05/23/1863
At Leipzig, in Saxony, Ferdinand Lasalle persuaded labor leaders from a dozen of Germany's largest industrial cities to found the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein (Universal German Workers' Association), the nation's first worker's party. This group later formed part of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, known today as the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Lasalle served as president of the new union until his death the following year in a duel fought over an affair of the heart. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
William Harbutt Dawson, German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle: A Biographical History of German Socialistic Movements During this Century (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1899), 143-144.