Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche (March 25, 1825 – February 5, 1905), commonly known by his middle name, was a German trade unionist and socialist politician who was elected a member of the Reichstag.

[2] Fritzsche was a founding member of the Leipzig Educational Association in February 1861 and together with Julius Vahlteich split away from that group the following year to form a new workers' organization called Vorwärts (Forward).

[1] The November 30, 1865 General Meeting of the ADAV voted a motion of no confidence in Fritzsche's leadership and he returned to Leipzig, resigning both his Vice Presidency and his position as the organization's official representative in that city.

[1] Fritzche also became a newspaper editor for the first time in this period, producing the weekly paper of the union, Der Botschafter, from 1866 until its ban by the authorities in 1879.

[1] While Fritzsche was a delegate to the founding congress of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in August 1869, he does not seem to have been a member of the new organization, instead rejoining the ADAV in 1872.

Wilhelm Fritzsche (1825-1905), a founder of the German Cigarmakers Union.
August Bebel (seated) and Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche during Otto von Bismarck 's speech on the Socialist Law in the German Reichstag (woodcut based on a drawing by Georg Koch)
Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche bronze sculpture by Carsten Eggers in the courtyard of the headquarters of the NGG trade union