General German Workers' Association

The General German Workers' Association, in German Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein, ADAV) was founded on 23 May 1863 by Ferdinand Lassalle and existed under this name until 1875, when it combined with August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht's SDAP to form the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, what is now the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The ADAV was the first German labour party even before Germany had united as the German Empire.

Presidents

• 23 May 1863-31 August 1864 Ferdinand Lassalle
• 1 September 1864-2 November 1864 Otto Dammer
• 2 November 1864-21 November 1865 Bernhard Becker
• 21 November 1865-30 November 1865 Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche
• 30 November 1865-31 December 1865 Hugo Hillmann
• 1 January 1866-18 June 1866 Carl Wilhelm Tölcke
• 18 June 1866-19 May 1867 August Perl
• 20 May 1867-30 June 1871 Johann Baptist von Schweitzer
• 24 June 1869-4 July 1869 Fritz Mende
• 1 July 1871-25 May 1875 Wilhelm Hasenclever