Adhémar Schwitzguébel was born in Sonvilier, in the Bernese Jura,[1] on 15 August 1844. He was the son of Auguste Schwitzguébel and Rosalie Pécaut.[2] His father was a liberal activist and owner of an engraving workshop, which Schwitzguébel worked in as an apprentice.[1]
Schwitzguébel served as a delegate in every IWA congress until the Hague Congress of 1872, when Bakunin and Guillaume were expelled from the organisation.[3] He then participated in the St. Imier Congress, which established the Anti-Authoritarian International.[2] He remained active as one of the main leaders and theoreticians of the Jura Federation,[1] editing its bulletin. At the Jura Federation's final congress in 1880, while he continued to uphold a programme for establishing an anarchist society, he also began to argue for the formation of a socialist political party to participate in elections.[3]
During this time, he had married Catherine Marguerite Miellet,[2] with whom he had eight children. By 1879, Schwitzguébel's father had died and his family fell into poverty.[3] Having already taken over management of the engraving workshop, Schwitzguébel was forced to close it in 1889.[2] While looking for work, he moved to Bienne, where he became an assistant to the Swiss Workers' Secretariat in 1891. There he also established a number of workers' organisations, including the country's first trade union for watchmakers.[1]
Mario Vuilleumier. Horlogers de l'anarchisme. Payot, Lausanne 1988
Guillaume, J. L'Internationale: doc. et souvenirs. 4 vol., 1905–1910 (reprinted 1980–1985).
Vuilleumier, M. "Le socialisme libertaire en Suisse romande: un texte inconnu d'Adhémar Schwitzguébel, 1872" in Cah. Vilfredo Pareto, 1969, no 18, 161–176.
Lörtscher, Ch. Vereinigt euch!: Adhémar Schwitzguébels Leben für die Arbeiterbewegung. 2007.