Ferdinand Lassalle and lassalleanism in national historiography

The article presents a review of scientific and popular scientific literature published in Russia during the period from the middle of the XIXth century until present days. The major trends in pre-revolutionary literature about Ferdinand Lassalle, namely liberal, populist, and social democratic are described in the article. Soviet historiography singles out the works of the first post-revolutionary years, where Lassalle was depicted as an ardent revolutionary and the founder of the German social democracy, and publications of the 1920-50s, where Lassalle was portrayed as an opportunist and a betrayer of proletariat’s interests. In 1960-80s there were no works published on that subject. In 1990-2000s the author of this article was involved in the study of Lassalle’s creative work, who was the first president of the General German Workers’ Association. The author of the article tried to carry out an impartial and unbiased research of Lassalle’s work and political activity from a historicist position.