Theodor Yorck

Theodor Yorck

Memorial plaque for Theodor Yorck in Hamburg-Harburg am Sand (market square)

Theodor Yorck (born May 13, 1830 in Breslau ; † January 1, 1875 in Hamburg ; also as Theodor York in literature) was a German trade unionist and co-founder of the General German Workers' Association (ADAV). He later operated the unification of the German Social Democrats to form the SPD .

Life

Theodor Yorck was the son of a carpenter. After graduating from elementary school, he began training as a carpenter in 1844. His journeyman journey (1849–1855) took him through Austria and Germany. In 1855 he moved to Hamburg and in 1856 to Harburg , which at that time belonged to the Kingdom of Hanover . He lived there on the sand (market square) in the 60s and 70s of the 19th century. In 1867 he joined the Hamburg workers' education association and got to know Jakob Audorf and through him the writings of Wilhelm Weitling . His leg was injured in an accident at work, leaving him to limp for life. On June 28, 1867, Yorck married Helene Graaß, who came from Breslau. The marriage resulted in two sons. In 1871 he moved to Hamburg with his family. In the fall of 1873 he became seriously ill, so that he had to resign from all party and trade union offices.

politics

Since the first rubber factories transformed Harburg into an industrial city in 1857, growing sections of the workforce came together to form an educational association, from which Theodor Yorck developed into one of the leading representatives of the early Hamburg workers' movement . He campaigned for the establishment of a health insurance company in the workers' education association . Through "literary evening entertainments" he tried to encourage workers to talk about political issues. Due to external pressure, he had to leave the workers' education association in 1862. Nevertheless, he was proposed in June 1862 by the Harburg magistrate to a paid twenty-one member delegation of the German National Association to visit the London World's Fair . There he came into contact with the London Workers' Association. From this encounter grew his conviction to do more for the cause of the workers and to make this work more independent of the liberal, bourgeois associations.

On the basis of Ferdinand Lassalle's “open reply” of March 1, 1863, Yorck founded the “Harburg General Workers Association” on April 24, 1863. On May 23, 1863, he took part in the founding meeting of the ADAV in Leipzig. Because he refused the dictatorial powers of President Ferdinand Lassalle, he only cast an empty ballot when he was elected. Yorck was nevertheless elected to the board of directors of the ADAV, to which he belonged until 1869. In the Reichstag election in 1867, he received 1,287 votes, five more votes in the urban area of ​​Harburg than his opponent, the liberal mayor August Grumbrecht . On 27./28. September 1868, Yorck took part as president of the “Trade Union of German Woodworkers” in Berlin at the congress of the “General German Workers' Association”. The behavior of Johann Baptist von Schweitzer led him to Eisenach in 1869 to August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht in the SAPD , as did August Geib , Samuel Spier , Wilhelm Bracke and others. a.

At the Eisenach Congress from August 7th to 9th, 1869, Yorck suggested that the union of workers should only be possible on the basis of the International Workers' Association . At the joint request of Bebel and Yorck it was decided:

“The Social Democratic Labor Party regards it as the duty of every party member to work towards an agreement of the trade unions by all means, but maintains the condition that the trade unions renounce the workers' presidium of Herr von Schweitzer. At the same time, the congress recommends the further formation of trade unions on an international basis. "

In 1870 he became a member of the party control commission. From 1871 to autumn 1873 he was a member and paid secretary of the party committee. He wanted the commission to have more influence on the editing of the party's central organ “ The People's State ”. This led to a conflict with Adolf Hepner , who then left the editorial team. He played a leading role in the international trade unions . He endeavored to overcome the division of the trade union movement through a union and pleaded for the party-political neutrality of the trade unions.

Because of a kidney disease, Yorck had to resign from his position as party secretary in the fall of 1873. In mid-October 1874 he took part in the first confidential discussions as a representative of the SDAP with the representatives of the ADAV about the merger of the two organizations. He was buried on January 3, 1875 in Hamburg with the participation of seven thousand workers in Hamburg at the Michaelisfriedhof .

Quote

"Considering that the capital power all workers , whether they , progressive-liberal conservative or Social Democrats are equally very oppressed and exploited , the Congress declared it the most sacred duty of the workers to put all party strife aside on the neutral ground of a unified trade union organization to create the preconditions for a successful strong resistance, to secure the threatened existence and to fight for an improvement of their class situation . In particular, however, the various factions of the Social Democratic Workers' Party must do their utmost to promote the trade union movement, and Congress expresses its regret that the General Assembly of the General. German workers' association has passed a resolution to the contrary. "

"Yorck, Hamburg."

Appreciation

Street sign to Theodor Yorck in Hamburg-Harburg

A street was named after him in Hamburg-Harburg.

Works

• To the members of the General German Workers' Association. June 22, 1869
• To the German Social Democrats. (before) July 17, 1869
• Presentation on the normal working day (according to the shorthand protocol) . In: The People's State of September 3, September 16, September 23, 1871
• Open answer to Mr. Leo Fränkel . In: Democratic weekly paper . Leipzig 15869. No. 44, pp. 493-5494.
• The industrial worker question and the demand for a new labor law. Lecture given at the People's Assembly of the Congress of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party in Coburg on July 19, 1874 . Yorck, Hamburg 1874
• The Union. Organ for the woodworkers in Germany . Hamburg-Altona

literature

• Theodor York . In: Der Volksstaat , Vol. 7 (1875), No. 1 of January 6, 1876
• Theodor York . In: Der Wahre Jacob No. 107, 1890, pp. 855–856 digitized
• Gustav Mayer : Johann Baptist von Schweitzer and the social democracy. A contribution to the history of the German labor movement . Gustav Fischer, Jena 1909 (Reprint: Detlev Auvermann, Glashütten im Taunus 1970)
• Heinrich Laufenberg : History of the labor movement in Hamburg, Altona and the surrounding area. Vol. 1. Auer, Hamburg 1911
• Theodor York . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism . Vol. 1, Hannover 1960, pp. 339-340.
• Werner Ettelt : Yorck, Theodor . In: History of the German labor movement. Biographical Lexicon . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, p. 494 f.
• Wolfgang Schröder : Party and trade unions. The trade union movement in the conception of revolutionary social democracy . Grandstand, Berlin 1975
• Werner Ettelt; Hans-Dieter Krause : The struggle for a trade union policy in the German labor movement from 1868 to 1878 . Grandstand, Berlin 1975
• Dieter Fricke : The German labor movement 1869-1914. A manual about their organization and activity in the class struggle . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1976
• Angelika Voss-Louis: Hamburg's labor movement in the change of society. A chronicle. Vol. 1 1842 to 1890 . Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1987 ( Hamburg contributions to social and contemporary history . Supplement 3) ISBN 3-7672-1008-8
• Christian Gotthard: The emergence of the labor movement in Harburg (1857–1869) . Hamburg 1991 (Harburger Jahrbuch 17th ed. By the Helms Museum, Hamburg Museum for Archeology and the History of Harburg and the Museum and Heimatverein Harburg-Stadt und -Land e.V.)
• Gottfried Christmann: Theodor Yorck. In: Das HolzArbeiterBuch. The history of the woodworkers and their unions. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1993, pp. 38–41
• Arno Herzig : York, Theodor . In: Hamburg biography . Lexicon of persons 5th vol., Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2010, p. 390 f.

Web links

• SPD history workshop on Theodor Yorck

Individual evidence

1. ^ Carl Theodor (* July 14, 1867) and a son (* February 6, 1871, † March 4, 1871).
2. ↑ Theodor York represented 300 party members from Altona and 25 from Pinneberg as a delegate . (Dieter Fricke, p. 15).
3. ^ Protocol on the negotiations of the General German Social-Democratic Workers' Congress in Eisenach (...) , Leipzig 1869 (Werner Ettelt; Hans-Dieter Krause, p. 174).
4. ↑ At the Stuttgart party congress in 1870, York represented the places Altona, Bielefeld , Bremen , Hanover , Harburg and Heide (Dieter Fricke, p. 39).
5. ↑ At the Eisenach party congress in 1873 York represented Harburg and Jüterbog . (Dieter Fricke, p. 49).
6. ↑ Arno Herzig, p. 391.
7. ↑ Minutes of the meetings of the trade union congress in Erfurt, June 15, 16 and 127, 1872 (Werner Ettelt; Hans-Dieter Krause, p. 332).
8. ^ The First International in Germany. (1864-1872). Documents and materials . Dietz Verlag 1964, pp. 356–360 (co-signer)
9. ^ The I. Internationale in Deutschland , pp. 385–389 (co-signer)
10. ^ Since January 15, 1874 (Dieter Fricke, p. 635). Illustration of the edition of March 15, 1874 (Werner Ettelt; Hans-Dieter Krause, p. 441).