Otto Lang (politician, 1863)

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Otto Lang (born July 15, 1863 in Schaffhausen ; † March 23, 1936 in Zurich ) was a Swiss politician and played a key role in founding the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) and the social democratic Zurich daily Volksrecht .

biography

Lang came from the canton of Schaffhausen and grew up as the son of a doctor in a wealthy family. He studied from 1883 to 1887 at the universities of Munich , Heidelberg , Berlin and Zurich law . In the German Empire he came into contact with the ideas of socialism during the dispute over the socialist law and joined the underground social democracy. After his return to Switzerland, he gave a lecture on January 14, 1888 in Zurich on the subject of "The ethical foundations of socialism" and joined the Grütliverein . Together with Herman Greulich, he contributed to the consolidation of the SP after it was founded for the second time by Albert Steck . From 1898 to 1902 he was president of the SP Switzerland and achieved union with the Grütliverein. In 1904 he drafted the first SP program based on Marxism and embedded the socialist ideas in the Swiss context. From 1917 to 1936 he was a member of the party leadership of the SP of the Canton of Zurich.

Within the labor movement, Lang took the line of orthodox Marxism. Although he advocated the class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat as a means of struggle for the workers, he rejected communism and radical class struggle positions within the SP after 1917.

As a lawyer, Lang specialized in Swiss and international law. From 1888 to 1893 he was a district attorney in Zurich, from 1893 to 1895 he was a lawyer and from 1896 to 1900 he was a judge at the Zurich District Court . In 1900 he was the first social democrat to be elected to the higher court in Zurich. He took a leave of absence in 1901 in order to participate in the commission for the preparation of the Swiss Civil Code . In 1915 he resigned as chief judge after he was elected to the city ​​council of Zurich, where he took over the health service. He then returned to the higher court in 1920, where he mainly worked at the commercial court. He also served as president of the jury from 1929 to 1935 . In 1935 Lang resigned as chief judge.

Lang's political activity began in 1890 when he was elected to the Zurich Cantonal Council , to which he served as president and member of the editorial committee until his death. In addition, Lang was a member of the city ​​council of Zurich from 1890 to 1916 , from which he resigned when he was elected to the city ​​council . In 1926 he was re-elected to the Grand City Council, to which he also belonged until his death.

In 1894, Lang was elected by the Zurich Workers' Union to the preparatory commission for the creation of a social democratic daily newspaper for the city of Zurich. As its president, Lang played a key role in founding the social democratic daily Volksrecht . From 1913 Lang was a member of the social democratic press union of the canton of Zurich and the editorial committee of the people's law.

Otto Lang's estate is in the Swiss Social Archives .

literature

  • Ernst Nobs : Otto Lang . In: Friedrich Heeb (Red.): From the history of the Zurich workers' movement. Memorandum for the 50th anniversary of the “People's Law” 1898–1948 . Zurich 1948, pp. 121–127.
  • Charles Spillmann: Otto Lang 1863-1936. Socialism and the individual . Bern 1974.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss Social Archives: Archivfindmittel Lang, Otto (1863-1936) , accessed on October 10, 2018
predecessor Office Successor
Paul Brandt President of the SP Switzerland
1898–1902 		Josef Albisser
personal data
SURNAME Lang, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician (SP)
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Schaffhausen
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1936
Place of death Zurich