Unified Association of Miners in Germany
The Union of Miners in Germany ( EVBD ) was a communist union founded in 1931 , which was active in the resistance against National Socialism even after Hitler came to power in the spring of 1933 .
Origin and direction
The EVBD emerged - similar to the unified association of metal workers in Berlin - from a left-wing radical trade union movement against the background of the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO) and the efforts of the KPD for a mass movement . After the EVMB , the EVBD was the second larger "red association" founded by the RGO. The EVBD saw itself as a class struggle or revolutionary trade union, which primarily wanted to transform strikes to ward off wage wars and deterioration in working conditions into political mass strikes. However, this goal failed.
At the founding meeting on January 11, 1931 in Duisburg , 1268 delegates from 134 mines took part. The main speech is said to have been given by Anton Saefkow . The establishment was preceded by the end of a strike. The strikes in various mines in the Ruhr area are said to have been borne by 15 percent of the workforce. The protest was directed against wage cuts and against the will of the free trade unions . The communist miner Albert Funk was elected chairman at the founding meeting. Parallel to the founding meeting in Duisburg, a founding event took place in Hindenburg (Upper Silesia), attended by 130 delegates. According to the political police who monitored the event, 15 percent of those taking part in the meetings were previously excluded from the free trade unions. Most of the participants are said to have been unorganized.
Union policy development
The unified association later had - according to its own information - up to 22,936 members against the old association (mining industry workers association). The free trade union association remained the larger organization. Although the EVBD wanted to poach the members of the free trade unions or the free trade union mining industry workers' association, there was no large influx. Even if the number of members of the EVBD seems to be excessive, the EVBD was the largest "red association" of the RGO. The majority of the membership was based in the Ruhr area. In 1931 it reached approx. 29 percent in the works council elections, while the Christian unions received almost 25 percent and the free trade union miners 'association (mining industry workers' association) received approx. 36 percent. In some mines in the western and northern Ruhr area, the association achieved over 50 percent approval. Similar to the EVMB , the EVBD also remained a regional organization that mainly worked in the Ruhr area and parts of Upper Silesia.
Resistance to National Socialism
After the National Socialists came to power, a number of members and functionaries became involved in the resistance against National Socialism. Until the end of 1934 there were attempts to keep the EVBD as a communist trade union organization under the conditions of illegality. Many resistance activists were arrested and suffered reprisals from the National Socialists.
See also
literature
- Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? "The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin": Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 .
- Werner Müller: wage war, mass strike, Soviet power. Aims and limits of the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO) in Germany 1928 to 1933. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-7663-3063-2
- Rudolf Tschirbs, Tariff Policy in Ruhr Mining 1918-1933. De Gruyter, Berlin 1986, ISBN 978-3-11010-281-9
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rudolf Tschirbs: tariff policy in the Ruhr mining industry: 1918-1933. ( online )
- ↑ nahraum.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
