The Free Association of German Unions ( German: Freie Vereinigung deutscher Gewerkschaften; FVdG ) is an organization headquartered in Berlin that unites unions in imperial and early Weimar Germany . SANP was founded in 1897 in Halle under the name " Centralization of German Representatives " as a national umbrella organization of the local labor movement . Local residents rejected the centralization of the labor movement after the abolition of anti-socialist laws in 1890 and preferred grassroots democratic structures [1] .
| Free Association of German Trade Unions | |
|---|---|
| Freie Vereinigung deutscher Gewerkschaften | |
 The union's press organ is the newspaper Die Einigkeit, August 8, 1914 | |
| Established | |
| Dissolution date | 1919 |
| Ideology | revolutionary socialism , revolutionary syndicalism , anarcho-syndicalism |
| Number of members | 111,675 (December 1919) |
Within a few years of its formation, the SANP began to take an increasingly radical leftist position. During the disputes of the German socialist movement on the use of mass strikes , representatives of the organization expressed the view that the general strike should become a weapon in the hands of the working class. The Association believed that the strike was the last step before the socialist revolution ; SANP increasingly criticized parliamentarism, fettered the SPD in the Bundestag . Disagreements within the labor movement ultimately led to the exclusion of members of the SANP from the Social Democratic Party of Germany and a complete breakdown of relations between the two organizations in 1908 [2] [3] .
Anarchist and especially syndicalist positions became increasingly popular within the SANP. During World War I, the organization rejected cooperation with the SPD and the main labor movement with the German state. Despite this, she was not able to create any significant resistance or to continue regular activities during the war. Immediately after the November Revolution, SANP quickly became a mass organization. In particular, it attracted miners from the Ruhr region who opposed the reformist policies of major unions. In December 1919, the Free Association of German Trade Unions teamed up with several minor left-wing communist unions to become the German Free Workers Union [4] .
Literature
- Bock, Hans-Manfred. Syndikalismus und Linkskommunismus von 1918 bis 1923: Ein Beitrag zur Sozial- und Ideengeschichte der frühen Weimarer Republik: [] . - Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1993 .-- ISBN 3-534-12005-1 .
- Müller, Dirk H. Gewerkschaftliche Versammlungsdemokratie und Arbeiterdelegierte vor 1918: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Lokalismus, des Syndikalismus und der entstehenden Rätebewegung: [] . - Berlin: Colloqium Verlag, 1985a. - ISBN 3-7678-0650-9 .
Notes
- ↑ Müller 1985a, p. 140-145, 148; Bock 1990, p. 60; Müller 1985b, p. 245.
- ↑ Müller 1985a, p. 186–187 and Vogel 1977, p. 59-60; quote according to Vogel 1977, p. 60, German original: "einen Weg einschlage, der mit Sicherheit zum Kampf mit der SPD und zum Syndikalismus und Anarchismus führe." (own translation).
- ↑ Bock 1969, p. 33–37
- ↑ Bock 1969, p. 104-105