Textile workers strike in Lennep district

The textile workers' strike in the Lennep district took place between November 4 and around 14, 1850 in the Lennep district in the Bergisches Land . It is an example of an early labor dispute at the time of the industrial revolution in Germany . Several textile factories in the mayor's offices of Lennep , Lüttringhausen and Radevormwald were affected . After requests and petitions to the employers and the authorities were unsuccessful, the workers went on strike, but had to finally break off the strike.

Structures

The strike is part of a long tradition of labor disputes in the textile industry. It was not just about wage increases, but also turned against the mechanization of production for fear of losing their own jobs. It was also about improving working conditions. Since 1848, working hours have also been reduced.

The Bergisches Land had an unusual industrial density for this time. While in 1843 in the Kingdom of Prussia a total of 60% of the population lived from agriculture and only 23% from commercial employment, in the middle of the 19th century in the Bergisches Land over 75% were commercially employed and only 25% worked in agriculture.

The factories affected made cloth from wool. The production was partly mechanized, partly by hand. The spinning was mostly done mechanically, while the weaving in Lennep itself was still manual work. The machine loom had already found its way into the area. Some of the machines were operated with water power and some with steam engines.

The largest of the affected factories, J. Wülfing & Sohn , employed over 500 workers. The others were significantly smaller, but were mostly larger than the average of the cloth factories in Prussia. The farms had a significant proportion of female workers.

Most of the workers in the area were down to earth. They usually only switched between companies in the area and rarely emigrated. The workers mostly lived on rent and, apart from a small garden, practiced hardly any agricultural sideline. Their homes were often a considerable distance from the factories, which involved long commutes.

Many of them had previously worked in the home business before industry penetration forced them to move to the factory. You complained to the king about the mechanization of production as early as 1848 and this was also an issue in 1850. They complained that “the machine is not the worker's tool, but the worker is the machine's tool, the slave of great mechanics”. The machine would devalue all skill and require only mechanical care. Overall, the craft tradition still played an important role in the minds of the employees.

The working time was around 14 hours a day. Employees were on the move for up to 16 hours a day on their commutes. In times with a particularly large number of orders, the working hours could also be significantly longer. The wages were comparatively low, but this was partly offset by the permanent employment. Yet wages were often on the verge of subsistence level.

Organizational formation

Already during the revolution of 1848/49 there was a workers' association in Lennep, which also had branch associations in Radevormwald and in Lüttringhausen. He took part in the congress of democratic-social associations in Cologne at the beginning of May 1849 and even published his own magazine. The club was smashed at the end of the revolution.

The Wuppertal workers' association formed in Lüttringhausen and Radevormwald in 1850 was in the continuity of its predecessor. Because it was apparently viewed as apolitical, there was no ban. The association placed great hopes in the creation of trade councils to improve their situation, which Minister of Commerce von der Heydt wanted to make possible through an ordinance. In fact, a trade council was founded in Lennep. As part of this, a factory workers' committee was established.

This and the workers' association called for wages to be raised, working hours to be reduced, and forms of internal co-determination. The factory owners disagreed among themselves and therefore did not respond to the demands. Some entrepreneurs at least wanted to accommodate the workers on a few points, but could not get their way. Only after the start of the strike did they answer the trade council without making any noteworthy concessions.

The situation in Lüttringhausen and Radevormwald was a little different. These have no hopes for a trade council. They united in order to "strive for a reform of the conditions that were depressing the working class by law."

A workers' conference of delegates from the seven factories in the area was to meet every Sunday. A regular board was elected and delegations were sent to the authorities. First of all, the conference wanted to hand over its demands to the employers in order to submit them in writing to the government in Düsseldorf for a decision if they were rejected. The protagonists misinterpreted the provisions of the Trade Council Ordinance insofar as they believed that the government was fundamentally already to intervene in the relations between workers and employers.

The craft tradition is evident in the fact that they aimed for a guild for all cloth workers in the Wuppertal. This should set up a support fund. Authorities have delayed approval so the conference set up a makeshift cash register. This should also support unjustly dismissed workers, for example during a strike.

On September 3, 1850, the conference made demands on employers in particular to restrict Sunday work and a twelve-hour normal working day. In addition to other demands, the low wages in relation to the prices were also lamented. A detailed budget of a household was presented as evidence. The workers therefore demanded a wage increase of 40%. In addition, instead of hourly wages, fixed weekly wages were staggered according to the different employment groups. The manufacturers rejected the demands. Then the workers turned to the government in Düsseldorf. This sent a commissioner to the Lennep district. He criticized the entrepreneurs for their uncompromising attitude, but did nothing further.

course

The immediate trigger for the strike was the unjustified dismissal of a worker in a factory in Krebsöge on October 26th . The workers at the factory stopped working. The manufacturer also locked out those willing to work. On November 3rd, the workers' associations decided to strike in all the cloth factories in the area. Intensive discussions preceded the decision to strike. It was clear to those involved that the factories' relatively poor economic situation was not conducive to a strike.

The decisive factor in the decision to go to court was that it was believed that the authorities and manufacturers were not prepared to give the workers their rights. The number of strikers was around 2,000. Other data only speak of half of the participants. However, the number of those involved is likely to have been greater than in the strikes of the journeyman dyers in Elberfeld in 1855 and 1857.

The government commissioner had tried in vain to dissuade the leaders of the workers' associations from going on strike. The district president in Düsseldorf tried the same, to whom the workers had sent a delegation before the strike. Although the authorities showed understanding for the demands of the workers, they first wanted to end the illegal strike and get back to work. Only then did they want to enter into negotiations. At the same time, a unit of 70 soldiers was demonstratively moved to the Lennep district. These should serve to protect manufacturers and those willing to work. At the same time, a judicial investigation into the origin of the strike was launched. The two workers' associations were dissolved on November 5th.

In view of the worsening situation on November 6, the leaders of the workers' associations spoke out against a continuation of the strike, but were not heard by the mass of strikers. Nevertheless, a decline in the willingness to strike and an increase in those willing to work can be seen. In addition, some employers tried to bring in external workers. On November 9th, workers in Krebsöge were ready to start again if employers agreed not to fire anyone who had been on strike. Gradually the workers in the various factories began to return to work. The last ones ended the strike on November 14th.

In addition to the use of the military, the hopelessness of the strike and the lack of financial resources ultimately led to the termination. Little outside support came in. After the strike, the conditions in the factories hardly changed in favor of the workers, although the district president tried to do so.

A message to the public a few days after the start of the strike provides information about the motivation of the workers, but also about their hopes of being heard by the authorities. “We asked our masters to change our situation, we were turned away. Then we trustingly turned to the government and asked for help. (...) We believed, trusted, waited - in vain. Our misery, our desolation remained the same. (...) Even the condition of the prisoner is enviable for most of us and a blessing, albeit a sad one - and if the fate of our wives and children did not make us forget our own misery, we would not be more intimate in our freedom Desire to become known as the slave. ”With this message they hoped“ that mankind will at least give those who have been crushed and trampled on a fair judgment. ”

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dieter Dowe: Legal advocacy and strike. The labor dispute in the cloth factories of the Lennep district (Bergisches Land) 1850 , In: Klaus Tenfelde, Heinrich Volkmann (ed.): Strike. On the history of the labor dispute in Germany during industrialization . Munich 1981 p. 35
2. ^ Dieter Dowe: Legal advocacy and strike. The labor dispute in the cloth factories of the Lennep district (Bergisches Land) 1850 , In: Klaus Tenfelde, Heinrich Volkmann (ed.): Strike. On the history of the labor dispute in Germany during industrialization . Munich 1981 p. 40
3. ^ Dieter Dowe: Legal advocacy and strike. The labor dispute in the cloth factories of the Lennep district (Bergisches Land) 1850 , In: Klaus Tenfelde, Heinrich Volkmann (ed.): Strike. On the history of the labor dispute in Germany during industrialization . Munich 1981 p. 31

literature

• Dieter Dowe : Legal advocacy and strike. The labor dispute in the cloth factories of the Lennep district (Bergisches Land) 1850 , In: Klaus Tenfelde , Heinrich Volkmann (ed.): Strike. On the history of the labor dispute in Germany during industrialization . Munich 1981 pp. 31–51 Partially digitized
• Friedrich Lenger : Industrial Revolution and National State Foundation. (Gebhardt Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, Vol. 15) Stuttgart, 2003 p. 120
• Klaus Tenfelde : The emergence of the German trade union movement. In: Ulrich Borsdorf (Hrsg.): History of the German trade unions . Cologne, 1987 p. 93f.