Johann Philipp Becker

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Johann Philipp Becker around 1849

Johann Philipp Becker (born March 20, 1809 in Frankenthal (Palatinate) , † December 9, 1886 in Geneva ) was a German revolutionary of the Baden Revolution in 1849. He was one of the main organizers of the Baden People's Army . Later he was a Swiss social democrat and a leading member of the First International and editor of its Swiss press organ. Since the 1860s he had a close friendship with Karl Marx , but especially with Friedrich Engels .

biography

Petty-bourgeois democrat

Becker was born the son of a carpenter in Frankenthal, Palatinate. The birth certificate shows him with the first name Jean Philippe, since his birthplace at that time with the Département du Mont-Tonnerre (Département Donnersberg) belonged to France . He learned the profession of brush maker , in which he acquired the master craftsman's certificate. Already at a young age he showed radical democratic commitment, for example, when he was twenty years old, when his sovereign visited him, he sang the Marseillaise , and he had also demonstratively placed himself under a freedom tree planted by his grandfather .

At the age of 21 he married his childhood sweetheart Elisabeth, who became a loyal companion to him. In 1832 he attended the Hambach Festival , which he hoped would lead to a German revolution. Because of his revolutionary speeches, he went to court, was initially released, but arrested again in November and detained for 11 months.

The following lines, which he wrote later, speak for his humorous and ironic view of the events in Hambach:

And whether the sky was sweltering / cracked in flames,
went very gently in the great crowd / freedom May.

In May 1838 he moved to Switzerland with his wife and children, first to Bern and later to Biel, where he was accepted as a citizen in 1847. He achieved modest prosperity in various trades and even became a partner in a cigar factory in 1842, yet he remained true to his radical democratic ideas. In 1847 he took part in the Swiss Sonderbund War as staff secretary and adjutant to Ulrich Ochsenbein on the side of the liberal cantons . Despite the short duration of the fighting, he gained military experience here that would later benefit him in Baden. On February 9, 1847, he became a citizen of the Canton of Bern at his own request. In the same year, however, he lost most of his fortune due to the economic crisis and had to give up the cigar factory.

Irregulars

The February Revolution in Paris in 1848 was greeted with joy by Becker: “The time has finally come when it is a pleasure to live,” he wrote to a friend. During the March Revolution in Germany, he initiated a meeting of German democrats living in Switzerland in Biel. A "German Legion" should be founded.

Even before the preparations had reached maturity, the news came that Friedrich Hecker had proclaimed the republic in Constance . To support the Hecker uprising in Baden , Becker moved into Baden with 50 militants. Since Hecker was defeated in the battle on the Scheideck near Kandern on April 20, 1848, Becker joined the band of former lieutenant Franz Sigel in Baden . A planned attack by the storm on Freiburg failed, however, and the revolutionary troops were repulsed by Baden and Hessian troops and dispersed. Becker, who had held out with his crowd to the last, also had to withdraw. Once again he called for the support of the Baden revolutionaries: when Gustav Struve dared another uprising in September. This too was quickly put down in the battle for Staufen , and Becker, with around 700 men, was only able to cover the retreat of the dispersed troops by occupying the Schusterinsel near Weil am Rhein . From the unsuccessful actions Becker gained the insight that careful preparation was necessary for success.

To express his convictions, he published a radical newspaper in December 1848 with the all too explicit title "The Revolution". In January 1849, Becker was expelled from the canton of Bern and moved to Neufchâtel , where, as he knew from experience, he continued his paper as "The Evolution".

Organizer of the Baden People's Army

When the revolution flared up again in May 1849 as a result of uprisings in the Palatinate and Baden, Becker hurried to Karlsruhe and made himself available to the state committee. Rastatt troops mutinied on May 11th against the miserable treatment, and the entire Baden army declared itself revolutionary. Although the state committee of the people's associations, which had initially taken over government affairs under Lorenz Brentano after the flight of Grand Duke Leopold , avoided all too radical measures, Becker, who was known to be decisive, was appointed commander in chief of the - yet to be created - people's armed forces.

The calling up and arming of all single men between 18 and 30 years of age had already been decided by the people's assembly, but had not yet been organized. Becker took on the immense work; Gustav Tiedemann , whom he appointed as his chief of staff, was one of his close collaborators , Alfred Michel as adjutant general and Heinrich Hattemer as staff secretary, Max Dortu initially as his bureau chief and later as commander of a battalion. Recruiting officers were dispatched, subordinate and non-commissioned officers of the line troops appointed as instructors, and weapons and equipment were organized. The work of civil inspectors and conservative employees of Brentano was often hindered. Thus only 25 battalions of the People's Army of 500 men each could be created; half of what was planned. In addition to the people's armed forces, however, other irregular units were formed, including the "German Legion in Switzerland" initiated by Becker, which was soon called the refugee legion due to the large influx of fugitive democrats from other German states . It was commanded by the 60-year-old watchmaker Georg Böhning (also: Böning), who had already earned merits in the Greek struggle for independence.

On May 24th, some squadrons of the “Grand Duke” dragoon regiment, led by counter-revolutionary officers, entered Karlsruhe. The state capital was almost bare of regular troops. Becker had the town hall and the strategically most important points secured by the people's armed forces and militants; the dragoon coup had failed. Your officers have been arrested.

When the state committee dissolves on June 1 and a provisional government constitutes, which swims completely in the wake of Brentano, who rejects all radical measures, Becker and his political friends worry about the fate of the revolution, because Prussian troops and a mixed federal corps are already closed their crackdown on the march. Only decisive measures would now give a chance of success. In the tradition of the French clubs at the time of the first revolution, a group of democrats formed the “Club of Decisive Progress” on June 5, with Becker among the leaders alongside Struve.

A delegation from the club presented Brentano with an 11-point program with the most important demands: dismissal and punishment of counterrevolutionary officials and officers, removal of the reactionary Commander-in-Chief Beck and the appointment of the Polish freedom fighter Ludwik Mierosławski and other measures. In order to emphasize the demands, Becker had strategically important points in the city occupied. Brentano responded by appointing the club's delegation, along with Becker, Struve, Böhning and Wilhelm Liebknecht . However, the threatening attitude of the irregulars forced him to be released soon. Becker and Böhning went to the Neckar line , where the invasion of the counter-revolutionary troops was expected.

Troop commander on the Neckar

In the meantime, the first armed clashes had occurred on the Baden-Hessian border. Franz Sigel , a former lieutenant in Baden, now at the age of 24 colonel and minister of war , had proclaimed the state of war and martial law and prepared the defense of the Neckar line. He entrusted Becker with the command of the flying corps in the Odenwald and with the organization of the people's armed forces in the Neckar area. Becker are initially under 1,600 men from various units, of which the Böning battalion is numerically the strongest. The clothing, armament and discipline of the teams leave a lot to be desired. During the first advance from Heidelberg into Hessian territory to Waldmichelbach and Siedelsbrunn , Becker's units get into disarray, and some show open disobedience. Your commander is taking decisive action. On the other hand, his people enthusiastically followed him during a night attack on the Hessian town of Hirschhorn, directly on the banks of the Neckar, in order to cut out three companies of Hanau gymnasts who were besieged in Hirschhorn Castle. The action is successful. the enemy withdraws, the Hanau residents can march off. The successful operation raised the mood significantly and strengthened the bond between the troops and the commander. From the new Commander-in-Chief Mieroslawski, who had arrived in the meantime , Becker received the order to occupy Ziegelhausen near Heidelberg. On the morning of June 15, the Federal Corps' attack on the Neckar line in Baden begins .

The battle near Durlach

“This is probably the most brilliant episode in the entire Baden-Palatinate campaign,” said Friedrich Engels, who himself had taken part in the campaign as adjutant to August Willich in a Palatinate unit. With barely 1000 men, Becker held the line on the Pfinz for over four hours against an entire Prussian division and challenged the intervention of two other divisions to cover the withdrawal of the revolutionary army from Karlsruhe.

Further political development

Johann Philipp Becker in old age

After his return to Switzerland, Becker moved with his family to Geneva and founded a pub. In the same year he and his former colleague Christian Esselen wrote a “History of the Southern German May Revolution in 1849”, which was published in Geneva that same year. Because of the many military details it contained, Engels relied on this book for his work “Die deutsche Reichsverfassungskampagne”. Becker ran into ever greater difficulties economically, he had to sell his pub, and in the next few years he worked as a photographer, greengrocer, sales representative and printer owner. He lived in Paris from 1856 to 1860, but had no luck here either.

In 1860 he first came into contact with Karl Marx; unsolicited, he sent him material about Carl Vogt , who lived in Switzerland and who had attacked Marx and other communists in a pamphlet. Marx used the material to make a replica.

When the movement for the unification of Italy was formed in Italy under Giuseppe Garibaldi , Becker went to Genoa for two years to force the formation of a German volunteer legion to support Garibaldi. Back in Geneva, Becker founded the "Eidgenössische Volksverein" and worked as a publicist.

On the "question of women"

Becker, as the organizer of the Workers' International (IAA) in Switzerland, repeatedly dealt with the position of women in society in his writings. Between 1866 and 1871 he radicalized his position for gender equality, which is particularly evident in his contributions to the “Vorboten”, the organ of the IAA. Also in the foreword, called “Standpunkt”, of his writing How and When? 4 pages are dedicated to the topic. In the psalms in their purest form there is an ironic criticism of civil marriage.

Honors

Bust in Frankenthal
  • The name Johann Philipp Becker was given to a regiment of the National People's Army of the GDR (NVA) on March 1, 1967, as did its barracks in the Alten district of Dessau .
  • A bust of Becker by Gerhard Geyer had been in the grove of honor on the grounds of the barracks since 1979. It was a gift from the city to the regiment. On November 18, 1991 the bust was handed over to the Military History Museum in Dresden .
  • A bust was erected in Becker's birthplace in Frankenthal in 1986 to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.
  • In Waghäusel , Johann-Philipp-Becker-Strasse is named after him in memory of the battle near Waghäusel
  • On the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Philipp Becker, the DGB local association and the Frankenthal Friends of Nature organized a memorial event with a demonstration.

Works

  • A word about the questions of the time . Bellevue near Constance 1841
  • Johann Philipp Becker: Speech at the Hambach Festival . Printed in Wirth: The National Festival of the Germans in Hambach . Neustadt aH, 1832, pp. 85-87
  • The fairytale neutrality tells of the ogre . Grbr. Benz, Biel 1848 digitized
  • The General Command of the People's Army to the Wehrmannschaft, Karlsruhe, May 26, 1849 . In: Karl Obermann : Leaflets of the Revolution . Berlin 1970, pp. 424-425.
  • Johann Philipp Becker / Christian Esselen : History of the South German May Revolution in 1849. Geneva 1849 digitized
  • How and when? A serious word about the questions and tasks of the time . Geneva / London / Manchester 1862 digitized
  • Poland diplomacy and revolution . Deutsche Verlagshalle, Geneva 1863 Digitized
  • Open letter to the workers about Schulze-Delitzsch and Ferdinand Lassalle , the bourgeoisie and the proletariat . Geneva, 1863
  • The harbinger: political and socio-economic monthly; Central organ of the German Language Section of the International Workers' Association . Edited by Joh. Ph. Becker. Geneva, year 1/1866-year 6/1871. (Reprint: Dietz, Berlin 1963) Volume 1 1866 digitized Vol. 3 and 4 1868-1869 digitized
  • International Workers Association program . In: Democratic weekly paper . No. 31 supplement dated August 1, 1868, No. 32 supplement dated August 8, 1868, no.33 supplement dated August 15, 1868
  • The International Workers' Association and the Labor Movement in Basel in the winter of 1868 to 1869 . Geneva, 1869
  • New hours of devotion. Psalms in rhyme form. Criteria and satire . German Publishing Hall, Geneva 1874
  • A bas les Masques. Henri Rochefort & le Gutenberg . Imprimerie Coopérative, Genéve 1878

literature

Biographies and military history

(sorted chronologically)

  • Friedrich Engels : The German Reich constitution campaign. In: Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Political-economic review . Hamburg 1850
  • Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Staroste: Diary about the events in the Palatinate and Baden in 1849 . Verlag der Riegelschen Buch- und Musikalienhandlung. Potsdam 1852
  • WB : From old Becker. In memory of a veteran of the labor movement . In: The New Time . Review of intellectual and public life . 5 (1887), No. 7, pp. 298-306. Digitized
  • Albert Maag: JP Becker von Biel and the German Legion (1849). In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Vol. 3, 1904, pp. 285–298. ( Digitized version )
  • Franz Mehring : Johann Philipp Becker . In: The New Time. Weekly of the German Social Democracy . 27.1908-1909, 1st volume (1909), issue 26, pp. 937-939. Digitized
  • A forgotten Frankenthaler. Johann Philipp Becker: * 1809, + 1886 . In: Monthly publication of the Frankenthaler Altertumsverein. 35: 32-33 (1927).
  • A forgotten co-founder of the Workers' International. * 1809 Johann Philipp Becker † 1886 . In: The True Jacob . Entertainment supplement . No. 4, 1927, pp. 10-11. Digitized
  • Kurt Baumann: From the Hambach Festival to the Socialist International. The life story of Johann Philipp Becker from Frankenthal . In: Poor Konrad from Rhineland-Palatinate . 1950, pp. 53-58.
  • Karl Griewank:  Becker, Johann Philipp. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 717 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Johann Philipp Becker . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism. Deceased personalities . Vol. 1. JHW Dietz Nachf., Hannover 1960, pp. 19-20.
  • Georg Trübner: The German republican Johann Philipp Becker as a supporter of the achievement of democratic goals in Switzerland . In: International Review of Social History . 1961, pp. 256-276.
  • Rolf Dlubek: Johann Philipp Becker. From radical democrat to comrade-in-arms of Marx and Engels in the first International (1848-1864 / 65) . 2 parts. Berlin 1964.
  • Ernst Engelberg : Johann Philipp Becker in the first international. Questions of democracy and socialism . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1964
  • Becker, Johann Philipp . In: Lexicon of socialist German literature . Leipzig 1964, pp. 102-104 Bibliography, p. 104.
  • Rolf Dlubek: a German revolutionary general . Johann Philipp Becker in the imperial constitution campaign. In: Jahrbuch für Geschichte 7, Berlin 1972, pp. 557–611.
  • Karl Schmiedel: Johann Philipp Becker. General of the Revolution . Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1986. ISBN 3-327-00020-4 .
  • Beatrix W. Bouvier : The International Workers' Association and the role of Johann Philipp Becker. In: the same: French Revolution and German workers' movement . Bonn 1982, pp. 187-191. (= Publications by the Institute for Social History Braunschweig)
  • Rolf Dlubek : The correspondence between Friedrich Engels and Johann Philipp Becker as an untapped biographical source . In: Küttler, Werner / Meier Helmut (eds.): Are there any settled questions about history? - Contributions to a scientific colloquium on the occasion of Walter Schmidt's 65th birthday on July 1, 1995 in Berlin . trafo verlag, Berlin 1996, 2nd supplemented edition. ISBN 3-89626-095-2 .
  • Rolf Dlubek: "He was a rare man". Johann Philipp Becker from Frankenthal in the judgment of his contemporaries . In: Historical Association of the Palatinate. Notifications . 95 (1997), pp. 203-242.
  • Rolf Dlubek: The correspondence of Johann Philipp Becker as President of the German Language Section of the International Workers' Association . In: Jürgen Herres, Manfred Neuhaus (ed.): Political networks through letter communication. Brierfkultur of the political opposition movements in the 19th century . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-05-003688-5 , pp. 117–176.
  • Wolfgang Eckhardt: Bakunin and Johann Philipp Becker. Another perspective on the beginning of the conflict between Marx and Bakunin in the First International . In: International scientific correspondence on the history of the German labor movement . 35 (1999), pp. 66-122.
  • Hans Werner Hahn (Ed.): Johann Philipp Becker. Radical democrat, revolutionary general, pioneer of the labor movement. (= Writings of the Siebenpfeiffer Foundation, Vol. 5). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-7995-4905-6 .
  • Gerhard Nestler: Johann Philipp Becker . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Democratic and Liberal Movements in Central Europe (Vol. 2 / Part 1), ed. by Helmut Reinalter , Peter Lang, Frankfurt a. M. u. a. 2005, pp. 23-25.

Letters

  • Reinhold Rüegg : From letters to Johann Philipp Becker. In: The New Time. Review of intellectual and public life . 6 (1888), No. 10, pp. 449-463. Digitized
  • Reinhold Rüegg: From letters to Johann Philipp Becker . In: The New Time. Review of intellectual and public life . 6 (1888), No. 11, pp. 505-518. Digitized
  • Reinhold Rüegg: From letters to Johann Philipp Becker . In: The New Time. Review of intellectual and public life . 6 (1888), No. 12, pp. 558-569. Digitized
  • Friedrich Adolph Sorge : Letters and excerpts from letters from Joh. Phil. Becker, Jos. Dietzgen, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx a. A. to FA Sorge and others. JHW Dietz successor, Stuttgart 1906. Digitized

Fiction

Web links

Commons : Johann Philipp Becker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johann Philipp Becker  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Kowalski in Biographien zur Weltgeschichte, VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1989, p. 71f.
  2. ^ Appointment of Johann Philipp Becker as a member of the Canton of Bern . In: Hambacher Fest 1832 - 1982 . Ministry of Culture Rhineland-Palatinate, Heilbron 1982, ISBN 3-87524-034-0 , p. 213.
  3. ↑ cf. Antje Schrupp : Not a Marxist and not an anarchist either. Women in the First International. Ulrike Helmer, Königstein (Taunus) 1999, ISBN 3897410222 , p. 320 u. ö. (Additional dissertation phil. University of Frankfurt am Main )
  4. ^ The further historical development of Ponton Regiment 3 'Johann Philipp Becker' of the NVA from 1973 to 1990 stationed in Dessau - Part II . Ed. Friends of the Military History Museum Anhalt, issue 05/2008
  5. ^ Directed against his writing: L'aurore boréale. Roman de moeurs contemporaines . Jeanmaire, Paris 1878.
  6. ↑ “Le Gutenberg. Organe de la société fédérative des typographes de la Suisse romande. ”Founded in Geneva in 1872. Editor L.Sage.
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Johann Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German revolutionary of the Baden Revolution in 1849
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankenthal (Palatinate)
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1886
Place of death Geneva