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The Trade Unions

The unions gained a great deal of clout during the Weimar Republic, with their standing considerably improved. During the Kaiserreich, they were faced with crackdowns, bans on strikes, and at times, police violence. Over the course of the November Revolution, companies started to fear a more fundamental social transformation. This compelled them to offer the unions a partnership arrangement. The Stinnes-Legien Agreement between Hugo Stinnes (for the employers) and Carl Legien (for the Free Trade Unions) introduced the eight-hour work day and collective bargaining agreements and granted employees co-determination rights to be exercised via works councils. These achievements make it an early document of the social partnership system. It established an important foundation for the modus operandi of the economy. However, the employers tried to dilute the agreement’s contents during the following crises. Yet these efforts were not the factor weighing on the trade union movement. It was instead the high unemployment at the end of the republic that took the wind out of the unions’ sails. In addition, they were also split up into several different factions. The ADGB was close to the SPD, other unions were liberal, and still others Christian. The KPD and the NSDAP also had corresponding groups.

Heinrich Brüning

(© Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-0630-504)

1885-1970

  • Member of the Reichstag
  • Head of the Center Party’s parliamentary group
  • Reichskanzler from 1930 to 1932

Brüning started out in politics in the Weimar Republic as a unionist and social policy maker. He took an active role in organizing the “passive resistance” in the Ruhrkampf (Ruhr struggle) as chief executive of the Christian German Union Federation. Brüning served as a Member of the Reichstag from 1924. In 1929, he was elected chairman of the Center Party’s parliamentary group. After Reichskanzler Müller’s Grand Coalition collapsed in 1930, Brüning took on the post of Reichskanzler, setting up a minority government. This marked the beginning of the presidential cabinets, which governed and enacted laws solely on the authority of the Reichspräsident, without consulting the Reichstag. During the economic crisis, Brüning tried to fight the recession with his deflationary policies. In the end, he lost Reichspräsident Hindenburg’s trust. A series of presidential cabinets then followed, ending with the Nazis seizing power.

Wikipedia entry

Adam Stegerwald

(© Bundesarchiv N 1780 Bild-001-03)

1874-1945

  • General secretary of the federation of Christian trade unions of Germany from 1903 to 1929
  • Chairman of the Christian German trade union confederation from 1919 to 1929
  • Member of the National Assembly and the Reichstag
  • Prussian Minister-President from March to November 1921
  • Became Reich Minister of Transport from 1929 to 1930
  • Reich Minister of Labor from 1930 to 1932

Stegerwald joined the Center Party in 1896 and started his career in politics as a functionary in Christian unions. In 1903, he became the general secretary of the federation of Christian trade unions of Germany and stayed in office until 1929. As a Christian unionist, he promoted anti-Bolshevist policies and tried to counter the influence of the Free Unions. Alongside his work as a unionist, he took on various offices in the Prussian government, including a short stint as Prussian Minister-President in 1921. In 1929, he became Transport Minister in Reichskanzler Müller’s Grand Coalition. In Brüning’s cabinet, he served as Labor Minister. As a fervent catholic, he opposed the Nazi regime during the Third Reich. At the same time, he called for tempered opposition, so as to avoid retaliation from the Nazis.

Wikipedia entry

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Glossar

Abkürzungs- und Siglenverzeichnis der verwendeten Literatur:

ADGBFederation of German General Trade Unions
AEGGeneral Electricity Company
AfA-BundGeneral Free Federation of Employees
AGCorporation
AVUSAutomobile Traffic and Training Road
BMWBavarian Motor Works
BRTgross register tons
BVPBavarian People’s Party
CenterCenter Party
DAPGerman Workers’ Party
DDPGerman Democratic Party
DNTGerman National Theater
DNVPGerman National People’s Party
DVPGerman People’s Party
GmbHLimited (form of company)
KominternCommunist International
KPDCommunist Party of Germany
KVPConservative People’s Party
LKWtrucks
MSPDMajority Social Democratic Party of Germany; the Majority Socialists
NSnational socialism (Nazi)
NSDAPNational Socialist German Workers’ Party; Nazi party
NVNational Assembly
O.C.Organization Consul
OHLArmy High Command
RMReichsmark
SASturmabteilung; Brownshirts
SPDSocial Democratic Party of Germany
SSSchutzstaffel
StGBPenal Code
UfAUniversum Film Aktiengesellschaft
USPDIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany
VKPDUnited Communist Party of Germany
ZentrumCenter Party
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[TofahrnTofahrn, Klaus W., Chronologie des Dritten Reiches. Ereignisse, Personen, Begriffe, Darmstadt 2003.
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[WirschingWirsching, Andreas, Die Weimarer Republik. Politik und Gesellschaft, 2. erw. Aufl., München 2010.

(zusammengestellt von Dr. Jens Riederer und Christine Rost, bearbeitet von Stephan Zänker)