Paul Umbreit

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(Johannes) Paul Umbreit (born June 30, 1868 in Leipzig ; † March 21, 1932 in Berlin ) was a German trade union official and editor. He headed the central organ of the free trade unions , the Correspondenzblatt, and later the trade union newspaper.

Life

He was initially a turner's assistant and later joined his brother's small electrical engineering company. An industrial accident in 1898 forced him to give up the job.

He had been politically active since 1889 and had already delivered articles for the union press as a young man. After his accident, he turned full-time to journalism and the writing of brochures and other publications for the free trade unions.

At the instigation of Carl Legien , Umbreit took over the management of the correspondence journal of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions in 1900 . With the leadership of this central body of the free trade unions he holds one of the most influential positions within the trade union movement. However, he was not a member of the General Commission with voting rights.

Under Umbreits leadership, who worked closely with the Swede Wilhelm Jansson , the magazine steadily increased in size and importance. He introduced a number of new subject areas. After the beginning of the First World War , Hermann Müller and Richard Seidel took the place of Jansson. He only became a member of the board in 1919 when the ADGB was founded.

In addition to his editorial work, Umbreit took an active part in trade union life and was a speaker at trade union congresses several times (1905, 1911 and 1919). He worked as a teacher in the union classes.

In terms of trade union politics, during the First World War he was on the side of the proponents of truce policy and war credits . He pleaded for tough action against the war-critical forces in the SPD. He looked at the role of the trade unions during the war as a state-maintaining organization. Alongside Robert Schmidt and Hugo Heinemann, he was one of the spokesmen for the right wing within the socialist labor movement . He was one of those in the trade unions who hoped for a German victory. He said that the state would have to make concessions because of the labor movement's involvement in war.

In addition to the daily publications, he also submitted some larger publications. These include "25 Years of the German Trade Union Movement 1890-1915" or "The German Trade Unions in War." He also made numerous contributions to the International Concise Dictionary of Trade Unions.

He was a member of the governing committee of the Society for Social Reform and served on the board of the International Association for Social Progress.

Between 1914 and 1918 he was a member of the War Food Office . After the war he was a member of the Socialization Commission . From 1920 he took an active part in the work of the Provisional Reich Economic Council as a member . In this he was chairman of the social policy committee. He was also a member of the Labor Law Committee of the Reich Ministry of Labor , the Advisory Board for the Electricity Industry and the Advisory Board for Wage Statistics of the Reich Statistical Office .

In his free time, Umbreit was intensively involved in geology and mineralogy .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietrich Lohse: “Who has your people to save them, if not you?” Workers' resistance to German fascism. In: Resistance - yesterday and today. Frankfurt am Main, 2009 p. 153
  2. ^ Marcus Llanque: Democratic thinking in war: The German debate in the First World War. Berlin, 2000 p. 62
  3. ↑ Klaus Schönhoven: The trade unions as a mass movement in the Wilhelminian Empire 1890 to 1918. In: Ulrich Borsdorf (ed.): History of the German trade unions. Cologne, 1987 p. 257

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Umbreit, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1932
Place of death Berlin