Legien, Karl

Legien, Karl 

Born Dec. 1, 1861, in Marienburg; died Dec. 26, 1920, in Berlin. Figure in the German trade union movement. Right-wing Social Democrat; revisionist. Metalworker by trade.

In 1890, Legien became chairman of the General Commission of Trade Unions of Germany. He was secretary (from 1903) and then chairman (from 1913) of the International Secretariat of Trade Unions. From 1893 to 1898, from 1903 to 1918, and in 1920 he was a deputy to the Reichstag. During World War I, he was a social chauvinist. He opposed the October Revolution and Soviet Russia. He and other right-wing Social Democrats followed the policy of suppressing the revolutionary movement during the November Revolution of 1918 in Germany.

REFERENCE

Lenin, V. I. Poln. sobr. soch, 5th ed., vol. 25, p. 106–10; vol. 26, p. 256–62; vol. 27, pp. 73–74, 124–28; vol. 30, pp. 9–10, 253–54; vol. 31, p. 93–94; vol. 38, p. 305; vol. 41, pp. 16, 38–39; vol. 44, p. 89. (See also the reference volume, part 2, p. 449.)