How successfully did the government of the German Reich deal with internal opposition in the years 1871-1890?

The next target for Bismarck’s attack were to be the Socialists. As said in their official policy statement they were “Anti-monarchist revolutionaries”, what was obviously to the dislike of Bismarck. He felt that the Socialist grew too strong, as they gained seats in the Reichstag, up to 12 in 1877.  Bismarck again felt threatened and feared a disunity in Germany and asked himself how one could be loyal to the state and an international organisation, the Socialists, at the same time. He regarded the Socialists “a threat to the country” and introduced a bill into the Reichstag to control the press and abandon socialist propaganda. His new allies, the Conservatives supported him, since they also disliked Socialism. At first the bill was defeated and the party gained even more seats. But after two assassination attempts on the Kaiser’s life, which Bismarck connected to Socialism, he tried to introduce the anti-socialist law again and this time succeeded. Although the law didn’t ban the SPD directly, it banned any meetings that aimed to spread their views, outlawed trade unions and closed several newspapers. Historian William Carr stated that “this law had the same traumatic effect on Socialists that the May Laws were having on German Catholics…Twelve years of persecution deepened the fortress mentality of the German working class.” But Bismarck realised that this alone would not defeat the socialists and that he needed to offer an alternative to them, to get the people’s support. Therefore he introduced ‘State Socialism’. This was to improve the improve conditions for the workers. In 1883 sick pay and medical assurance were introduced. But these had to be financed by largely the workers themselves. Later accident assurance and old pensions were added. However, this did not help Bismarck in getting support, since the people realised that this was only a mere drop in the ocean and they continued to support the SPD who still worked underground. The historian Erich Eyck sees  ‘state socialism’ as a “fraud, pursued for short-term political advantage.” Others however, like A.J.P Taylor see Bismarck’s policies as quite successful. He states that “Bismarck’s policy had at least defused the threat of working-class opposition to the state.” In general is to say that Bismarck repeated his mistake from the “Kulturkampf” and hadn’t learnt from it.

Another type of internal opposition was from the Poles, Danes and French. These groups could not really identify with the German Reich and were rather forced to unify. The Danes opposed Bismarck because he failed to keep the plebiscite promise from 1866. They were not given the plebiscite promised, but rather just united with the German Reich. They would have preferred to stay with Denmark than Germany but this would have reduced Germany’s borders and Bismarck therefore did not hold the plebiscite. The Danes formed their own party in the Reichstag and resented being governed from Berlin. The French in Alsace-Lorraine also rather identified with France than Germany. The territory was won from France in 1871. The people, although a lot spoke German, considered themselves as French. Bismarck dealt with this through administering Alsace-Lorraine by the Reich government and they had no representation in the Federal Council. The last group to be feared were the Poles. They were by far the largest non-German minority in the Reich and were mostly Catholic. Therefore they also did not appreciate the ‘Kulturkampf’. As they spoke polish, Bismarck tried to ‘germanise’ them by prohibiting to speak their language and forced the German language on them. In schools etc. German was to be spoken. This suppressed their national feelings and as already seen with the Catholics and their belief, made them wanting to speak their own language even more.

In conclusion, none of the internal oppositions in the German Reich could be dealt with successfully. The ‘Kulturkampf’, ‘state socialism’ and other attempted implementations, like the enforcement of the German language, failed to most extend. Although they left some marks and achieved some changes, like the ‘Kulturkampf’ the civil marriage and ‘state socialism’ the welfare measures, they had to be repealed, so Bismarck wouldn’t lose even more support and possibly his own face.

Bibliography:

1. Wilmot, Eric; The great powers 1814-1914
2. Stiles, Andrina; The unification of  Germany 1815-1890; Access to History
3. Morris, Terry; Murphy, Derrick; Europe 1870-1991; Flagship History
4. Encarta 2000