Max Weber (politician, 1897)

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Max Weber

Max Weber (born August 2, 1897 in Zurich , † December 2, 1974 in Bern ) was a Swiss politician ( SP ), financial scientist, trade union official and from 1952 to 1954 Federal Councilor .

biography

Max Weber was born in the Zurich workers' quarter Aussersihl as the son of a primary school teacher . He lost both parents at an early age, but was still able to successfully graduate from the Zurich Cantonal School . After active service during the First World War, he studied at the University of Zurich Economics and graduated in 1919 with a doctorate. His political involvement in the socialist student group and in the student council began during his studies. In 1919 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) .

In 1921 Weber became editor of the social democratic daily newspaper St. Galler Volksstimme . In 1923 he was elected to the Grand Council in the canton of St. Gallen . Since his student days, he was inspired by the religious socialism and pacifism of Leonhard Ragaz to combat violence and militarism, which is why he refused military service in 1930, which in the eyes of the bourgeois politicians of the time branded him a traitor.

In 1926 he was appointed secretary of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SBG) and also worked as a research assistant for economic issues for the SGB. Subsequently, together with Hans Oprecht, he decisively determined the reorientation of the SGB and the entire trade union movement away from the class struggle line of the left wing of the SP towards reform-oriented social democracy . With numerous publications, lectures and as editor of the trade union review , Weber shaped the formation of opinion on economic issues within the labor movement .

In 1934 Weber launched the crisis initiative shaped by Keynsian thinking against the will of the SP and in competition with its "Plan of Work" , but with which he clearly failed in the referendum of June 2, 1935. Weber was also one of the leading figures in the guideline movement , which wanted to form a new political movement in the middle of the party spectrum to fend off fascism by forming an alliance between workers, employees and peasants or between the SP and left-liberal forces . He vehemently advocated the defense of the democratic system in Switzerland against fascism and thus also appeared within the SP against the revolutionary class struggle wing. In this context he was one of the founders of the newspaper Die Nation and Aktion National Resistance .

Over the question of the right strategy of the trade union movement against fascism, Weber got into a conflict with Konrad Ilg , the leader of the Swiss Metal and Watch Workers' Association (SMUV) , who pushed through a peace agreement between trade unions and employers. Weber therefore resigned from his position in the secretariat of the SGB and in 1940 took over the presidency of the Swiss Association of Construction and Woodworkers (BHV) .

As a finance scientist , Weber specialized in banking. He was one of the founders of the cooperative central bank and joined the board of the crisis-ridden Swiss Volksbank in 1934 . In 1943 he was appointed to the National Bank's board of directors.

In 1939 Weber was elected to the National Council for the SP . Among other things, he worked out the principles of the wage replacement scheme for members of the Swiss Army , which came into force in 1940, and proposed the creation of old-age and survivors' insurance (AHV) with a motion . In 1945 Weber was a member of the Swiss delegation that negotiated with the Allied Mission Currie about the economic reorientation of Switzerland after the end of the war.

In 1948 Weber was appointed associate professor for finance at the University of Bern . When Ernst Nobs , the first Federal Councilor of the SP, announced his resignation in 1951, two candidates were up for discussion in the SP: Max Weber and Hans Oprecht . Weber finally prevailed over Oprecht thanks to the support of the SGB. He was elected to the Federal Council on December 13, 1951 . Weber took over - against the will of his party - the finance and customs department .

His Federal Council nomination was particularly controversial in the right-wing camp, as he was sentenced to eight days in prison (and expulsion from the army) as a conscientious objector in 1931. Nevertheless, with 133 votes, it easily exceeded the required absolute majority in the first round of elections.

After his long-prepared financial reform, which provided for a social balance between direct and indirect taxation and would have put federal finances on a solid footing in view of the high armament expenditures in the Cold War , which was opposed by the bourgeois parties in the referendum, he resigned on December 8, 1953 surprisingly his resignation. He subsequently left office on January 31, 1954. The crisis in the Swiss government caused by Weber's resignation led to the creation of the magic formula in 1959.

After his resignation, Weber resumed teaching at the University of Bern and now also lectured economics at the University of Basel . In addition, he worked as an editor for the social democratic Bernese Tagwacht . 1961–1968 he represented Switzerland in the Council of Europe .

Works

  • History of Swiss Federal Finances. Haupt, Bern 1969.
  • Social policy problems. Bern 1967.
  • Switzerland and the Eastern Bloc. Lang, Bern 1962.
  • Current issues in the Swiss economy. Francke, Bern 1938.

Literature and Sources

  • Erich Gruner u. a. (Ed.): In the struggle for social justice. Max Weber on his 70th birthday. Contributions from friends and selections from his work. Lang, Bern 1967.
  • Hans Ulrich Jost : Max Weber 1897–1974. In: Urs Altermatt (ed.): The Swiss Federal Councilors. A biographical lexicon. Artemis & Winkler, Zurich / Munich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-0702-X .

Max Weber's estate is in the Swiss Social Archives in Zurich (shelf number Ar 103).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Rejected with 567,425 votes against to 425,242 votes in favor.
  2. ↑ Ruedi Winet: Doing something useful. Community Service Handbook . Zurich, 1996: Limmat Verlag; Page 100
predecessor Office successor
Ernst Nobs Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1952 - 1954 		Hans Streuli
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1974
Place of death Bern