Howard Scott

Howard Scott in 1931.

Howard Scott (born April 1, 1890 , † January 1, 1970 ) was a politically and economically committed engineer who contributed significantly to the technocratic movement and in particular to the establishment of the Technical Alliance , the Committee on Technocracy and Technocracy Incorporated .

Live and act

Scott was born in Virginia and was of Irish Scottish descent. He claimed to have completed training in Europe, but had no formal qualifications. In 1918 he appeared in New York. He worked on various construction sites where he gained practical experience. He then settled in Greenwich Village as a "bohemian engineer". He started a small company, Duron Chemical Company, which made paint and floor wax in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Scott delivered his products himself and showed customers how to work the floor.

Towards the end of the First World War, Howard Scott was involved in setting up the Technical Alliance, which explored economic and social developments in North America; it disbanded in 1921. In 1920 the organization "Industrial Workers of the World" appointed him its first and only director for research. Together with Walter Rautenstrauch, he formed the Committee on Technocracy in 1932, which aimed for a more sensible and productive society, led by technical experts. The committee disbanded just a few months later, in January 1933, when it was found that Scott had not graduated as an engineer. On January 13, 1933, Scott gave a speech about technocracy in the New York Hotel Pierre in front of an audience of 400, which was also broadcast on the radio. She was completely panned by the media. In the same year, Scott founded Technocracy Incorporated, an organization which he led until his death.

Reception in Germany

Scott's ideas had an impact beyond America also to Germany, where the important technology historian Richard Woldt represented his theories - u. a. the requirement for a four-hour working day and a 20-year working life in order to avoid unemployment.

swell

• Wolfhard Weber , Lutz Engelskirchen: Dispute over the history of technology in Germany 1945-1975. Waxmann, Münster et al. 2000, ISBN 3-89325-992-9 ( Cottbus studies on the history of technology, work and the environment 15).
• Richard Woldt : Technocracy. A technical balance sheet. In: Sächsischer Volkskalender 1947. ZDB -ID 982545-9 , pp. 55–56.