Research topic: Ferdinand Lassalle

Ferdinand Lassalle , 1825-64, German socialist. The son of a Jewish merchant, he studied at the universities of Breslau and Berlin, where he became a philosophical Hegelian. He gained wide recognition as an attorney in a lengthy and notorious divorce suit (1846-54). In this period he became acquainted with Karl Marx and, partly influenced by him, developed a theory of state socialism. In contrast to Marxian theory, Lassalle's theories emphasized the role of the state and nationalism. He argued that the state should make capital outlays to enable the workers to set up producers' cooperatives; he... Read more