Christian Union (Austria)
The Christian trade unions were from 1903 to 1934 in Austria existing unions .
prehistory
The Christian labor movement in Austria began with the establishment of a journeyman's association based on the model of Adolph Kolping by the later Archbishop of Vienna Anton Gruscha in 1852. Gruscha tried to transfer this concept to the workers. The freedom of association and assembly of the December constitution of 1867 favored the establishment of Catholic workers' associations throughout Austria.
By Karl von Vogelsang also wealthier strata of society was out the condition of the workers in mind "monthly magazine for Christian social reform." The extensive statistics published by the Moravian country pastor Anton Tschörner on the living conditions of the Austrian workers triggered a storm of indignation, which stimulated the discourse on social problems. For fear of the radicalization of workers, social laws such as general accident insurance and health insurance were introduced in Austria in the 1880s - as in all of Europe .
Father Anton Maria Schwartz and his Kalasantine order founded associations to support young workers and apprentices. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII took in Rerum Novarum , the first comprehensive encyclical on Catholic social teaching , on the situation of the workers. In it, the Pope called, among other things, for the establishment of workers' associations and for rest on Sundays and public holidays.
Encouraged by the social encyclical, there was a wave of associations being founded. Leopold Kunschak founded the Christian Social Workers' Association for Lower Austria in 1892 as a political association in order to better represent the interests of the workers. From 1894, professional associations were founded for individual professional groups, which can be seen as the immediate predecessors of the Christian trade unions.
As of December 31, 1900, there were 6,931 workers' associations in Austria, more than half of which were socialist and around 24% were organized in a Christian social manner.
At the turn of the century, groups of workers' associations were also formed in regional associations. An umbrella organization was established in 1902 with the "Reich Association of Non-Political Associations of Christian Workers in Austria."
Founding as departments of the workers' associations
At the first conference on February 1, 1903, the Reichsverband decided on a fundamental commitment to trade union organization, which marked the beginning of the Christian trade union in Austria. At the second conference on August 15, 1903, the corresponding extended area of activity of the Reich Association was decided, such as legal protection for members. In 1904, the creation of a youth organization and was decided from this year was with The Christian trade unionists of Franz Spalowsky also publishes a monthly magazine.
The Reichsverbandstag in Vienna in September 1906 was all about the trade unions. A newly founded Reich Union Commission was to connect the individual local groups with one another. The professional associations were seen as outdated and should be replaced by trade union organizations.
In the first few years there was a lot of discussion about the form of organization. For the time being, the trade unions were still incorporated into the workers' associations, and their decisions could be declared invalid by objection from the regional organizations. In 1908 it was agreed to spin off the trade unions as independent organizations, and the date of separation from the workers' associations was January 1, 1909.
While the Christian trade unions assumed the political representation of their members as a central task in the future, the role of the still existing Christian workers' associations lay in supporting sick and unemployed members, in teaching, organizing club libraries and club savings banks and especially in providing religious support for their members.
Independent union
organization structure
The Central Commission of the Christian Trade Unions , which was entrusted with leading the entire movement , acted as the highest authority . Between 20 and 30 central associations were affiliated with it as trade unions. These were in turn subdivided objectively into branch or company groups and specialist sections, as well as territorially according to state, district and local groups. In order to coordinate at the national level still came country cartels that were affiliated with the Central Commission and coordinated the individual district and local groups on the provincial level.
As the second central organization, the Control Commission exercised monitoring and control functions. The structures were strongly federal, administrative and financial sovereignty rested with the trade unions, the top organizations were dependent on them.
The Congress of Christian Trade Unions was convened by the Central Commission every two years and its agenda items were also set by the Central Commission.
There was an international network through the membership of the Central Commission in the Christian Union International and the trade unions in the relevant specialist international.
Framework conditions in the monarchy
The Christian trade unions faced all kinds of opposition. The socialist trade unions had existed for a longer time, so they could fall back on more experience and had about four to five times as many members as the Christian trade unions. Financially little reserves had been built up, no support was to be expected from the state, and although the class struggle was rejected in contrast to socialist unions , the union was viewed by the employers as a class struggle organization.
Nevertheless, there were positive developments: the number of members rose from 18,164 in 1906 to 30,072 in 1909 and 44,603 in 1912, with the majority of members coming from Vienna and Lower Austria. Politically, they worked very closely with the Christian Social Party . They called for collective agreements , but in contrast to the socialist trade unions they took a more moderate course, insofar as one took into account the national economy as well as the economic situation of the respective branch.
A congress of the Christian trade unions announced for September 1914 could no longer be held due to the outbreak of war . The war hit the workers hard. Due to the War Services Act of 1912, many companies were protected by the state, and their employees, as "war performers", were suddenly subject to military management and military criminal law . Wage pressure rose and at the same time the supply situation deteriorated. It was not until the establishment of complaints offices in Vienna and Lower Austria in 1915 and in the other federal states in 1917 that there was a remedy; the unions were recognized as employee representatives in this commission.
All trade unions recorded sharp falls in membership during the war, but in contrast to the socialist trade unions, the Christian trade unions also had too few human resources to fill the positions required for administrative purposes. In 1918 there were only 20,556 members, while the socialist trade unions had around 413,000 members, almost 20 times that number.
Framework conditions in the First Republic
In the economically difficult years after the war, there was hyperinflation and thus a financial crisis in the young republic, which could only be ended with a League of Nations loan and the introduction of the shilling as currency. The basis for the loan was the Geneva Protocols , in which Austria committed itself to social and economic policy measures, such as the cancellation of expenditure for social purposes and the reduction of the budget deficit. This reduced the unions' scope for action, but the measures taken by Ignaz Seipel's government also helped to reduce unemployment and end hyperinflation.
Organizationally, the union was busy rebuilding its structures; in terms of content, a strong anti-war stance and a strengthening of internal cohesion against the socialist unions, which saw a chance for a social revolution in Austria in view of the revolutionary processes in Germany , and in the fight for it dominated some companies were brutally opposed to Christian organized trade unionists (so-called “red terror”).
With increasing membership numbers, special emphasis was placed on educational work. For this purpose, an educational house was founded and numerous publications on social, economic and socio-political topics were published. In 1925, spending on education was one-sixth of the union's total spending.
In 1926 the house at Laudongasse 16 in Vienna was bought to accommodate all trade union organizations (today the headquarters of the ÖAAB and the FCG ). In 1927, with the Freedom League , a separate military association was founded.
In 1928 a membership of more than 100,000 was recorded for the first time. At the last Christian trade union congress in 1929, the course was set in the direction of centralization.
After a few economically relatively stable years of the heralded New York Stock Exchange crash of 1929 the world economic crisis one. At the same time in Austria the Boden-Credit-Anstalt got into severe economic difficulties and was taken over by the Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe , which itself became insolvent in 1931 . The economic situation at the lowest point of the crisis is reflected in the gross domestic product , which in 1933 was only 81.5% of the 1913 level in real terms. The economic decline in production resulted in increasing wage pressure, a reduction in social benefits, an increase in the number of unemployed and thus an increasing impoverishment of the workforce. The membership of the trade unions also fell during these years, the focus of the trade unions was now on maintaining the existing social achievements.
In this economically tense phase, the Heimwehr also founded their own trade union organizations, the Independent Trade Unions , which initially enjoyed great success. The Christian trade unions distanced themselves from the home guard organizations, which were clearly anti-democratic after the Korneuburg oath .
End in the corporate state
In March 1933, Chancellor Dollfuss used a momentary lack of a quorum of the National Council to shut down parliament . During the February fighting on February 13, 1934, the socialist trade unions were banned. For a short time the Christian trade union was able to look forward to a membership of over 200,000, but it was abolished on May 1, 1934, with the establishment of the corporate state union . By transforming its organizations into cultural associations, it escaped dissolution, but had to forego union agitation. Many personalities from the Christian trade unions converted to the unified trade union, for example Johann Staud , as the former general secretary of the Christian trade unions, became president of the unified trade union.
literature
- Ludwig Reichhold: History of the Christian trade unions in Austria . Publishing house of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-7035-0325-4 .
- Paul Bernhard Wodrazka: The Christian labor movement from its beginnings to the present . Ed .: Peter Autengruber , Martin Bolkovac (= politics and current affairs . Volume 15 ). 2007 (script for educational events of the ÖGB ).