Founding of the SAG

© AdsD Hugo Haase, photo , 1905

The SPD fraction in the Berlin Reichstag gets no respite in the conflict over the war and its conduct. In a speech to the plenum, Karl Liebknecht had called on German soldiers to join with their English and French opponents as brothers in a „struggle against capitalism“. Liebknecht was not only ruled out of order, he was also expelled from the SPD fraction. But the number of war opponents continues to grow. A short time later, on 24 March 1916, nineteen SPD representatives under the leadership of chairman Hugo Haase vote against the government proposal for an „emergency budget“. They are also expelled immediately from their fraction. They found a „Social Democratic Syndicate“ intent on resisting the parliamentary „truce“ called in August 1914 and preventing the adoption of additional war credits.