Historical Socialism Audio Line: 1 – Lessner, Friedrich [1907] Sixty Years in the Social-Democratic Movement. Before 1848 and After. Recollections of an Old Communist.

Our first installment in the Historical Socialism Audio Line comes in the form of an autobiography of "that old war-horse of the Socialist Party, Friedrich Lessner, probably the oldest living Social-Democrat" [published initially in 1896, with an English edition in 1907] who documents his 60 years of activity in the Workers Labor Movement for Socialism and Communism. Lessner was first politicized working as a tailor around the moment of 1846 - a very confused, but exciting time - and was intimately associated with many of the most notable figures in the formation, and activity of the entirety of the First International (or the "International Workingmen's Association"), and for most of the life of the Second International. He directly worked with Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Wilhelm Liebknecht, August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, Eduard Bernstein, Georg Eccarius, Ernest Jones, and Mikhail Bakunin.

In this personal retelling of the period from 1846 to 1896, we find an exceptional story of the growth of the Workers Labor Movement, with reference to key points in the Left's view of History; namely the failure of 1848, and the tragic fall of the Paris Commune. Join us in working through the history of the Left -- from the Left -- starting with this remarkable autobiography in Sublation's Historical Socialism Audio Line.