German Metalworkers Association

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Headquarters of the German Metalworkers' Association on Alte Jakobstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg (October 1930)
German metalworker newspaper from September 15, 1888

The German Metal Workers Association ( DMV ) was a free trade union association of metal workers. He was on the Metal Workers' Congress in Frankfurt founded, the first took place from to June 6, 1891, and on May 2, 1933 as part of the DC circuit of Free Trade Unions after the Nazi seizure of power resolved by force.

Forerunner of the DMV

In the 1860s, concrete efforts began in the German workforce to create effective interest groups . The metal workers played a prominent role due to their high level of organization , their numerical size and their relatively high level of education. For example, at the General German Workers 'Congress (April 26-29, 1868 in Berlin ) - convened by the Lassalleans Johann Baptist von Schweitzer and Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche - the General German United Metalworkers' Association, based in Hanover, was founded. The 5th Association Day of German Workers 'Associations (September 5 to 7, 1868 in Nuremberg ), supported by the Bebel - Liebknecht direction, took over the program of the International Workers' Association and proposed the establishment of centralized trade unions. Accordingly, the International Metalworkers 'Cooperative was formed at the international metalworkers' congress held in Nuremberg from August 14th to 16th, 1869. The General German Metalworkers' Union and the International Metalworkers' Union of Metalworkers united at the metalworkers' congress that met in Braunschweig from November 28th to 30th, 1869 to form a unified metalworkers' union, the International Metalworkers' Union based in Hanover (from 1872 in Chemnitz ; from 1874 in Braunschweig). Other forerunners of the German Metalworkers' Association were the

  • Trade union of German gold and silver workers ( Hirsch-Duncker / founded 1869 in Pforzheim ),
  • Association of plumbers and related professionals (founded 1873 in Frankfurt am Main)
  • Association of blacksmiths (founded in Leipzig in 1877 ).

Socialist law versus trade union organization

On October 21, 1878, the Socialist Law was passed, with the result that all metal workers' associations were dissolved by the police . The metal workers did not want to bow to the regulation. Further attempts to create interest groups have been started. In the course of the years 1880 to 1890, professional associations for special metalworking professions were founded. In December 1884 a metalworkers congress was called to Gera , which decided to found an association of metalworkers in Germany with its seat in Mannheim . On August 19, 1885, the Baden state commissioner dissolved this trade union association with all of its branch associations, referring to the Socialist Act.

Foundation of the DMV

Workers' committee of the Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall company in Erlangen. Third from left: Paul Ritzer

After the Socialist Act was repealed, a general metalworkers' congress took place in Frankfurt am Main from June 1 to 6, 1891. There a draft statute for a “metal workers union” worked out by Martin Segitz and his employees was discussed, in which all “workers employed in the metal industry” were invited to join. Of 128 delegates to the congress, who represented 112 mixed, 23 formers , 17 plumbers , 15 locksmiths and 33 different other specialist organizations from around 120 locations, 101 decided in favor of such an industrial association, 20 were against.

This association was named "General German Metalworkers Association" (DMV). Stuttgart was designated as the union headquarters. The main proponent of an immediate connection of the mechanics was Alexander Schlicke , since 1890 “shop steward” of the mechanics. The branch organizations of the formers remained independent until 1912, those of the blacksmiths until 1912. Various local mixed branch organizations, especially in Berlin, did not join the DMV until 1897. With the establishment of an industrial union, the metal workers took on a pioneering role in the entire German trade union movement. The membership grew rapidly. By the end of 1891 the DMV had 23,000 members in 180 administrative offices. In 1901 the membership grew to 100,000 and in 1911 to 500,000.

First World War and truce

Postcard of the DMV building in Nuremberg

Together with the other organizations in the general commission of the trade unions, the DMV decided on August 2, 1914 to break off all strikes in order not to endanger the war aims of the German Empire , two days later the social democrats in the Reichstag also supported the war credits. The renunciation of strikes brings the DMV recognition of the Reich for the first time, but also by failing to strike is tantamount to giving up on itself.

So there was opposition from the start. The Berlin Dreher under its Branch Director Richard Mueller refused to the 1914 truce and led wildcat strikes by, later the movement politicized and created the network of the Revolutionary Stewards . Against the will of the DMV leadership, they organized the metal workers in Berlin and other cities in three large mass strikes against the First World War . In Frankfurt am Main, a second, more moderate opposition current arose during this time under the leadership of the functionary Robert Dißmann .

November Revolution and Weimar Republic

Membership book from 1919 (private collection: Norbert Luffy)

The November Revolution in Berlin was largely prepared by the Revolutionary Obleuten within the DMV; its leader Richard Müller became chairman of the Executive Council of the Greater Berlin Workers 'and Soldiers' Councils . After the revolution, the leaderships of the major trade unions in Germany formed a "working group" with the employers. In favor of the eight-hour day and recognition as a collective bargaining partner , they waived further revolutionary demands. In the DMV, the opposition to the working group was just as violent as to the truce. On the Association Day in 1919, the opposition succeeded in removing the board. Robert Dißmann became chairman, Richard Müller one of the two editors-in-chief of the association organ “Deutsche Metallarbeiter-Zeitung”. After the change in leadership, the DMV as a whole committed itself to the council system, making it the only German union that openly represented council-republican goals.

However, when the November Revolution subsided, Robert Dißmann and others moved away from these council democratic goals and contented themselves with the form of co-determination in the form of works councils that was introduced at the time and is still common today . Richard Müller was dismissed as editor of the association newspaper. The DMV subsequently also participated in the working group and represented reformist goals in its majority, although a strong left-wing socialist and later communist opposition continued to exist.

Dissolution and successor

The DMV as well as other big unions did not seek its members after the seizure of power to the resistance against the Nazis to move. Similar to 1914, the association's leadership sought instead an understanding with the state and even called on May 1, 1933, called " National Labor Day ". One hoped in vain to counteract a ban by depoliticizing the work of the association. The Nazi dictatorship used the apathy of the DMV and other large unions to consolidate their power: on May 2, 1933, the DMV was dissolved and its assets were confiscated. Regardless of the so-called adjustment policy, quite a few members of the DMV participated in the resistance against the Nazi regime. For example, at least 18% of the resistance group of the Red Shock Troop , which had around 500 members in 1933, was organized in the DMV before 1933. In individual association districts, 30% to 50% of the former full-time and honorary functionaries are said to have participated in illegal activities. Numerous DMV members were persecuted between 1933 and 1945 and had to endure imprisonment, often in a concentration camp .

After the Second World War , the Metalworkers' Union was founded in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as the successor organization to the DMV; in the GDR the members were transferred to the individual union of the same name, IG Metall , and since 1990 IG Metall has represented workers in the metal industry as the largest union in this sector Germany.

Known members

Head of the DMV

In addition to the association advisory board, the DMV also had an expanded association advisory board. The DMV was a member of the International Metalworkers' Union (seat: Bern). The chairmen of the DMV were: August Junge (1891–1895), Alexander Schlicke (1895–1919), Robert Dißmann (1919–1926), Willy Eggert (1921–1924), Alwin Brandes / MdR (1919–1933), Georg Reichel ( 1919-1933).

Other members

literature

  • Theodor Bergmann (ed.): Class struggle and solidarity. History of the Stuttgart metal workers. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89965-236-9 .
  • The DMV (German Metalworkers Association) in numbers. Publishing company of the German Metalworkers' Association, Berlin 1932 (reprint. Ibid 1980).
  • Marion Goers: The free trade union German Metalworkers Association in Berlin. In: Hans Coppi , Stefan Heinz (ed.): The forgotten resistance of the workers. Trade unionists, communists, social democrats, Trotskyists, anarchists and forced laborers (= history of communism and left-wing socialism. Volume 16). Dietz, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-320-02264-8 , pp. 17-26.
  • Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? The “Unified Association of Metal Workers in Berlin”: Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 .
  • Ralf Hoffrogge : Richard Müller. The man behind the November Revolution (= history of communism and left-wing socialism. Volume 7). Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02148-1 .
  • Brigitte Kassel: women in a man's world. Employment of women in the metal industry and their interests represented by the German Metalworkers Association (1891–1933) (= series of publications of the Otto Brenner Foundation. Volume 66). Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7663-2798-4 (also: Berlin, Technical University, dissertation, 1995).
  • Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz (eds.) With the assistance of Marion Goers: Functionaries of the German Metalworkers' Association in the Nazi state. Resistance and persecution (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - resistance - emigration. Volume 1). Metropol, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-059-2 .
  • Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz (Hrsg.): Emigrated metal trade unionists in the fight against the Nazi regime (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration, Volume 3). Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86331-210-7 .
  • Fritz Opel: The German Metalworkers Association during the First World War and the Revolution (= series of publications by the Otto Brenner Foundation. 20). 4th edition. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-7663-0426-7 .
  • Fritz Opel: 75 years of the Iron International. 1893-1968. = 75 ans de l'Internationale du fer. With a foreword by Otto Brenner and an afterword by Adolphe Graedel. European publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1968.
  • Fritz Opel, Dieter Schneider: Seventy-five Years of the Industrial Union. 1891 to 1966. From the German Metalworkers' Association to the Metalworkers Union. A report in words and pictures. European publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1966.
  • Kurt Thomas Schmitz: 100 years of the industrial union. 1891 to 1991. From the German Metalworkers 'Association to the Metalworkers' Union. A report in words and pictures. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7663-0061 .
  • Marco Swiniartzki: The German Metal Workers Association 1891-1933. A union in the area of ​​tension between workers, companies and politics. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-412-50750-3 (also: Jena, Friedrich Schiller University, dissertation, 2015).
  • Jacob Walcher : Our union work from the beginning to 1924. Unpublished manuscript. Jacob Walcher SAPMO estate .

Web links

Commons : Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The DMV (German Metalworkers Association) in numbers. 1932.
  2. ↑ metal newspaper of IG Metall, July 2016, p. 7
  3. ↑ Ralf Hoffrogge: Richard Müller. 2008, pp. 25-38.
  4. ↑ Ralf Hoffrogge: Richard Müller. 2008, pp. 126-132, 136 ff, 141 f.
  5. ↑ Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: The Red Assault Troop. An early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism. Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2018, pp. 355, 357.
  6. ^ Klaus Mlynek : Bluhm, Wilhelm. In: Dirk Böttcher , Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen : Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9 , p. 57 f .; books.google.de
  7. ^ Klaus Mlynek : Hahn, (3) Wilhelm, jun. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 147; books.google.de