Laway
As Laway (also written Lavay, Lavey, Lawey or Lavei) (dt. Uprising , work stoppage , strike ), the wild strike of the dike workers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries respectively. The Laway flag was often raised as an external sign of such work stoppages just a few weeks after the start of construction . The reasons were the harsh working conditions (12-14 hours a day, 6 working days a week), inadequate accommodation and expensive meals. Since only a few months in summer could be used to build the dyke on the North Sea , the clients were under great time pressure. Because of this, the strikers often had a good chance of obtaining wage concessions.
The Oberdeichgraf Anton Günter von Münnich reported the following about a laway:
"... but before you know it and if the weather is nice, a dissolute companion comes here, whom you have chosen expressly, runs from the line and shouts:" Lavay, Lavay! "As soon as they leave their carts, if they too are full, stand and everyone goes to his hut, sits or lies down and smokes a pipe tobacco. Anyone who asks why, the answer is that Lavay has been called and is therefore not allowed to work. "
When the Charlottenpolder near Bunde was dyed , one of the two largest laways in East Frisia occurred in 1682 . The wildcat strike, in the course of which raids on farms also took place, was finally crushed by soldiers who rushed from the fortress Leerort , but there were no deaths.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Brune (Ed.): Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon , Volume 1–3. Brune, Wilhelmshaven 1986-1987, Volume 2, page 153, Lavay
- ↑ Bernd Uphoff: Lavey as a last resort. Dike workers in East Frisia in the 17th and 18th centuries. In: Emder Yearbook for Historical Regional Studies in Ostfriesland , Volume 75 (1995), pp. 81–94, here pp. 88/89.