Leadership of the united unions

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The leaders circle of the united trade unions was almost three months after the transfer of power to the National Socialists of late attempt by the German trade union federations to give up their fragmentation and join forces. This step took place on April 28, 1933 with a founding document. A few days later, the attempt became obsolete, since on May 2, 1933, the free trade unions were smashed and the Christian trade unions were placed under the National Socialist Action Committee on May 3, 1933 to protect German labor .

Union adaptation course

The weakness of the trade union movement in early 1933 was explained by high unemployment, segmentation into a large number of competing professional unions, and the political division into directional unions. After the transfer of power to the National Socialists in January 1933, and especially after the March elections , the unions of all directions reacted with a very extensive adjustment course to the new regime. In order to maintain their own existence, the organizations went as far as revealing central positions. For example, on March 21, 1933, the free trade unions recognized the right of the state to intervene in disputes between employers and employees. The Christian trade unions welcomed the national revolution and declared themselves ready to cooperate in the new state. The trade unions distanced themselves from the SPD or from the center as their political allies. On April 9, the ADGB also agreed to put its organization in the service of the new state. They advocate the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for the trade unions.

Leading trade unionists of the ADGB even discussed a future trade union organization with the National Socialist Works Cell Organization (NSBO), in particular with Ludwig Brucker . The talks only failed because of the maximum demands on the part of the NSBO. The works council elections in April 1933 showed that the NSBO ​​was slow to gain weight. It came to 11.7%. The free trade unions came to 73.4%, the Christian trade unions to 7.6%, the Hirsch-Duncker trade unions to 0.6% and the revolutionary trade union opposition to 4.9%. This persistence of the old organizations may have contributed to the decision of the regime to smash the unions.

As early as March 29th, the aforementioned National Socialist Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor was secretly formed under the leadership of Robert Ley and Reinhold Muchow in order to plan the smashing of the unions in detail. Ley and Joseph Goebbels obtained the approval of Adolf Hitler for these plans. Goebbels noted in his diary on April 17, 1933: “May 1 will be a grandiose demonstration of the German people's will. On May 2nd the union houses will be occupied. Synchronization in this area too. There may be a row for a few days, but then they're ours. You shouldn't be considerate here. We are only doing the worker a service if we free him from the parasitic leadership that has made his life angry up to now. If the unions are in our hands, then the other parties and organizations will not be able to hold out much longer. (...) There is no going back. You just have to let things take their course. "

These preparations remained hidden from the trade unions. The unions welcomed the announcement that May 1st would be National Labor Day.

Unification efforts

Anton Erkelenz (picture approx. 1943), from whom suggestions for the unification originated

In addition to adapting to the regime, there was an attempt to unite the previous unions. Approaches to this have so far always failed, particularly for programmatic reasons. This also applies to the proposal by Walter Dirks , who in 1932 called for an alliance of Christian and free trade unions to defend against fascism. The situation was changed insofar as the party-political considerations no longer existed. Against this background, there were statements in all directional unions with the aim of close cooperation or association.

One of the initiators of the leadership group was Anton Erkelenz from the liberal Hirsch-Duncker trade associations. He was able to build on suggestions from 1931 and aimed for a unified organization of the trade unions. On April 1, 1933, Erkelenz wrote a letter to Adam Stegerwald from the Christian trade unions. It stated that “the three old trade union branches will merge on their own initiative and then present themselves to the government as a single union. (...) If the unions take the transformation into a unified union into their own hands, they can perhaps achieve that this unified union will remain a voluntary union in the previous sense, so that it does not become a state compulsory union ” . The aim was to take this voluntary step to forestall the creation of a forced union initiated by the regime. On April 5, the ADGB declared that it was ready to take part in standardizing the trade union system. The approval of the Christian trade unions on April 14th was somewhat less clear.

According to Wilhelm Leuschner's notes, the actual negotiations began on April 20 in the Adler Pension on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin . The union leaders met privately because they did not want to make the negotiations public. Numerous other discussions followed.

On April 28, 1933, the leaders of the united unions came to an agreement on a joint declaration. Free, Christian and Hirsch-Duncker trade unions as well as the German-national trade union association were involved .

Founding Manifesto

Jakob Kaiser (picture c. 1950) played a key role in drafting the founding document

The founding manifesto was drafted in particular by the Christian trade unionists Theodor Brauer and Jakob Kaiser . The original draft from the pen of Christian trade unionists was modified somewhat in the course of the discussion by the free trade unions; the exact wording is not known. There are different traditions, for example from Jakob Kaiser's. Another version comes from a publication by the German Labor Front (DAF) . Both versions may be influenced by their respective political interests and do not reflect the original version. The historian Gerhard Beier considers the version from the DAF publication to be the closest to the original.

The alliance declared itself ready to participate in the reorganization of economic and social life. The aim was formulated according to the version by Jacob Kaiser:

  1. The trade unions are the associations appointed to represent the social and economic interests of workers.
  2. The highest goal of their work is the promotion of a healthy state and people as a prerequisite for securing the moral, cultural, state and economic-social rights of the German working class.
  3. The basic religious forces are to be respected and recognized in their stately and socially constructive significance.
  4. The unions have to be completely independent of party politics.

In the version that the DAF "partially" handed down, the introduction said:

“The national revolution has created a new state. This state wants to unite the entire German people's power and bring it to bear with power. Because of this popular will for unity and power, he knows neither class separation nor internationality that is turned away from the people. This fact confronts the entire German people, each of its classes and each individual with the necessity of defining his attitude towards this state. The German trade unions believe that they can best serve the great task of the new state, to combine all the forces of the German people into a stronger unit, if they unite to form a single national organization of work across all the divisions of the past. "

One acknowledged the “positive cooperation in the new state” in a “single comprehensive national organization of work”. However, the document also called for unhindered union work. In this respect, the willingness to adapt had its limits. The signatories included Wilhelm Leuschner, Jakob Kaiser and Theodor Leipart . The declaration was shaped by his ethnic-nationalistic language. There was no longer any talk of class struggle and internationalism. This document was far removed from the previous program of the free trade unions as the largest ally. In terms of content, the Christian trade unions seemed to have prevailed. The alliance was more of a loose association than a true unity . Against the background of the experiences of the following years, this came about after the war with the establishment of the DGB . The merger was characterized as a "synchronization from below" or "synchronization from within".

On May 1, 1933 , which Adolf Hitler had declared National Labor Day, the ADGB published an appeal on April 22. The attempt to create a cross-directional trade union organization had already failed on May 2, 1933 when the free trade unions were broken up. On May 3, the Christian trade unions submitted to the Action Committee for the Protection of German Labor.

literature

  • Michael Schneider , Manfred Scharrer (Ed.): Between Opposition and Submission. The Christian trade unions and National Socialism. In: Surrender without a fight. Workers' movement 1933. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1984, pp. 183–215.
  • Gerhard Beier: On the formation of the leadership group of the united trade unions at the end of April 1933. In: Archives for social history. Vol. 15, 1975, pp. 365-392.
  • Gerhard Beier: Synchronization and Resistance. On the behavior of the German trade unions in April 1933 in the light of previously unknown documents. In: trade union monthly books, vol. 26/1975, no. 7, pp. 410–421. Free access at the FES
  • Gerhard Beier: The didactic piece from May 1st and 2nd, 1933. European publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1975

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Beier: The illegal Reichsleitung of the trade unions 1933-1945. Bund, Cologne 1981 p. 22.
  2. ↑ Michael Schneider: ups, downs and crises. The trade unions in the Weimar Republic 1918 to 1933. In: Ulrich Borsdorf (Hrsg.): History of the German trade unions. Cologne 1987, pp. 434-439; Heinrich August Winkler : Workers and the labor movement in the Weimar Republic. Vol. 3: The road to catastrophe. 1930-1933. 2nd edition, Berlin / Bonn 1990, pp. 918f.
  3. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: Workers and Labor Movement in the Weimar Republic. Vol. 3, Berlin / Bonn 1990, p. 927; Bernd Martin : The German trade unions and the National Socialist takeover. From adjustment policy during the presidential cabinet to self-elimination in the totalitarian state. In: History and Science in the Classroom. 36/1985, p. 620.
  4. ↑ Michael Schneider, Manfred Scharrer (Ed.): Between Opposition and Submission. The Christian trade unions and National Socialism. In: Surrender without a fight. Workers' movement 1933. Reinbek, Rowohlt 1984, p. 203; Heinrich August Winkler: Workers and the labor movement in the Weimar Republic. Vol. 3: The road to catastrophe. 1930-1933. 2nd edition, Berlin / Bonn 1990, p. 919.
  5. ^ Anton Erkelenz: To the unity of the German trade union movement. In: Kölner Sozialpolitische Vierteljahrsschrift: Zeitschr. d. Research Institute for Social Sciences in Cologne for d. Social policy of all countries. H. 2, 1932, pp. 151-181
  6. ↑ Michael Schneider, Manfred Scharrer (Ed.): Between Opposition and Submission. The Christian trade unions and National Socialism. In: Surrender without a fight. Labor Movement 1933. Reinbek, Rowohlt 1984, pp. 203f .; Klaus Schönhoven : The German trade unions. Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 182.
  7. ↑ Gerhard Beier: Synchronization and resistance. On the behavior of the German trade unions in April 1933 in the light of previously unknown documents. In: Union monthly journal. Vol. 26/1975, No. 7, p. 416.
  8. ↑ Gerhard Beier: Synchronization and resistance. On the behavior of the German trade unions in April 1933 in the light of previously unknown documents. In: Union monthly journal. Vol. 26/1975, No. 7, p. 419.
  9. ↑ Gerhard Beier: Synchronization and resistance. On the behavior of the German trade unions in April 1933 in the light of previously unknown documents. In: Union monthly journal. Vol. 26/1975, No. 7, p. 412 f.
  10. ^ The document partially reproduced by the DAF was published in the information service. Official correspondence of the German Labor Front. Reprinted March 28, 1934. This version is "completely" reproduced by Gerhard Beier: Das Lehrstück from May 1 and 2, 1933. 1975, p. 37.
  11. ↑ Gerhard Beier: Synchronization and resistance. On the behavior of the German trade unions in April 1933 in the light of previously unknown documents. In: Union monthly journal. Vol. 26/1975, No. 7, p. 413.
  12. ↑ Michael Schneider: ups, downs and crises. The trade unions in the Weimar Republic 1918 to 1933. In: Ulrich Borsdorf (Hrsg.): History of the German trade unions. Cologne 1987, p. 440; Klaus Schönhoven: The German trade unions. Frankfurt am Main 1987 p. 182; Michael Schneider Manfred Scharrer (Ed.): Between Opposition and Submission. The Christian trade unions and National Socialism. In: Surrender without a fight. Workers' movement 1933. Reinbek, Rowohlt 1984, p. 204; Heinrich August Winkler: Workers and the labor movement in the Weimar Republic. Vol. 3: The road to catastrophe. 1930-1933. 2nd edition, Berlin / Bonn 1990, p. 926.
  13. ^ Gerhard Beier: Das Lehrstück from May 1 and 2, 1933. 1975, p. 37.