General free employee association

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The General Free Employees ' Federation (AfA-Bund) was an association founded in 1921 of various social democratic and left-wing liberal oriented trade unions for technical and administrative white-collar professions. But artistic professions were also organized here. It existed in varying degrees until its self-dissolution at the beginning of the National Socialist rule.

History and Development

The AfA-Bund emerged from the working group of independent salaried employees (AfA associations) founded in 1917 . The establishment was a turning point in the history of German employees. Previously, most German employees associations were corporately oriented, d. That is, they identified with their employers and with their trade. The employers were allowed to become members of the associations ex officio, and the associations strictly opposed the strike. Because of the impoverishment of the employees during the First World War , the employee associations increasingly represented the interests of their members in trade union form. That is, employers were no longer allowed to be members, the associations often called for strikes and the various associations began to work together. The employees, who for a long time saw themselves as “private officials”, were affected during and after the First World War by problems on the labor market, inflation and, in some cases, the dismantling of certain previously applicable privileges. For some of them, their function as employees took precedence over class considerations. This was one of the reasons for a (temporary) rapprochement with the socialist movement and its organizations.

The association was founded on October 3, 1921 at the 1st AfA trade union congress in Düsseldorf as the successor organization to the working group of independent employee associations . In 1930, the AfA-Bund included:

  • Central Association of Employees (ZdA), Berlin,
  • German Werkmeister Association (DWV),
  • Association of technical employees and civil servants (Butab),
  • Foreman, foreman and foreman association,
  • General Association of Deutsche Bank Employees,
  • Cooperative of German Stage Members,
  • International Artist Lodge (IAL),
  • Association of German Ship Engineers,
  • Foremen's Association of the Shoe Industry,
  • German Choir Singers Association and Dancer Association,
  • German Association of Haulers,
  • Association of cutters and directors,
  • Association of German captains and helmsmen in merchant shipping and deep-sea fishing
  • and the AfA-Bund Polish-Upper Silesia.

The chairman of the federation was Siegfried Aufhäuser from its foundation to the end .

In 1921 the AfA-Bund signed a cooperation agreement with the ADGB . However, the federal government retained its autonomy. He committed to the principles of free trade unions. They called for the priority of working people over dead property, the abolition of unemployed pension income, control of the production and distribution of goods, co-determination of workers and a public service organization of economic life. In the long term, the federal government saw socialism as the superior economic and social form compared to capitalism . In contrast to the competing organizations, the AfA-Bund rejected a special role for employees. However, this view took hold rather hesitantly. This is also supported by the fact that instead of the industry principle, professional orientation remained the central organizational basis. In the leadership of the federal government, the rapprochement with the labor movement continued. At the third AfA-Bund congress in 1928, Siegfried Aufhäuser even spoke of the fact that employees were part of the working class. The AfA-Bund acknowledged the unrestricted coalition - and thus the right to strike , even though work stoppages by employees hardly played a role in practice. Overall, it is remarkable that the AfA-Bund was more committed to socialist ideas than the - at least latently - reformist ADGB from the start.

The AfA-Bund managed to organize a comparatively large number of employees in the first few years. Whereas in 1912 only 28,000 were organized in free trade union employee associations, the AfA-Bund had almost 700,000 members in 1920, while the Christian-nationally oriented General Association of German Employees ' Unions (GEDAG) had only 460,000, and the Liberals-affiliated trade union federation of employees (GDA) had only about 300,000 members when it was founded in 1921.

During the Kapp Putsch , the AfA-Bund, the ADGB and the Deutsche Beamtenbund (DBB) issued a joint declaration calling for a general strike against the putschists, and the members took part in the work stoppages in the private and public sectors. After the defeat of the putschists, the AfA-Bund, together with the other two organizations, demanded a stronger influence of the workers' organizations in the restructuring of the governments in the Reich and in the federal states as well as a new regulation of the economic and social policy legislation. In addition, there were calls for the administrations to be purged of reactionary personalities. The hope for a trade union state was not fulfilled, of course. During the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, the members of the AfA-Bund also took part in the passive resistance .

Mainly as a result of inflation and then later the global economic crisis , a considerable part of the employees turned away from the socialist-oriented AfA-Bund. In 1924 it only had about 450,000 members. The weakening of the GEDAG (almost 400,000) and GDA (260,000) members was significantly lower. In the following years the balance of power began to shift even more to the disadvantage of the AfA-Bund. In 1929, after some fluctuations, it again had around 450,000 members, but GEDAG had almost 560,000 and GDA 320,000. In 1931 the AfA-Bund still had 435,000 members, GEDAG almost 600,000 and GDA around 330,000 members. In the longer term it became apparent that the status of an employee was insufficient to bind employees firmly to the socialist trade unions. Many were not only deterred by the class struggle rhetoric. In view of the economic upheavals, fears of status were even more important. As a result, the differences between blue-collar and white-collar workers were emphasized again. Instead of turning to the left, as in some cases after the November Revolution, the longer the majority of employees turned to the right, towards the anti-republican camp.

The AfA-Bund had been part of the Iron Front since 1931 , which was founded as a counterweight to the Harzburg Front by organizations that were close to the Social Democrats. In addition to the ADGB's WTB plan , the AfA-Bund presented its own plan to actively combat the global economic crisis. The employees rely much more heavily on planned economy measures than the ADGB. In 1932 the workers' unions also approached these positions.

In protest against the rapprochement between the ADGB and the new National Socialist rulers, Aufhäuser resigned from his position as AfA chairman on March 28, 1933. The federal government itself dissolved on March 30th, shortly before the free trade unions were broken up.

literature

  • Michael Schneider : Highs, crises and lows. The trade unions in the Weimar Republic 1918 to 1933. In: Klaus Tenfelde and others: History of the German trade unions. From the beginning until 1945 . Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7663-0861-0 , p. 311, p. 324, 329, 331f., 340, 405-407.
  • Franz Osterroth , Dieter Schuster: Chronicle of the German social democracy . Volume 2: From the beginning of the Weimar Republic to the end of the Second World War . 2nd revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin et al. 1975, ISBN 3-8012-1084-7 , ( International Library 84).
  • Arno Klönne , Hartmut Reese: The German trade union movement. From the beginning to the present . VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-87975-280-X .
  • Klaus Schönhoven : The German trade unions . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-518-11287-2 , ( Edition Suhrkamp 1287 = NF 287 New Historical Library ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jürgen Kocka: Class Society in War . Class society at war. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1978, p. 80 .
  2. ^ Association of technical employees and civil servants. In: ProvenienzWiki. Retrieved October 10, 2019 .