Episode 2 of 2

Passage of the Anti-Socialist Law

Name: Passage of the Anti-Socialist Law
Start: 1878-10-19
End: 1878-10-21
Location: Reichstag

When: 19-21 October 1878
Where: Reichstag
Part of: Bismarck ends the Kulturkampf and outlaws the Social Democrats

The Reichstag passed the Anti-Socialist Law in October 1878 following assassination attempts on Emperor Wilhelm I, outlawing social democratic organizations.

Following two failed assassination attempts on Emperor Wilhelm I in May and June 1878, Bismarck blamed the SDAP. The Reichstag passed the law on 19 October 1878 by a vote of 221 to 149. The Bundesrat approved it, and the Emperor signed it on 21 October.

Sources

Anti-Socialist Laws Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-17

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.