Christian social workers' associations

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Christian Social Workers 'Associations (also Christian Social clubs ) were in the 1860 / 70s resulting workers' associations with a focus on the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr. Weakened by the Kulturkampf and the Socialist Law , they were mostly absorbed in the Catholic workers' associations from the 1880s onwards . They are not to be confused with later similar sounding organizations and parties. In particular, no relationship was the Christian Socialist movement of Adolf Stoecker , addressed the predominantly Protestant circles.

history

Not least on the basis of the social reform considerations of Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler , who called for the state to intervene to solve the social question, socially minded Catholic clergymen (“red chaplains”) founded Christian social workers' associations in the 1860s and 70s. A first association was established in Essen in 1860 , followed by Eschweiler and Dortmund (1864), Düren (1865), Düsseldorf and Wattenscheid (1867), Jülich (1868), Aachen and Gelsenkirchen (1869). The Christian social workers' associations were officially non-denominational, but organized as a rule Catholics. Its Protestant members clashed with the Catholic orientation of the Christian social associations, which led to the establishment of Protestant workers' associations since 1882 . Membership was strictly rejected by Social Democrats.

The associations were dedicated to religious and moral instruction and mutual self-help. There are sometimes different views in the literature about the character of the clubs going beyond this. If one follows Herbert Hömig , the Christian Social Associations in southern Germany were more politically active, while they were more cautious in the Ruhr area, on the Lower Rhine and on the Saar with a view to the Prussian association law.

Klaus Tenfelde sees it differently . In contrast to the Catholic workers 'associations that were later founded under the aegis of Franz Wärme , the Christian social workers' associations had union-like features and did not reject strikes, for example. They were critical of the conditions in companies, in society and towards entrepreneurs and the state. The successes of the ADAV in the western Ruhr area contributed to the politicization. The clubs wanted to counter this with Christian-Catholic values ​​with a strong social element.

The politicization went particularly far in the Christian social workers' association of St. Paul in Aachen and Burtscheid , which was founded in 1869 . The association had socialist and trade union features with quickly over 1000 members. Its chairman, a chaplain Cronenberg, ran as a candidate for the Reichstag in the 1870s. After his arrest in 1877 this association collapsed.

In 1868 a Central Board was formed at the first major meeting . The associations had their own publication organ, the Christian-Social papers. In these, labor law and thus approaches to solving the social question by legal means were repeatedly called for. The demands for state interventionism were not yet commonplace in the church and also stood in contrast to the politics of the Center Party .

In the Ruhr area alone they had 30,000 members in the mid-1870s. The clubs remained regionally limited. They suffered from the effects of the Kulturkampf and later the Socialist Law made their work more difficult. The number of its members fell to around 10,000 in 52 clubs. The associations lost their importance and were mostly merged into the Catholic workers' associations.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Josef Stegmann / Peter Langhorst: History of social ideas in German Catholicism. In: History of social ideas in Germany: Socialism - Catholic social teaching and Protestant social ethics. Wiesbaden, 2005 p. 673
  2. ↑ Traugott Jähnichen: Institution Church - Association Church - People's Church - Project Church. Transformation processes of the Ruhr area Protestantism since de-industrialization. In: The future of the Ruhr area: Structural change in a region and the shared responsibility of the churches. Münster, 2003 p. 42
  3. ^ Herbert Hömig: Catholics and the trade union movement 1890-1945. Paderborn u. a., 2003 p. 11f.
  4. ^ Klaus Tenfelde: The emergence of the German trade union movement. From the pre-march to the end of the socialist law. In: History of the German trade unions from the beginning to 1945. Cologne, 1987 p. 119
  5. ↑ Klaus Tenfelde: Church associations in the 19th century, In: On the trail of contemporary church history: Festschrift for Helmut Geck on his 75th birthday. Münster, 2010 566
  6. ^ Matthias Kaever: The social conditions in coal mining in the Aachen and South Limburg districts. Münster, 2006 223f.
  7. ^ Franz Josef Stegmann, Peter Langhorst: History of the social ideas in German Catholicism. In: History of social ideas in Germany: Socialism - Catholic social teaching and Protestant social ethics. Wiesbaden, 2005 p. 673

literature

  • Jürgen Aretz : Catholic labor movement and Christian trade unions - on the history of the Christian social movement . In: Anton Rauscher (ed.): The social and political Catholicism: Lines of development in Germany 1803–1963. Vol. 2, Landsberg am Lech, 1982 p. 163
  • Herbert Hömig : Catholics and the trade union movement 1890-1945 . Paderborn u. a., 2003 p. 11f.
  • Josef Stegmann / Peter Langhorst: History of the social ideas in German Catholicism. In: History of social ideas in Germany: Socialism - Catholic social teaching and Protestant social ethics. Wiesbaden, 2005 p. 673
  • Klaus Tenfelde : The emergence of the German trade union movement. From the pre-march to the end of the socialist law . In: History of the German trade unions from the beginning to 1945. Cologne, 1987 p. 119

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