden - Leipzig railway line.

The ADAV is the first German Labor Party.

Its members are known colloquially throughout Germany as Lassalleans.

Lassalle, who acts as president, had been expecting many thousands to become members of the association, but by 1864 there are only forty-six hundred.

The ADAV is in part financially supported by funds obtained by Lassalle through his personal relations.

Liebknecht, a German social democrat arrested for his initiatives to unite Switzerland's German workers' associations had been banished from the country, moving to his exile in London and becoming a friend and follower of Karl Marx.

After a royal amnesty for political exiles, he  had returned in 1861 to Germany and become a member of the ADAV.