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Primary sourceDocument21 October 1878

Anti-Socialist Law

21 October 1878

Bismarck's 1878 law banning socialist organisations, meetings and newspapers in the German Empire.

Bismarck proposed and pushed through this law to suppress the socialist movement he saw as a threat.

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Scanned page 351 of the Reichs-Gesetzblatt, Number 34, from 1878, headed with the title Reichs-Gesetzblatt in Fraktur type. The page contains the text of the Law against the dangerous endeavors of Social Democracy, dated 21 October 1878, beginning with the imperial preamble and Paragraphs 1 to 3 in German.
Law against the public danger of social democratic endeavors, Reichs-Gesetzblatt, 1878.

About this source

What it is

This is the Anti-Socialist Law, passed by the Reichstag of the German Empire on 19 October 1878. Proposed by Chancellor Bismarck, it banned socialist, social democratic and communist associations, meetings and publications.

Why it matters

Bismarck pushed the law through after two attempts on Emperor Wilhelm I's life, blaming social democrats even though the attackers were not acting on the party's orders. The law led to many arrests, but social democratic support in elections grew rather than shrank while it was in force. Its failure to be renewed in 1890 was one reason Bismarck was forced to resign.

Look closer

  • Why might Bismarck have used the assassination attempts to justify this law?
  • What does the law's failure to stop social democracy tell you about its real effect?
  • Who gained and who lost power because of this law?

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