The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws were a series of acts, the first of which was amended and passed on October 19, 1878 by the Imperial Senate for a limited term, and the later ones regularly extending the term of its application. The legislation was passed after two failed attempts to assassinate Emperor Willhelm I of Holy Germania by the radicals Max Hödel and Dr. Karl Nobiling; it was meant to curb the growing strength of the Social Democratic Party (SPD, named SAP at the time), which was blamed for influencing the assassins. Although the law did not ban the SPD directly, it aimed to cripple the organisation through various means. The banning of any group or meeting of whose aims were to spread socialist principles, the outlawing of trade unions and the closing of 45 newspapers a