Salomon Bleuler

Portrait of Salomon Bleuler

Salomon Bleuler-Hausheer (born January 7, 1829 in Zurich ; † February 12, 1886 in Winterthur ; resident in Zurich and Winterthur) was a Swiss politician , editor , publisher and theologian .

Life

Bleuler was born in Zurich in 1829 as the son of the salt factor Johannes Bleuler-Halder . After attending schools, he studied theology in Zurich from 1847 to 1852 . He then was parish vicar in various Zurich parishes and from 1853 to 1859 pastor in Glattfelden . In 1859 he left the pastor's office and joined the editorial team of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at the instigation of the later Federal Councilor Jakob Dubs . After a year with the Aargauer Nachrichten in 1860, he acquired the Landbote and became a publisher, printer, editor and bookseller in one person.

He was one of the most influential leaders of the democratic movement , professed his support for humanistic socialism and held numerous public offices. In 1865 he was elected to the Grand Council , which he chaired in 1871. He was also a co-founder of the men's Helvetia in 1858 and of the Democratic Party of the Canton of Zurich in 1868 . As a journalist and popular speaker, he organized the Democratic Party against the liberal " Escher " system and, influenced by Friedrich Albert Lange , formulated its political program. In the program and at various meetings, a fundamental social and direct democratic renewal of the Canton of Zurich was called for (the so-called École de Winterthour ). The result was the new cantonal constitution of 1869, in which Bleuler played a key role as a constitutional councilor .

Bleuler called for direct democracy and state measures in favor of the socially disadvantaged. From this he expected the solution of the social question in the sense of class reconciliation. As a social politician, he promoted the cooperative idea, founded and supported a workers' association and consumer associations in Winterthur. From 1871 to 1885, with few interruptions, Bleuler was a member of the board and president of the Zurich consumer association and a member of the central committee of the Swiss People's Association founded in 1873, of the Grütlivereins from 1863 and of the first workers' union from 1873 to 1880 . He was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volksbank Winterthur and a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss National Railways .

From 1869 to 1884 Bleuler was a member of the National Council and represented the National Council constituency of Zurich-East . In the revision of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1873/74, he mediated between the centralists and federalists and secured a majority for the new constitution. In the same years he was city ​​clerk of Winterthur and then until 1877 city ​​president of the then important industrial city. From 1878 he withdrew from politics and returned to his newspaper, partly due to the national railway crash of 1878, partly because the workers began to organize themselves and made demands, the radicalism of which he rejected.

literature

• Salomon Bleuler domestic army . In: Communications from the Antiquarian Society in Zurich (=  3 ). tape 38 , p. 26-31 .
• Erich Gruner : The Swiss Federal Assembly 1848–1920 (=  Helvetica Politica. Series A, I & II . Volume 2 ). Bern 1966, p. 53 f .

Web links

• Markus Bürgi: Salomon Bleuler. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Bleuler Salomon, Editor, National Council, 1829–1886 in the Winterthur Glossary.
• Salomon Bleuler on the website of the Federal Assembly