Bismarck and weimar republic questions

Explain why Bismarck set up the Anti-Socialist law in 1878 and/or State Socialism in the 1880's.

Bismarck set up Anti-Socialism in 1878 because of the Gotha Programme in 1875. This was a long-term factor because through this programme the Socialists were able to recruit more supporters. Carr states that "Socialism like Catholicism had allegiance beyond the nation state which Bismarck could not tolerate nor ignore". Therefore, it is evident that the SPD's support nearly doubled between the years 1878 to 1887 because of the support they gained through this programme. The party valued loyalty from its members as they organised educational courses, libraries, sports clubs etc. In terms of long-term effects the party had 47 newspapers which meant that they could spread propaganda across Germany thus gaining more support. Furthermore, State Socialism was set up in the 1880's because wanted "to reconcile the working class to the authority of the state", as stated by Williamson. This is a long-term factor because Bismarck wanted to avoid the working class looking to the SPD, hence he introduced Social Welfare Schemes to gain the support of the working class. Bismarck introduced in 1883 the Sickness Insurance act which was accessible to 3 million workers and the 1884 Accident Insurance Act was accessible to 7 million workers. This meant that Bismarck would have gaine dthe support of the working class as these welfare schemes were accessible to the majority.

Furthermore, Bismarck introduced the Anti-Socialist law in 1878 because of the failure of the Kulturkampf. The short term effect of this Bismarck created an alliance with the Centre party because Socialism was the rising minority. It can be said that the more seats that the SPD received Bismarck's Kartell parties(Free Conservatives, Conservatives and Centre party) would lose out. Eventually this happened in the 1880's as they only had 220 seats(85 votes…