Odborové sdružení českoslovanské
The Odborové sdružení českoslovanské (OSČ, German Czechoslovak Union Center ) was formed in 1897 as the second socialist union center in Cisleithanien , alongside the Reich Union Commission established in 1893 .
history
While the OSČ in the first years of its existence actually acted as a federalized “Prague” or central Bohemian part of the Reich Union Commission, from 1904 onwards its efforts towards autonomy intensified, especially in the increasingly centralized professional organizations. The process of alienation between the two non-professional central commissions was ultimately also accompanied by a process of division, but also the breakthrough of the OSČ to become the most important trade union center for Czech members in the Habsburg state.
Structure and membership development
The internal structure of the OSČ followed a strict centralization model, which was theoretically prescribed in the pre-war period, especially by the Imperial German movement. Analogous to the “Vienna” Reich Union Commission, the “Prague” OSČ also aimed to combine the workers in industrial groups. In contrast to the supranational concept of the “Vienna” headquarters, the union organization should also be structured according to national criteria for the proponents of the OSČ. In practice, however, the OSČ only tried to implement this principle consistently in the last pre-war years. The breakthrough to a mass union for the Czech proletariat finally followed in the context of these efforts: In two phases 1906/07 and 1911/1912 membership finally rose to 107,263 people (1912). A significant number of Czech trade union members, however, remained within the framework of the Reich Trade Union Commission (approx. 70,000) or organized themselves in national, non-socialist organizations.
Important functionaries before 1914
- Antonín Němec, chairman
- Josef Roušar, secretary
- Josef Steiner , secretary
- Josef Hybeš , Czech trade union pioneer
- Rudolf Tayerle, metalworker and union leader of the successor organization in Czechoslovakia
literature
- Josef Steiner, Emil Škatula: Deset roků odborového hnutí českoslovanského. Prague 1907.
- Concise international trade union dictionary . Berlin 1931.