Democrats Congress

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As Democrats Congresses meetings are democratic and republican politicians during the Revolution of 1848/1849 referred to and a third in the year 1850th The last event, in particular, was already hampered by the political reaction that had set in .

First congress in Frankfurt

The first Democrats' Congress took place from June 14th to 17th, 1848 in Frankfurt . 234 delegates took part, representing 89 associations from 66 cities. In addition to workers' and democratic associations, the left-wing rural rustic associations from Silesia were also represented. The participants drafted the program for a desired democratic party and determined the future course. The chairman was Julius Froebel . In addition, the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach , the German Catholic Johannes Ronge , the Cologne communist Andreas Gottschalk as well as Ferdinand Freiligrath and the Mainz democrat Ludwig Bamberger stood out as speakers. One result of the congress was the establishment of a five-person central committee based in Berlin. This is considered to be the first actual party headquarters in German history. For the first time, full-time functionaries were appointed from the membership fees.

Second congress in Berlin

Against the background of the impending counter-revolution in Prussia, the second Democrats' Congress took place in Berlin from October 26th to 31st. Much more radically than at the first meeting, the central committee advocated revolutionary actions in advance. In a manifesto of October 3, 1848, he called for the overthrow of the Frankfurt National Assembly . Only in this way could the “true will of the nation” come into its own, and only new elections would be able to prevent the otherwise necessary “new and bloody revolution”.

234 delegates from 140 cities attended this meeting. A total of 240 associations were present. In addition to associations that saw themselves as democratic or as a party of the people, Stephan Born was also represented as a spokesman for the workers' brotherhood and delegate of the League of Communists . In particular, the question of how to react to the counter-revolution in Vienna, but also differences in socio-political issues, led to rifts among the participants.

A newly elected central committee, to which the left-wing Silesian nobleman Eduard von Reichenbach belonged in addition to the communist Carl d'Ester , could hardly become politically effective because the counter-revolution and the association ban of November 12, 1848 put an end to activity in Prussia. The central committee evaded to Saxony, but hardly played a role. Instead, the Central March Association was formed around the democratic factions in the National Assembly .

Third congress in Braunschweig

The Braunschweig Democrats' Congress took place from June 3rd to 15th, 1850 in Braunschweig .

Of the more than 120 people invited, only 40 turned up due to reactionary countermeasures to the congress in the city, which probably took place in a private house in order to thwart police surveillance measures.

Participants included:

See also

swell

  • Members of the Second Congress of the German Democrats in Berlin, opened on October 26th, 1848 , Berlin: Printed by the association's book printing company, Neue Kirchgasse No. 2, 1848 digitized

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Walter Schmuhl : The gentlemen of the city. Bourgeois elites and municipal self-government in Nuremberg and Braunschweig from the 18th century to 1918. Focus Verlag, Gießen 1998, ISBN 3-88349-468-2 , p. 438, FN 14.
  2. ↑ Hans Pelger: On the democratic and social movement in Northern Germany following the revolution of 1848. P. 171–178.