Karl Schapper
Karl Friedrich Schapper (30 December 1812, Weinbach – 28 April 1870, London) was a German socialist and labour leader. He was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany and an early associate of Wilhelm Weitling and Karl Marx.
Young Germany and Mazzini
Schapper was born on 30 December 1812 in Weinbach. His father, Christian Schapper, was a priest. Karl Schapper studied forestry in Giessen. As a student, he joined a radical fraternity, and in 1832, he participated in an insurrection known as Frankfurter Landsturm. The would-be revolutionaries seized an arsenal and wanted to overthrow the Frankfurt diet and proclaim a republic. Schapper was imprisoned, but after three months, he managed to escape, making his way to Switzerland. There he worked as a forestry worker and typesetter. He joined the radical organisation 'Young Germany' and became a follower of the utopian communist Wilhelm Weitling. 'Young Germany' was modelled on, and affiliated with, Giuseppe Mazzini's 'Young Italy', and in 1834, Schapper participated in Mazzini's attempt at an armed invasion of Savoy from Switzerland. This was Mazzini's second attempt; like the first, in 1833, it was unsuccessful. Schapper was once again imprisoned.
The League of the Just and Blanqui
On his release, Schapper resumed his activities in 'Young Germany' and was associated with the exiled German democrat
Chartism and Harney
In England, Schapper was involved in organising the
The 1848 Revolution and Marx
The League had originally followed
The
However, in 1850, a bitter quarrel led to a split, with Marx and Engels on one side and Karl Schapper and August Willich on the other. Schapper's conflict with Marx had been building for some time.[2] The final break came over the question how to react to the defeat of the revolution. Marx argued for building a mass workers' movement for the future; Schapper and Willich wanted to prepare for further insurrections. Schapper and Willich formed their own group, the Communist Central Committee, modelled on the conspiratorial Blanquist organisations they knew from the 1830s. However, their efforts came to nought, and Willich soon emigrated to the United States, where he became a general in the Union army during the Civil War.
The First International
Schapper and Marx were reconciled in 1856. Schapper was involved in founding the International Working Men's Association (the
Significance
Karl Schapper was important for several reasons: As a communist of working-class background, he was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany. As a member of Young Germany, he was one of the most important links between the German '
Notes
- ^ Cp. Henderson, W.O., The life of Friedrich Engels. Volume 1. London, 1976, p. 118.
- ^ Schapper supported Marx in taking ideological leadership of the Communist League from Weitling, but he was personally closer to the artisan Weitling than the middle class intellectual Marx. In the 1840s Marx had occasion to deplore the influence of the 'True Socialists' (a Young Hegelian group) on Schapper. In his conflict with the German-American radical Hermann Kriege, Marx had difficulty convincing Schapper that Kriege should be expelled.
Sources
- Lewiowa, S. "Karl Schapper." In: Marx und Engels und die ersten proletarischen Revolutionäre. Berlin 1965.
- Becker, G. "Karl Schapper." In: Männer der Revolution von 1848. Berlin, 1970.
- Kuhnigk, A. M. Nassaus Tribun deutscher Arbeiterbewegung: Karl Schapper aus Weinbach (1812–1870). Weinbach, 1980.
- Idem, Karl Schapper. Ein Vater europäischer Arbeiterbewegung. Limburg, 1980.
- Kuhn, A. Die deutsche Arbeiterbewegung. Stuttgart 2004.
- Gant, B. "Schapper, Karl Hermann Christian Friedrich." In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Volume 22. Berlin 2005, p. 564 f.
- Henderson, W. O. The Life of Friedrich Engels. Volume 1. London, 1976.
- Lattek, C. Revolutionary Refugees: German Socialism in Britain, 1840–1860. New York, 2006.
- Weisser, H. British Working-Class Movements and Europe, 1815–48. Manchester, 1975.
- The Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Moscow, 1979.