He also joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and was elected to Leipzig City Council in 1902.
[1] That year, he also played a major role in establishing the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades, and became its first general secretary, serving until 1914.
In 1919, the left-wing of the union demanded a vote on the presidency, and moderate SPD members put forward Eugen Haueisen as a candidate.
He was laid off in 1923, while the party was in financial difficulties, and after a period working as a bookbinder, he became editor of Der Deutsche Vorwärts, a right-wing trade union newspaper.
He argued that the DNVP's trade union wing was too ready to work with SPD members, and this led to him losing his position.
He then conducted research which attempted to show that trade union leaders had been treasonous during World War I.