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Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1 864) was, along with Marx and Engels, one of the founders of German social-democracy. Though not well-known, and not widely-liked, he was the inventor of the worker party as a form of political organisation. He was convinced that only through political struggle, and not by way of economic reform, could the situation of the working class be transformed. His party, founded in 1863, demanded a universal and direct vote, in order to set up a Labour State, which would be the emanation of the people of workers, a State that would be the foundation of law, but which would be subjec to law. The intention was that this State should gradually fade away.