Workers' Party
Workers' parties are political parties that claim to represent the interests of workers . You are thus the political part of the labor movement .
history
Alliances of workers to enforce political interests first emerged in the Vormärz , when workers began to articulate their interests and to differentiate them from those of the liberal bourgeoisie due to poor social and working conditions . These first associations were initially called workers' associations . In order to give greater emphasis to their demands, numerous associations in Germany, particularly during the revolutionary years of 1848 and 1849, joined together to form larger collection movements, such as the General German Workers' Association (ADAV). Such collection movements are seen today as direct forerunners of the socialist or social democratic (workers') parties. Following tradition, the workers' parties primarily campaigned for an improvement in working conditions and a solution to the “ social question ”.
Internationally, the workers' parties organized themselves together with socialist parties and some trade unions in 1889 in the Socialist International .
In addition, there were numerous movements that sought an overthrow and a socialist society. This led to the emergence of moderate and radical wings within the workers' parties. After the First World War, these wings often split into socialist or social democratic and communist parties (see for example USPD and MSPD ).
The change in the self-image of a workers' party can go hand in hand with a change of its name. In Austria, for example, the SPÖ , one of the two major parties, was called the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) until 1934 and the Socialist Party of Austria from 1945 to 1991, then the Social Democratic Party of Austria. Although there has been a tendency towards the middle class since the 1990s, the SPÖ still sees itself as a workers' party.
"Labor parties" of the political right
In addition to the politically left-wing groups mentioned, there were also organizations in the national-conservative and fascist camp that called themselves the “workers' party”. Examples are in Germany the German Workers 'Party and the National Socialist German Workers' Party , in Austria the German Workers 'Party (Austria-Hungary) and the German National Socialist Workers' Party . Although these were able to win many workers as members, they had nothing to do with the labor movement described above.
See also
- List of workers' parties
- History of the German workers' associations
- History of the German Social Democracy
- Austromarxism
literature
- Ralf Hoffrogge : Socialism and the Labor Movement in Germany: From the Beginnings to 1914 . Butterfly Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-89657-655-2 .
- Axel Kuhn: The German labor movement . 2004, ISBN 3-15-017042-7 .
- Peter Röben: Historical development of employee participation in Germany . 2006.
