Social legislation

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The social legislation and social laws were an attempt by the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to react to the social hardship of the workers in the late 19th century, which arose in the course of industrialization . Bismarck had recognized the explosive political power of the extreme social contrasts and wanted to counteract this, not least in order to deprive the socialist movement of the breeding ground. It was necessary to prove to the young nation that the state had more to offer than the political representatives of the workers, and in this way to bind them firmly to the government.

The political representation demanded the SDAP and the ADAV from 1875 together as SAPD , which in 1890 called itself the SPD . In addition, the repressive socialist law made a compensation necessary (policy with “ carrot and stick ”). Bismarck's long-term intention was to secure the authority of the government against the growing proletariat .

Social legislation under Bismarck

In the course of social legislation, Otto von Bismarck introduced health insurance in 1883 and accident insurance in 1884 .

Initially, only workers were compulsorily insured. Both laws made the creation of health insurance funds such as For example, the AOK and professional associations are indispensable in order to protect the worker from great distress in the event of a possible incapacity for work. The health insurance contributions were borne 1/3 by the employers and 2/3 by the employees, while the accident insurance was entirely financed by the employer. With the later introduced pension insurance , the payments were then in the ratio 50:50.

  • 1885–1913 contributions from employers: 6,670,413,000 marks;
  • Contributions of the insured: 5,949,365,000 marks;
  • State contributions: 806,643,000 marks; 1931
  • Compensation was paid: 10,818,740,000 marks in 1931

On May 24, 1889, the Reichstag of the German Empire passed an old-age and disability insurance . On January 1, 1891, the statutory pension insurance was finally introduced (cf. RGBl. 1889 I p. 97).

Insurance carriers were public corporations that existed on the principle of self-administration . They consisted of representatives of the insured and the employers who took up their posts on a voluntary basis and under state supervision.

Immediate effects

Bismarck's social laws could not achieve the alienation he had hoped for between the workers and the Social Democrats. The lower classes often saw the Chancellor's policy as a diversion from the actual demands of the socialist movement. This was particularly evident in the limitation of government grants to workers, while white-collar workers and civil servants with higher earnings were excluded. Critical for the failure of Bismarck's calculation were the often unattainable requirements (for example, a pension only existed from the age of 71) and the dwindlingly low level of social benefits, which did not mean any financial security. A workers' pension amounted to a maximum of around 40% of the last income.

In addition, the social gap widened during the existence of the German Empire . The average per capita income rose from 320 marks in 1870/1879 to 845.1 marks in 1913, almost tripling it. However, this was offset by a falling share of wages in national income , which means that on average they rose less and less than other types of income such as corporate profits , income from capital assets or rental income . The real wages of workers and lower-level employees rose by only one percent from the end of the 1880s until the outbreak of World War I , so they remained virtually the same, while national income more than doubled during this period. The social historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler notes that the mechanisms for the intra-social distribution of national income were not influenced by welfare state measures, but continued to be subject to the laws of the market , which has led to a “cementing of inequality”. The reconciliation between the proletariat and the state therefore failed to materialize.

Historical meaning

With the establishment of these institutions, Germany was the global pioneer in building the state welfare system. Bismarck had created a model that was soon adopted by numerous other countries and still forms the basis of the welfare state today. The Chancellor himself soon abandoned this policy after the failure of his calculation and did not devote a word to it even in his later life memoirs. Although primarily arose out of cool calculation, today's historical research evaluates the social laws - alongside German unification - as the greatest domestic political achievement of Bismarck.

Further development up to the present

These laws were finally summarized in 1911 in the Reich Insurance Code, which in 1911 also included employee insurance. Later other groups of people came into the statutory pension insurance, e.g. B. the farmers, artisans, artists.

Unemployment insurance was introduced in 1927, and long-term care insurance as the last branch of social insurance in 1995 .

After a major milestone in social legislation was created in 1957 with the dynamic social pension, which was based on the current wage totals, further social benefits were introduced or consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s, e.g. B. 1969 the education grant according to the BAföG , 1975 the child benefit (from the 1st child), 1980 the maintenance advance for single parents . 1986 saw the introduction of childcare allowance and childcare leave (now parental leave ).

The care was in 1961 by the Bundessozialhilfegesetz replaced (BSHG); here for the first time there were legal claims for poor people. In 2003, basic social security for the elderly and the disabled was established.

Since 1969, the legislature has begun the conception of a combination of numerous individual laws into a coherent body of law, which is now very far advanced. The Social Security Code contains regulations on various branches of social insurance , which were previously codified in the Reich Insurance Code, as well as on those parts of social law that do not have the character of an insurance but are financed as benefits from state welfare from tax revenues.

In recent years, large areas of social law have been subjected to austerity measures due to the poor budget situation of the public institutions. Particularly in the area of health insurance and pension insurance, reductions in benefits were made, in the form of exclusions from benefits, personal contributions, non-consideration of certain circumstances as previous insurance periods, etc.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. On the emergence of the Health Insurance Act, cf. Collection of sources on the history of German social policy from 1867 to 1914 , Department I: From the time of the establishment of the Empire to the Imperial Social Message (1867–1881), Volume 5: Commercial benefit funds, edited by Florian Tennstedt and Heidi Winter, Darmstadt 1999; ibid, II. Department: From the Imperial Social Message to the February Decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 5: Statutory health insurance and the registered auxiliary funds , edited by Andreas Hänlein, Florian Tennstedt and Heidi Winter, Darmstadt 2009; ibid, III. Department: Expansion and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the New Course (1890–1904), Volume 5, Statutory Health Insurance , edited by Wolfgang Ayaß , Florian Tennstedt and Heidi Winter, Darmstadt 2012.
  2. On the creation of the Accident Insurance Act, cf. Collection of sources on the history of German social policy from 1867 to 1914. Section I: From the time when the Empire was founded to the Imperial Social Message (1867–1881). Volume 2: From liability legislation to the first accident insurance proposal , edited by Florian Tennstedt and Heidi Winter, Stuttgart / New York 1993; ibid, 2nd section: From the Imperial Social Message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 2, Part 1: From the second accident insurance proposal to the Accident Insurance Act of July 6, 1884, edited by Florian Tennstedt and Heidi Winter , Darmstadt 1995, ibid ., Section II: From the Imperial Social Message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 2, Part 2: The extension legislation and the practice of accident insurance , edited by Wolfgang Ayass, Darmstadt 2001 .
  3. On the creation of the Invalidity and Old Age Insurance Act and its implementation cf. Collection of sources on the history of German social policy from 1867 to 1914, Section II: From the imperial social message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 6: The statutory invalidity and old-age insurance and the alternatives based on trade unions and companies, edited by Ulrike Haerendel, Darmstadt 2004; Collection of sources on the history of German social policy from 1867 to 1914 , III. Department: Expansion and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the New Course (1890–1904) , Volume 6, The Practice of Pension Insurance and the Invalidity Insurance Act of 1899 , edited by Wolfgang Ayaß and Florian Tennstedt , Darmstadt 2014.
  4. Hans-Ulrich Wehler: The German Empire 1871-1918. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1977, p. 147 f.