German miners' unions
The history of the miners' unions in Germany was marked by their split into directional unions before the unified union IG Bergbau und Energie was founded after the Second World War .
Requirements and beginnings
A central prerequisite for founding a union in the mining industry was the introduction of the General (Prussian) Mining Act in 1865 . This abolished the old state-oriented principle of direction and introduced the market economy into mining. As a result, the miners with privileged status became legally “free wage workers”.
Since the state no longer declared itself responsible for safeguarding the living and working conditions of the miners, the miners gradually began to organize. A first approach was in 1868 the establishment of the "General Cooperative of Miners, Huts and Salt Works" in the vicinity of the ADAV . The first chairman was Carl Wilhelm Tölcke . However, this organization had already lost much of its importance in 1870 . From the liberal side ( Hirsch-Duncker's trade associations ), a “trade association of German miners” was founded in 1869 with a focus on Waldenburg (Lower Silesia). At first he was able to organize a considerable part of the miners in the local area . When the employers did not recognize the organization as representing the interests of the workers, a week-long strike broke out against the will of the union co-founder Max Hirsch . The Waldenburg miners' strike was the longest labor dispute in Germany to date. It eventually had to be canceled without success. As a result, about twenty thousand of the thirty thousand members of the trade unions turned away from them. A considerable part then turned to the social democratic organizations.
A first major strike in the Ruhr area (Essen district) in 1872 therefore took place without any union organization. The attempt to set up an organization after the strike was defeated was unsuccessful because the authorities refused their approval. Another attempt failed in the Ruhr area two years later because of the opposition between Catholic and social-democratic-minded workers. To this end, the Association of Saxon Miners and Metallurgists was founded in Saxony in 1876 in the context of the social democratic movement. The Socialist Law ended 1878-1890 each union organization attempt, regardless which philosophical orientation. A legal protection association founded by Johannes Fusangel existed in a legal gray area between 1883 and 1886 .
Establishment of union organization and split in the 1890s
The breakthrough to a permanent organization came in 1889, on the one hand, with the largest strike by miners to date in the Ruhr area, which was also followed by workers in the Aachen Revier , the Saar area , Saxony , Silesia and the Sauerland . Added to this was the gradual expiry of the Socialist Law (which did not officially end until 1890). On August 18, 1889, the "Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Mining Interests in Rhineland and Westphalia" (Old Association) was founded in Dorstfeld (today a district of Dortmund ). Both Catholic and social democratic workers took part. The first chairman was the "Imperial Delegate" Friedrich Bunte . This unified union did not last long, however, as the Catholic workers split off a year later.
The Christian miners have been gathering in the Ruhr area since 1894 in the interdenominational "Union of Christian Miners for the Upper Mining District Dortmund" under the chairman August Brust . Although the association was officially non-denominational, it organized predominantly Catholic workers. Already during this time this organization began to reach out to the miners in the Sauerland, for example. In other areas, such as the Siegerland, there were regional Christian unions for a long time.
As a result of this establishment, the number of members in the Old Association - as the union founded in 1889 to distinguish it from other organizations was also called - fell significantly, and it was of little help that it expanded to the entire territory of the Reich from 1890 onwards. The coexistence of social democratic and Christian trade unions remained a defining structural feature for the Ruhr area until 1933. In 1902 there was also a Polish Miners' Association (ZZP) for the Poles who immigrated to the Ruhr area.
The miners' unions in the first decades of the 20th century
In 1905 all four existing organizations took part in an initially wildcat strike in the Ruhr area. The strike participation was almost 80%. Although the entrepreneurs remained tough, the miners were thoroughly successful thanks to an amendment to the mining law (introduction of workers' committees, etc.).
Another big strike in 1912 , in which the old association, the Hirsch-Dunkersche trade union and the Polish organization participated, failed because the Christian Miners' Association did not participate.
In 1912, of the more than 860,000 miners in Germany, around 114,000 were organized in the Old Association (12.7%), almost 78,000 in the Christian Miners' Association, over 50,000 in various Polish associations and only a little more than 3,000 in the liberal trade union. The vast majority of miners (72%) did not belong to any organization.
First World War and the revolutionary phase until 1920
With the First World War and the commitment to the truce by all unions, all labor disputes were stopped. With the increase in social unrest in the second half of the war, spontaneous work stoppages also occurred in the mining sector. Towards the end of October 1918, collective bargaining took place for the first time between the miners' organizations and employers, so that the unions were recognized as negotiating partners. Immediately after the beginning of the November Revolution , the November Agreement ( November 15, 1918) established a certain amount of cooperation between trade unions and employers' associations. However, for the majority of the miners this was not enough and between January and April 1919 the unsuccessful socialization efforts in the Ruhr mining industry (against the will of the unions) led to civil war-like clashes between freikorp troops and striking miners. Finally, an agreement on the introduction of seven-hour shifts helped to end the unrest. One of the consequences of disappointment with the position of the unions was the creation of an extreme left miners' union . A few months later, the miners' unions were involved in the general strike (March / April 1920) against the Kapp Putsch , but not in the violent clashes between the Red Ruhr Army and the Freikorps.
Weimar Republic since 1920 and broken up under National Socialism
After the end of inflation and in the course of the stabilization of the currency, the employers tried to do away with the gains of the revolution of 1918/19. In this context, in May 1924 there was a mass lockout in the Ruhr mining industry. This ended with the reintroduction of the eight-hour shift underground and the end of the social partnership in this economic sector.
In 1931, of around 538,000 miners in Germany, around 164,000 were organized in the Old Association (which from 1928 called itself the “Association of Mining Industry Workers in Germany”). This corresponds to a rate of around 25%. In addition, almost 87,000 miners (= 16.2%) belonged to the union of Christian miners. With the beginning of the global economic crisis, however, a radicalization process had already started. In the works council elections in 1931, the old association achieved 58% and the Christian 17% of the vote. In addition, the communist RGO also got 17%.
If the trade unions believed they could still take a place in the new “ Third Reich ” at the beginning of the National Socialist dictatorship , this illusion was shattered for the free trade unions and the old association with the smashing of the organization and the occupation of the trade union houses on May 2, 1933. Im In the summer of 1933 the union of Christian miners was brought into line. Numerous members of the miners' organizations were persecuted by the National Socialists and not a few were murdered. Fritz Husemann , the long-time chairman of the Old Association, was murdered in the Esterwegen concentration camp in 1935. Heinrich Imbusch , the former chairman of the Christian Association, died of exhaustion in 1945 after having fled for years.
After the end of World War II, the division into directional unions was overcome by the establishment of the Mining and Energy Industrial Union.
See also
Literature (selection)
- Wilhelm and Gertrude Hermann: The old collieries on the Ruhr (series: The Blue Books ). Verlag Langewiesche Nachhaben, Königstein im Taunus, 6th edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-7845-6994-9 , on the trade unions in the period up to 1933 pp. 59–82.
- Wolfgang Jäger (edit.): Pictorial history of the German miners' movement . Texts by Wolfgang Jäger and Klaus Tenfelde . Beck, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-33912-3 .
- Wolfgang Köllmann , (Ed., On behalf of the industrial union for mining and energy): The miners' strike of 1889 and the establishment of the "Old Association" in selected documents of the time. , Berg Verlag, Bochum 1969
- Hans Mommsen , Ulrich Borsdorf (Ed.): Glück auf Kameraden! The miners and their organizations in Germany. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-7663-0288-4 (also: ibid 1984).
- Klaus Tenfelde: Social history of the miners on the Ruhr in the 19th century. 2nd revised edition, unabridged study edition. Verlag Neue Gesellschaft, Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-87831-344-6 (also: Diss., Univ., Münster, 1976/77).
- Klaus Tenfelde (Ed.): A new bond of solidarity. Chemistry - Mining - Leather. Industrial workers and trade unions in Germany since the Second World War. Buchdruckwerkstätten Hannover, Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-89384-015-X .