International trade unions
The international trade union was the collective name for various social democratic-oriented trade unions founded in 1868. They were from the Eisenacher direction to August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht founded and were in competition with the recently founded workforces of ADAV and the liberal Hirsch-Duncker associations . The term international was intended to express the recognition of the principles of the International Workers' Association . In 1875 the two social democratic trade union branches merged. The trade unions were at the beginning of the free trade unions in Germany .
Foundation and principles
August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht and others endeavored to bring the Association of German Workers' Associations (VDAV) on a more socialist course and to break ties with left-wing liberalism. This served the rapprochement with the International Workers' Association (IAA) founded in 1864 around Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . In September 1868 a majority in the VDAV committed to the IAA at the Nuremberg Association Day.
Linked to this was the goal of founding centralized trade unions, since the Geneva Congress of the IAA in 1866 had published a resolution on "Trade unions. Their past, present and future" and recommended the formation of trade unions. August Bebel then called for the establishment of trade unions at the end of November 1868. “Workers, get organized! Separated you are nothing, unite everything! ”Bebel had also drafted model statutes, which he has now also published. In doing so, he was partly based on the example of the English trade unions.
“ The trade union of German ... workers was founded with the aim of preserving and promoting the dignity and material interests of those involved. In order to achieve this aim, the cooperative undertakes to use and exploit all means and means which state and social institutions, the experiences and teachings of science and the class consciousness of the workers give it. "
A fund should be set up by the trade unions to provide support in cases of reprimand, need and strike. There were also health and death benefit funds, an old age and disability fund, a hiking benefit fund and legal protection assistance. Originally, unemployment support was also provided. The membership of women was expressly provided.
The new organizations should be built from the bottom up according to democratic principles. Local cooperatives formed the basis; their general assembly formed the highest body and could elect a board of directors. A supervisory board, later called a control commission, was elected to control the board. The leeway at the local level was quite large. The district boards and the central boards were structured similarly. The central boards followed the on-site principle. The board of directors in one place also took over the management of the entire organization for a time.
Annual district or general assemblies were held at the district and central level. There the board and cash register reports were submitted, the board and control commission were elected and central issues of the association's work were decided. At the top were the president and vice-president. The tasks of the central boards included the admission and exclusion of local trade unions as well as the declaration and termination of strikes. There were also statistical surveys and other tasks. As at the local level, the General Assembly was the highest body in the organization. The democratic structure was in contrast to the workforce of the ADAV.
The unions were also subordinate to the party in the Eisenach direction. With Karl Marx they were considered to be the “school of socialism”. They should not limit themselves to a guerrilla war against the effects of the existing system, but should fight for the “ abolition of the wage system. “The leadership role was reserved for the party.
development
The bricklayers' union was founded in Leipzig in November 1868 . Mechanical engineering and metalworkers' unions followed in the same year . In 1869 the factory and manual workers, the joiners and carpenters, the chair workers, the shoemakers and leather workers, the porcelain workers, the gold and silver workers, the tailors, the painters and related professions, the miners and ship carpenters followed.
One example of an organization is the trade union of factory and manual workers founded in May 1869 under the significant leadership of Julius Motteler , which wanted to organize the textile workers in particular. At first it represented 3,100 workers. Among other things, the same wage was demanded for women for the same work.
In the autumn of 1869 the trade unions organized between 8,000 and 15,000 members. In 1870 the International Trade Union of Manufactory, Factory and Craftsmen alone had 5,000 to 6,000 members. Only a sixth were women. The Franco-Prussian War weakened all trade union directions. Four out of ten existing sub-organizations of the trade unions ceased to exist by the end of the war. The weakened remaining associations could not hold general assemblies.
With the growing pressure of the judiciary in the Kingdom of Saxony, the number of members of this organization fell sharply in this stronghold until 1873.
Efforts to reach agreement
There was no umbrella organization for the trade unions, and competition with the other unions in the direction of trade was also noticeable. At the founding congress of the Social Democratic Workers' Party in Eisenach in August 1869, the unification of trade unions was also an issue. It was decided: “The Social Democratic Workers 'Party regards it as an obligation of every party member to work towards an agreement of the trade unions, but maintains that the trade unions must depart from the workers' committee of Mr. Dissolve Schweitzer . "
The Swiss Herman Greulich suggested contacting unions in other countries and forming international unions. These should connect with the London General Council of the ILO as a "centralizing body". A woodworkers' union was also formed at the congress, led by Theodor York . The members came from local organizations or had previously been members of the workers' union of the ADAV.
The competition between the various political directions and the inhibiting effects on the trade union movement led, among other things, to Theodor York in particular seeking to unite the other unions with the trade union since 1870. In 1871, he proposed that at least the trade unions should be merged into a trade union union. Following the SDAP party congress in Dresden, delegates from the individual trade unions discussed the union plan. Opinions differed. At August Bebel's request, a commission was set up to work out an organizational draft. Ultimately, this was unsuccessful.
In June 1872, a trade union congress prepared by Theodor Yorck took place in Erfurt. 52 delegates took part in this, representing 11,000 members. More than half lived in Saxony. In addition, southern Germany was another focus. The assembly decided to strive for a unification of all trade unions. Concrete plans for organizing such a union were also presented. Ultimately, however, the efforts were unsuccessful. The failure was primarily related to the fact that the Leipzig police indicated that they were going to dissolve the new umbrella organization, which was supposed to be based in Leipzig. After all, in a resolution, the congress committed itself to a politically neutral trade union organization and the aim of uniting at least the social democratically oriented trade unions. Yorck continued to stick to the unification plans.
Against the background of increasing persecution of Social Democrats, known as the Tessendorf era , efforts to unite ADAV and SDAP increased. 30 delegates took part in the trade union congress in Magdeburg in 1874. The conference was severely hindered by the police. Again it was decided to found a union as an umbrella organization. But even this decision was ineffective.
The unification of the workers' parties was accomplished in May 1875 at the Congress in Gotha. This was followed by a trade union congress at which the merger of the international trade unions and the workers' unions was decided. The actual unification of the individual associations proved difficult and took a long time. Hamburg in particular was a focal point of the trade union movement at this time, and it was from there that the unification movement was promoted. There were also initiatives to found an umbrella organization. A congress convened in 1878 for this purpose could not take place. The enactment of the Socialist Law has severely set back trade union development.
literature
- Democratic weekly paper . Organ of the German People's Party and the Association of German Workers' Associations . With an introduction by Heinrich Gemkow and Ursula Hermann. Leipzig 1868 . Unchanged photomechanical reprint of the original edition. Central antiquariat of the German Democratic Republic, Leipzig 1969. Digitized
- Democratic weekly paper. Organ of the German People's Party and the Association of German Workers' Associations. Leipzig 1869 . Unchanged photomechanical reprint of the original edition. Central antiquariat of the German Democratic Republic, Leipzig 1969.
- August Bebel: From my life . 2nd edition Zurich, 1911 [edition used: Reprint Berlin, 1946] online version
- Klaus Tenfelde : The emergence of the German trade union movement. In: Ulrich Borsdorf (Hrsg.): History of the German trade unions. From the beginning to 1945. Cologne, 1987. pp. 100–143.
- Dieter Schuster : Chronology of the German trade union movement from its beginnings to 1918 ( online version )
- Klaus Schönhoven : The German trade unions. Frankfurt am Main, 1987 pp. 24-44.
- 120 years of Bebelsche "Model statutes for German trade unions". Minutes of the scientific-propagandistic conference of the Federal Executive of the FDGB, Leipzig, October 27, 1988 . Edited by the federal executive committee of the FDGB, department agitation and propaganda and the trade union college "Fritz Heckert". Berlin 1988 table of contents