The German social democratic press on the Peasant’s War of the 16th century

The article analyzes the influence of Marxist ideas on the reflection of the German Peasant’s War of the 16th century in German lands by the Social Democratic press. A characteristic feature of the German labor movement in 1876–1878 was the ideological shift from Lassalleanism to Marxism. At the same time, the role of the legacy of F. Lassalle, which was deeply rooted in the consciousness of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany, remained significant. Two polar interpretations of socialism were able to reach a consensus on the most important ideological issues of the newly created, now unified, Socialist Workers’ Party. In publications featured in the periodical issues of the “Vorwärts” and “Hamburg-Altonaer”, agrarian and peasant issues were closely linked to the history of estate oppression and class struggle. The events of 1524–1525 acquired increasing significance for the labor movement because, through the lens of historical materialism, the intellectual leaders of social democracy managed to identify the regularity of the violation of social justice. The history of the Peasant’s War, during the existence of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany up until the adoption of the Anti-Socialist Law of 1878, became a full-fledged instrument of propaganda struggle forthe working class against the ruling elites of the German Empire. 

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