Robert Grimm

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Robert Grimm (16 April 1881 – 8 March 1958) was a Swiss Socialist politician and former President of the Swiss National Council.

Grimm was a leading member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and opposed the First World War, which after the collapse of the Second International made him work closely with the world Communist movement. Robert Grimm became a leading member of the Zimmerwald Movement and was chairman of the Zimmerwald Socialist International Committee in Berne 1915 – 1917 working closely with Lenin.

He was one of those at the centre of the Grimm-Hoffmann Affair which seriously questioned Switzerland's neutrality during World War One.

Grimm rejoined the 2½ International and the Social Democratic Movement some time after the end of the war.

As the war drew to an end, he called on a nationwide strike in order to provoke a revolution in Switzerland itself. His Russian Bolshevik associates were expelled and the strike ended when Grimm realised that the country was not ready for revolution. During the strike, some of his more moderate colleagues sent the government a list of demands, including a minimum wage, 48-hour working week, old-age pensions and giving women the vote. Many of these demands were granted in the decades following World War Two.

Preceded by Pierre Aeby

President of the National Council 1945/1946

Succeeded by Max Wey