Ferdinand Lassalle
In 1860 he settled in Leipzig as a master turner, making horn buttons. He joined various labour organisations. Although initially an opponent of socialism, Bebel gradually was won over to socialist ideas through pamphlets of Ferdinand Lassalle, which popularized the ideas of Karl Marx. In 1865 he came under the influence of Wilhelm Liebknecht and was thereafter committed fully to the socialist cause. In 1866 he joined the First International.