Union dispute

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The trade union dispute was a dispute within the Catholic milieu after the turn of the 20th century. Ultimately, it was about the question of the legitimacy of the Christian trade unions within the Catholic Church.

Positions

Before the First World War, there were fundamental disputes between modern and anti-modern tendencies within the Catholic milieu . While the first was represented in particular by social Catholicism, the supporters of the other side were called integralists some time later . These disputes took place on a socio-political level in the so-called trade union dispute. In the Catholic milieu, in connection with industrialization and urbanization, in addition to the church associations and brotherhoods in the narrower sense, a number of large socio-politically active organizations had formed towards the end of the 19th century. One of these was the People's Association for Catholic Germany . The Christian trade unions, which are non-denominational in terms of their claims, but are in fact predominantly Catholic, also belonged to the environment.

The concrete problem behind the dispute was the problem of the Catholic legitimacy of the Christian trade unions and the question of whether Catholics were also allowed to join non-Catholic organizations. Above all, the Integralists rejected democratic tendencies and social emancipation tendencies within Catholicism, as represented by the so-called Cologne and Mönchengladbach direction around the Volksverein, and insisted that the church should pervade all economic and social life. Central representatives of the Cologne and Mönchengladbach direction were, among others, Franz Wärme , August Pieper and Heinrich Brauns . The leading figures on the part of the integralists were the bishops of Trier and Breslau, Michael Felix Korum and Georg von Kopp , as well as Maximilian Beyer from Berlin . For example, Bishop Korum said: “ Even if the trade unions had only Catholic members, but assigned the leadership to a worker, we should fight them. Everything depends on the clergy keeping the Catholic workers in their hands. “The dispute between the two sides was carried on with vehemence and polemics until the outbreak of war.

Course and consequences

The conflict initially led to a split in the Catholic workers' associations . The clubs from northern and eastern Germany were on the side of the integralists. In 1903 they organized themselves under the leadership of clergy in one of the “Association of Catholic Workers' Associations, based in Berlin.” (124,000 members in 1913). This refused membership in trade unions. There were so-called specialist departments, but these were no substitute for trade union interest representation. The much larger part remained an important part of the Cologne-Mönchengladbach direction as the West German association of workers' associations with over 450,000 members. The southern German workers' associations also rejected integralism.

The dispute also led to considerable tension within the Christian trade unions themselves. While August Brust and the Christian Miners' Association, which he led, ultimately advocated overcoming the directional trade union split in the German trade union movement, which would have resulted in cooperation with the social democratically oriented free trade unions and a unified trade union , Franz Wieber and the Christian Metalworkers Association (CMV ) for a Catholic orientation of the Christian trade unions. This temporarily led to the exclusion of the CMV from the general association of Christian trade unions. Instead, the predominantly Protestant Siegerland metal and miners' association and the Catholic Sauerland trade association were to form a new central organization. When this attempt failed, the CMV was resumed, but the course to overturn the unions was blocked.

Overall, the non-integralist positions were able to hold their own, but had to accept considerable restrictions. A papal encyclical from 1912 Singulari quadam spoke out clearly in favor of denominational workers' associations and their specialist departments. Christian trade unions were tolerated in countries like Germany, but only insofar as their Catholic members were also organized in workers' associations and the trade unions did not violate church doctrine. This compromise had only come about because the Cologne Archbishop Fischer , the leadership of the Center Party and the Reich government had campaigned against Pius X's condemnation of the Christian trade unions.

Nevertheless, the dispute within German Catholicism was not over. It was not until the encyclical Quadragesimo of 1931 that it essentially ended in favor of the trade unions.

Last but not least, the disputes had negative effects on the Christian trade unions. At times they were almost unable to act. In view of the papal decision of 1912, they could not dare to take part in strikes. Not least for this reason, the great miners 'strike of 1912 in the Ruhr area took place without the participation of the Christian miners' association. In the Saar district , the Bishop of Trier Korum had already turned against the participation of the Christian trade unions in 1903. The social democratically oriented free trade unions have profited from this weakness. Against the background of the disputes, the people's association for Catholic Germany, which was committed to social policy, felt compelled to steer a cautious course. The Center Party was able to maintain its independence, but during the central dispute that was taking place at the same time , the attempt to overcome confessional boundaries failed.

There is also evidence that the trade union dispute has led Catholic workers to turn away from the center. In 1903 68% of the Catholic electorate had voted for this party, in 1912 it was only 54%.

literature

  • Thomas Nipperdey: German History 1866-1918. The world of work and civic spirit. Munich 1990. pp. 465-468.
  • Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: The Christian People's Parties 1848-1933. Idea and reality. In: History of the Christian-Democratic and Christian-Social Movements in Germany. Part 1. Bonn, 1984. ISBN 3-923423-20-9 , pp. 274-276.
  • Helga Grebing : History of the German labor movement. Munich, 1966. pp. 133-135.

Individual evidence

  1. cit. after Grebing, p. 134