Wilhelm Liebknecht, (born March 29, 1826, Giessen, Hesse—died Aug. 7, 1900, Berlin, Ger.), German socialist, cofounder of the German Social Democratic Party. Imprisoned for participating in the Revolutions of 1848, he lived in exile in England (1849–62), working closely with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Prussia granted him amnesty in 1862, but Otto von Bismarck had him expelled again in 1865. In Leipzig he and August Bebel organized the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1869. He was imprisoned (1872–74) for his writings against the Franco-Prussian War. Bismarck’s repression of the socialists brought about a merger with the followers of Ferdinand Lassalle in 1875. With the expiration of the Anti-Socialist Law (1878–90), this party became known as the German Social Democratic Party. Liebknecht continued as a leading spokesman, primarily as a writer for the party’s newspaper, Vorwärts.
