Association Forward (Leipzig)
The Vorwärts association was an association for workers in Leipzig and was founded by Julius Vahlteich and Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche . Before that, both tried unsuccessfully to convert the Leipzig Commercial Educational Association into a political organization.
history
On April 18, 1862, at an extraordinary general meeting of the “Gewerbliches Bildungsverein”, an application by J. Vahlteich and FW Fritzsche to transform the association into a purely political one was rejected by August Bebel . Thereupon the association split, the opposition founded on August 11, 1862 in the Hôtel de Saxe the "association forward", which dealt only with political and social issues.
In 1863 the "Vorwärts Association" split up. Its radical members under Vahlteich and Fritzsche confessed to the General German Workers' Association (ADAV). The rest of those who did not transfer to the ADAV, led by Emil Adolf Roßäßler and Christian August Dolge , stuck to the "Vorwärts" association.
In 1864 there were five workers' associations in Leipzig, the advanced training association for book printers , the bricklayer and carpenter journeyman , the industrial education association and the "Vorwärts" association. A union of all five associations failed in 1864. In addition to the carpenters and the journeyman masons, the advanced training association for book printers, with 700 members, by far the strongest of the Leipzig workers' organizations, also refused. Reasons were, on the one hand, the associations that were geared towards the economic and social interests of a professional sector, which developed more in the direction of trade union organizations, and, on the other hand, the educational associations that wanted to be open to all workers without occupational barriers.
In January 1865, the chairman, Friedrich Klement, submitted a report on the savings, loan and consumer associations in the "Elephanten", the Vorwärts club. Despite the loss of its members who had transferred to the ADAV, the association still had around 100 members.
In the same year there were union negotiations between the commercial educational association and the "Vorwärts" association. Representatives of the forward agreed to recognize the statutes and the administration of the industrial education association, but demanded the maintenance of their savings and credit funds as well as the consumer association and they demanded a name change. The designation "workers' association" was discarded due to confusion and instead adopted as the new common name of the Arbeiterbildungsverein . The 4th foundation celebration of the industrial education association was combined with the celebration of the association with the “Association Forward”. The official merger took place on March 20, 1865.
We
are pleased to announce to our German brother associations that the
“Gewerbl. Bildungsverein "and" Verein Vorwärts "
have united under the name
" Arbeiterbildungsverein zu Leipzig "
.
We therefore ask that all mailings be sent to the
undersigned board from now on .
Leipzig, March 20, 1865.
The board of the workers'
education association Dr. Reyher, chairman.
M. Germann, secretary.
The board of the industrial training association became de facto the board of the workers' education association. This also applied to the 2nd chairman August Bebel and the main cashier Max Epstein. Bebel was elected 1st chairman in the summer of 1865, and he held this position until 1872. That same year he was in Leipzig treason trial to two years imprisonment convicted.
Like its two predecessors, the Arbeiterbildungsverein (ABV) was organized in an exemplary manner. It offered an extensive and high-quality teaching and lecture program, had a well-stocked library and an extensive range of newspapers. In addition there were the institutions founded by the association, such as the Sparkasse des Konsumvereins and the credit cooperative.
literature
- August Bebel: From my life: Part one. Page 61.
- Manfred Rudloff, Thomas Adam, Jürgen Schlimper: Leipzig, cradle of German social democracy. Metropol, 1996 - 294 pages, page 35.
- Wolfgang Schröder : Leipzig - the cradle of the German labor movement. Roots and development of the workers' education association 1848/49 to 1878/81.
Web links
- Chronology of the German trade union movement from 1855 to 1864. digital
- Unhinge the world with twelve men. Foundation of the ADAV. digital
- May 23, 1863 - Founding of the General German Workers' Association digital
- Brigitte Beier: The Chronicle of the Germans. digital