Rad- und Kraftfahrerbund Solidarity

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RKB Solidarity Germany 1896 e. V.
Logo RKB Solidarity
Founded 1896
Place of foundation Offenbach am Main
president Bernd Schwinn
Members 38,593
Association headquarters Offenbach am Main
Homepage www.rkbsoli.org

The RKB Solidarity Germany 1896 e. V. is a German sports association . Its member clubs mainly operate indoor cycling ( artificial cycling , cycling , cycling polo ), motor sports and roller sports , as well as cycling , BMX , unicycle and popular sports .

Foundation of the "Arbeiter-Radfahrerbund Solidarity"

Postcard of the Arbeiter-Radfahrer-Bund Solidarity from 1906

The RKB was founded in Offenbach am Main in 1896 as the “Solidarity Workers' Cyclists Association” . A first founding act in Leipzig in 1893 was still forbidden despite the repeal of the Socialist Act. The federal office was initially located in Chemnitz , in 1907 the association moved its headquarters to Offenbach am Main. In the Weimar Republic , the ARB was the largest cycling association in the world with several hundred thousand members. The name solidarity should already express that this union saw itself as part of the labor movement . In addition to the sporting activities of the federal government, “standing up for one another” should always be the basis of club life.

The industrialization towards the end of the imperial era and the simultaneous organization of the workers in workers' associations led to a first high in the number of members before the First World War . The slump in membership due to the war and the de facto end of club life were quickly overcome. In the Weimar Republic , “solidarity” developed to its greatest bloom.

History of the Solidarity Sports Association

In May 1896, 18 delegates from cycling associations from twelve cities decided at the 4th Congress of Workers' Cyclists in Offenbach to form the Workers' Cyclists' Association "Solidarity". Three years earlier in Leipzig , workers' cyclists, mostly social democrats, wanted to found a central association with an explicitly political program. The federal government was banned, although the socialist laws (1878-1890) no longer applied. When it was founded in Offenbach, the program had largely been depoliticized. With the name “Arbeiter-Radfahrerbund“ Solidarity ”, however, the association documented its membership of the labor movement . As the red hussars of the class struggle , the workers' cyclists made political history.

Workers Sports Movement

The founding of the association in the 19th century naturally also had sporting reasons in connection with the workers' sports movement . Workers could finally afford bicycles - even if only used or very simply equipped. The worker cyclists wanted - like their bourgeois sports comrades - to cycle in a club. The bourgeois associations, however, mostly conservative, nationalistic and / or militaristic, were out of the question for workers or did not accept workers. In addition, the labor movement had a different, not undisputed, understanding of sport: physical culture, physical control and communal experience counted and not records or paid competitive sport. Instead of bike races, there were competitions in slow driving ; the association cultivated cycling tourism, artificial cycling and other indoor cycling sports, and these are still the focus of sporting activities today. In this respect they also differed from the communist Red Sport International , which practiced competitive sport (also in cycling) because one wanted to develop and consolidate class awareness through the audience (and not just through the participants). “Solidarity” boomed in the 1920s. The association had its own bicycle factory, its own shops and an extensive social security system with accident, liability, bike theft and legal protection insurance. Depending on the length of membership, the bereaved even received support in the event of death.

In 1916 the Swiss sections broke up and founded the Workers 'Cyclists' Federation of Switzerland "Solidarity" .

The Rad- und Kraftfahrerbund Solidarität, which with over 300,000 members (organized in 5,000 local groups) was the largest workers 'sports club in the Weimar Republic , played a major role in the organization of the Frankfurt Workers' Olympiad from July 24th to 28th, 1925 .

Establishment of the Frischauf bicycle factory

In 1912, the Solidarity Workers 'Cyclists' Association in Offenbach founded the cooperatively organized bike factory Frischauf .

SPD and the worker cyclists

Nevertheless, the relationship between the SPD and “Solidarity” was not free of tension. The SPD accused the workers' cycling clubs of distracting themselves from political work through sport and entertainment. They are also not real workers because they can afford bikes. Even with the rebuilding of the association after the Second World War, the trade unions and the SPD did not offer any support.

Prohibition and Reconstruction

The entire labor movement was not strong enough to defy National Socialism . In May 1933 "solidarity" was banned. The “Solidarity” did not join the National Socialist “German Cyclists Association”, unlike the functionaries and members of the “Association of German Cyclists”, who to a large extent joined the unified association. The Nazis confiscated the property of "Solidarity". They expropriated the Bundeshaus with the bicycle house "Frischauf", a bicycle factory with an annual production of up to 20,000 bicycles and sales branches in many cities, and fired the employees. Quite a few members of “Solidarity” fell victim to the Nazi regime or joined resistance groups as committed socialists and communists.

After the ban by the National Socialists and the Second World War , the association was re-established in April 1949 (even if only for West Germany).

The Solidarity Youth of Germany in the RKB ( short: Solijugend or Soli) has belonged to the RKB since 1954 as an independent youth organization. Today the solo youth has around 30,000 members.

In 1963 the word "worker" was deleted from the name. By the early 1960s, the federal government again managed to build up a substantial number of members. Then organizational and legal disputes with the DSB ( German Sports Association ) and the BDR ( Association of German Cyclists ) led to a significant decline in membership. The DSB refused to accept the RKB Solidarity. Relations with the BDR trade association were also becoming increasingly difficult. Although there was a working group since 1958, which was supposed to enable the members of both associations to take part in joint competitions, the members of "Solidarity" were excluded from participating in some disciplines, especially in the important road racing sport.

Solidarity and the Association of German Cyclists

The role of functionaries and members of the "Bund Deutscher Radfahrer" (BDR) is not seen as very laudable by the Rad- und Kraftfahrerbund “Solidarität”: They fought “Solidarity” in the Third Reich and hindered the reconstruction of the association. Above all, it was about the return of the property and compensation. The BDR was re-established in 1948, the workers' cycling association "Solidarity" - since 1928 it has been called the workers' cycling and motorists' association Solidarity (ARKB) - one year later.

It was not until 1977, after a Federal Court of Justice ruling , that “Solidarity” succeeded in being accepted into the German Sports Association. There the BDR defended its monopoly as the leading association of cycling. In the 1950s, the ARKB still had more members than the BDR. The refused membership in the German Sports Confederation amounted to a ban on competition participation for the solidarity drivers, so many members migrated to the BDR.

Solidarity today

The “Solidarity” cycling and motorists' association has its regional focus in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. Despite the attempts to reactivate the clubs through youth work and the inclusion of new sports, the “solidarity” remains marginal. Artistic cycling, cycling and roller sports alone are well-known disciplines. The association did not develop a transport policy profile because it opened up to motorsport. He is now cooperating with the German Road Safety Council. After an analysis of the problems caused by motorized individual transport for people and the environment, the “Transport Policy Platform” of the Bundestag of “Solidarity” only makes very general demands on rail and local public transport and emphasizes the need for new cycle paths. On November 15, 2015, the delegates decided to rename the association to RKB “Solidarität” Deutschland 1896 e. V. The renaming is intended to facilitate an association with other sports such as figure skating.

Merger

In 1990 the RKBS (GDR) was merged with the RKBS (BRD) to form the “Solidarity” Germany 1896 e. V.

The RKB is a member of the “ Confédération Sportive Internationale du Travail ” (CSIT), the international association of workers' sports , in the DOSB as an “association with special tasks”, and in the DMV, the German Motorsport Association .

The seat of the association is Offenbach am Main . The federal office and the youth education center of the association, which has around 40,000 members (as of 2012), are also located here.

timeline

  • 1896: Founded as the “Workers and Cyclists Solidarity”, but before the First World War it also operated motorsport (initially with motorcycles), which was the trigger for the later renaming.
  • 1897: With (Arb.B) worker-cyclist-associations in the "Solidarity" in the German yearbook of cyclist associations 1897 are abbreviated.
  • 1904: disputes with the newly founded workers and cyclists association "Freiheit"
  • 1912: 150,000 members
  • 1916: The Swiss sections unite to form the Workers and Cyclists Association of Switzerland "Solidarity"
  • 1923: 200,000 members
  • 1932: Largest cycling association in the world; 400,000 members
  • 1933: Forced liquidation and confiscation of property (including a bicycle factory)
  • from 1945: re-establishment of individual local associations
  • 1948: the Confederation is re-established
  • 1952: Again 50,000 members
  • 1954: Founding of the Solidarity Youth of Germany , the independent youth organization of the RKB
  • 1955: Application for inclusion in the DSB and BDR
  • 1958: Working group with the BDR to hold joint competitions
  • 1961: For the first time joint championship with the BDR in indoor cycling
  • 1962: Working group is terminated by the BDR
  • 1964: Renamed the Rad- und Kraftfahrerbund “Solidarität” Germany 1896
  • 1977: After a decision by the Federal Court of Justice, the RKB is included in the DSB
  • 1990: Merger of the RKBS (GDR) with the RKBS (FRG)
  • 1996: 100th anniversary of the RKB Solidarity
  • 2004: 50th anniversary of Germany's solidarity youth in the RKB.
  • 2015: Renaming to RKB "Solidarity" Germany 1896 e. V.

literature

  • Thomas Fläschner: "So that all Saarabiens cycling workers are brought to our association: The history of the Workers 'Cycle and Driver Association" Solidarity "as an association of the workers' sports and cultural movement on the Saar between the German Empire and the Nazi dictatorship" , dialogue 25 , Ed .: Stiftung Demokratie Saarland, Saarbrücken 2017.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Inventory survey 2019 (PDF) German Olympic Sports Confederation, accessed on May 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Ralf Schröder: Cycling. History, culture, practice . Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-89533-364-6 , p. 22-23 .
  3. ↑ Arnd Krüger , James Riordan (Ed.): The Story of Worker Sport. Human Kinetics, Champaign IL, et al. a. 1996, ISBN 0-87322-874-X .
  4. ^ Gerhard Beier : Labor movement in Hessen. On the history of the Hessian labor movement through one hundred and fifty years (1834–1984). Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-458-14213-4 , pp. 271-275.
  5. ↑ BGH : ruling v. December 2nd, 1974 - Az. II ZR 78/72 - "Deutscher Sportbund" . = BGH, GRUR 1976, 43 ( beck.de [accessed on May 7, 2020]).
  6. ^ Wernhard Möschel : Monopoly Association and Statute Control. Using the example of the storage security fund of the Bundesverband deutscher Banken e. V. (= Law and State in Past and Present. 486/487). Mohr, Tübingen 1978, ISBN 3-16-641221-2 , p. 15 ff., ( Online ).
  7. ^ History of solos. In: dingos.de. 1996, archived from the original on May 19, 2006 ; accessed on September 21, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Explanation of the abbreviations and symbols . In: Yearbook of German Cyclists' Associations , 1897, p. 118; Story on p. 144 ( Wikisource ).
  9. ↑ advertisement . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , July 30, 1904 ( Wikisource ).