August Reinsdorf

August Reinsdorf was an anarchist born in Germany in January 1849 in the village of Pegau and died in February 1885 in Halle.

August was a socialist-anarchist who believed strongly in the rights of the workers and the common man. He attempted to assassinate the Emperor of Germany and his Prince's, effectively ending dictatorship in Germany. His plan was to blow up the Emperor's carriage with dynamite by placing it under the bridge that the Emperor's carriage was planned to take. However, his plan was foiled due to a simple fact of nature, rain. The fuse was put out, and he was discovered. He was executed in Halle on February 7th, 1885.

Some historians have credited August with being "The Father of German Anarchy." Regardless if this is true or not, his assassination attempt on the Emperor was one of the first acts of terror in Germany related to politics, socialism, and anarchy.

August is credited with saying this: (in German)

"Die Arbeiter bauen Paläste und wohnen in armseligen Hütten; sie erzeugen alles und erhalten die ganze Staatsmaschine, und doch wird für sie nichts gethan; sie erzeugen alle Industrieprodukte, und doch haben sie wenig und schlecht zu essen; sie sind eine stets verachtete, rohe und abergläubische Masse voll Knechtsinns. Alles, was der Staat thut, hat allein die Tendenz, diese Verhältnisse ewig aufrecht zu erhalten. Die oberen Zehntausend sollen sich auf den Schultern der großen Masse erhalten. Soll dies wirklich ewig dauern? Ist eine Änderung nicht unsere Pflicht? Sollen wir ewig die Hände in den Schoß legen?"

Which, roughly translated, means:

"The workers build palaces and live in poor huts; they produce everything and maintain the whole state machine, and nevertheless nothing is done for them; they produce all manufactured products, and nevertheless they have to eat little and badly; they are full and always despised, raw and superstitious mass sense of farmhand. Everything that the state does, has alone the tendency to keep these conditions eternally upright. The upper ten thousand rest on the shoulders of the large mass. Is this to last really eternally? Isn't a change our obligation? Are we to put eternally the hands into the lap?"

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