THE TRADES' UNION MOVEMENT IN GERMANY.
GERMANY is just now, to use the expression of a letter which we have seen, "pleasing" herself "with the theoretical construction" of Trade-Societies. "Whilst, six
months ago," the writer proceeds, "nobody in Germany had any clear idea about Trades' Unions, and the words only called up immediately the notion of Sheffield outrages, now all are busy with them ; Schweitzer-Fritzche on one side, Max Hirsch- Dunker, &c., on another, Liebknecht-Bebel on a third, and Fiirsterling-Mende even on a fourth, all pulling different ways."
The Labour question in Germany, it must be observed, is on a very different footing from that which it occupies amongst ourselves. Germany is still in a transition state in many respects between the labour system of the middle ages and that of the present day,—a battle-field between what the
French term respectively "In grande " and "la petite indus- trie." Freedom of labour was only enacted last summer by the North-German Parliament. In many trades and places the framework of the old Guilds is still on foot, and the principle has scarcely died out of mastership by right of proved skill, as against mastership by possession of capital. Hence the peculiar forms which co-operative asso- ciation has preferably taken in Germany, those of mutual- credit societies and of societies for the purchase of raw materials, both mainly designed for the class which we should here term small masters, or for workmen seeking to become such ; Schulze-Delitzsch's last report—answering, though an unofficial publication, to those of Mr. Tidd Pratt amongst ourselves—showing in 1867 some 1,304 of the former class and some 153 belonging to and connected with the latter, whilst associations for co-operative production amount only to forty-three, and even co-operative stores (Consumvereine) do not exceed 316. But side by side with these remains of an age gone by, or these transition forms which connect it with the present, is to be found much that belongs essentially to the new economic era ; busy modern towns like Elberfeld- Barmen, the Manchester-Salford of Germany, where the large factory system, the steam - engine, and unlimited competition rule supreme, and the master is simply the labour-buyer. This substitution of the Class for the Trade brings with it into the whole work of production that clash of opposing interests between employer and employed which, under the Guild system, exists mainly in the sphere of consumption, as between the trade and the public ; or within that of production, only between trade and trade,—as in the famous instance of the two centuries' lawsuit in France between the tailors and the fripios, or old clothesmen, as to what constitutes an old coat. Hence the sure rise, on the part of the employed, of a sense that it is necessary for the purposes of their common class-interest to organize themselves in such a manner as to balance at least the overweight of accumulated capital by the numbers and discipline of the workers, and the gradual embodiment of this sense of need in the Trade Society. That the growth of such bodies should by true political economists be recognized as a normal evolution from causes everywhere at work, and specifically appropriate to the circumstances of the day, will surely appear by con- sidering the historical relation of the trade-society to the prin- ciple of association for productive purposes. From the working-man's point of view, at least, the ideal of his class, attainable or not, must be the transformation of that whole class into one of associated self-employers,- whether this be done by the French "Association Ouvriere," composed of workers alone ; by the industrial partnership, uniting workers and capitalists ; or by the more exten- sive plans of an Owen, a Fourier, a Cabet, it matters little. In comparison with the humblest of such schemes, the Trade- Society, seeking only to protect and ameliorate the condition of the wages-receiver as such, must seem narrow and one- sided. And yet in every country where productive association in any shape has been most rife, most energetic, or most conspicuous, the Trade-Society principle has in the long run won or is winning the day,—though, it is true, at present more and more freely admitting the other principle as true and necessary. In England, where Mr. Owen's schemes of
association seemed at one time likely to carry the whole country with them,—in America, where all manner of ex- periments in co-operative production, from pure communism
downwards, have been and ate being tried, the Trade- Society rules the day in the field of labour. In France,—
where, after 1848, the "Association Ouvriere " had for a time so wide a field of development, so fair a promise of permanent success,—at the present, the need of wresting from the Govern- ment, after the mere freedom to strike which a late law has given, the right of permanent organization for trade-society purposes, forms the question of the day for the working-class.
in Germany, where the late leader of the "Social Democrats," the brilliant Lassalle, used to condemn as useless all attempts at self-help by the working-class otherwise than through poli- tical action, three out of the four sets or coteries which at the beginning of this article were mentioned as engaged upon the subject of trade-society organization belong to the Social-Demo- cratic party; whilst Schulze-Delitzch, the middle-class leader of German co-operation, who has hitherto treated in like manner as nugatory all attempts of the working-class to benefit them- selves by this means, now not only sees his fellow-workers of the " Fortschrittspartei " forming the fourth of such sets, but has himself, in a manner, sanctioned their efforts by his presence at one of their meetings.
There is, indeed, something almost ludicrous, for those who know something of the realities of the working-man's life —of the stern daily needs which make him feel the dangers of isolation in the battle-field of labout,—in the idea of a number of men sitting together to construct organizations for him in the abstract, which, if they are to be of any benefit at all, must adapt themselves most minutely to all the various circumstances of each particular trade. It is true that the German Trades' Union makers do not altogether evolve a trades' union "out of their inner consciousness." Those of the Fort- schritt party, for instance, have the benefit of English experience, and of the best English rules, supplied by and supported by the counsel of a gentleman (Dr. Max Hirsch) who, during a late somewhat short visit to England, was in relations with several of the most intelligent of our Trade-Society leaders. But German thought always soars far above homely English practice. In the model rules sent forth by the last-mentioned set of social reformers, the purposes of a trade-society are declared to be not only the formation of a sick fund, burial fund, accident and superannuation fund, the support of members on tramp or out of work, but the collection and circulation of labour-statistics for the trade, the "furtherance of general culture" for the members, their protection "against employers, the public, and the authorities," as "by carrying on legal proceedings at the cost of the society," the founding and support of productive and other associations, and "union with other German trade societies for mutual furtherance and support." And the "leading principles" of the society are to be these :-1. Wages must be sufficient for the full support of the worker and his family, including insurance against every sort of disability to work, as also for necessary recreation and humane culture ; 2. Reductions of wages can only be made with the consent of the workers. 3. Sunday labour is, except so far as may be indispensably necessary, to be wholly suppressed. 4. The hours of labour for adults are to be limited at most to 12, including two hours of rest. 5. Night work is also, except so far as may be absolutely necessary, to be wholly suppressed. 6. Every new establishment or scheme for regulating labour is to be agreed upon between employers and employed. 7. For the settling of differences between employers and employed a permanent tribunal is to be formed, elected in equal num- bers from both sides, and with an impartial chairman. 8. The female sex shall enjoy full freedom to work, but its labour in factories and workshops is to be surrounded with every guarantee for health and morality. 9. The labour of children and young persons must be so limited that the com- plete bodily, intellectual (" geistig "), and moral education of youth be not thereby hindered. 10. Prison work must not be misused by employers in competition with free labour, through having their work done wholly or partly by prisoners."
Truly, a most magnificent programme! and all to be carried out by the weekly contributions of the working-class! A group of purposes of common benefit, which the most power- fully organized English trade societies have hardly yet com- bined to secure out of English wages with absolute safety, since the scale of contributions, even in the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, is considered by actuaries to be just now on its trial, is not sufficient for our German friends, but they must add nearly half-a-dozen more ; whilst as the very bases of orgaui-
zation they lay down principles which with us have been only the slow conquests of legislation, the fruits of a life's labour.*
Yet the men who send forth the above-mentioned model rules, and who comprise several leading working-men of Berlin, are entitled to the full credit of urging that trade societies should begin "from below,"—should be spon- taneously founded by the workers ; their model rules are only sent out for instruction and for help ; above all, the trade society as conceived by them is not a mere engine of social warfare, but an organization for purposes of social relief and benefit. But for Dr. Schweitzer, the present leader of the Social Democrats, the trade society is simply a machine for strikes. Trade societies are to be formed and gathered together in one general union, in order "that industry in a whole town and district may be crippled for months, till the employers give in." Strikes, he said on another occasion, cannot in the long run better the position of the worker, but they are for him a use- ful instrument, "since the opposition between discordant in- terests is thereby sharpened, and the class-consciousness of the workers strengthened." Accordingly, in the Schweitzer trade- society organization, all trade societies are lotted out before- hand into thirty-two groups, which must all have their centre in Berlin. The Presiding Committee of the General Union has the confirmation of all presidents and treasurers of local societies, the right of appointment and dismissal of all officers of the General Union. And if at the election of a new member of the Presiding Committee no candidate receives an absolute majority of votes, it is left to the existing Committee to decide whether there shall be a new election within narrower limits of choice, or whether the relative majority shall carry the election. Considering that Dr. Schweitzer himself is elected President for eighteen months, to begin with, it will be hardly difficult for him to perpetuate his power by favour of such provisions. And it must be borne in mind that he is by many fully believed, and has been repeatedly accused in print of being, in the pay of the Government, whilst one of his coadjutors, Herr Preuss, known to be in relations with it, openly assured the workmen at one of the meetings at which Dr. Schweitzer made use of the incendiary language above quoted that "the present Government would not hinder them." If this be so, it is obvious that the Social-Democratic Trade-Society movement a la Schweitzer is only a 'Red Spectre' at the service of the Bismarckian policy. Meanwhile, that of the Fortschritt party seems rapidly spreading. The leading Berlin trades, such as the Engineers and the Building opera- tives, are in its favour. Twelve societies in connection with it have already started in Berlin, and Dr. Max Hirsch has set forth on an agitation tour on its behalf throughout the provinces.
Is all this very genuine ? Hardly so. Earnest men there are no doubt in both the Social Democratic and the Fortschritt parties,—on the one hand, for instance, working-men who have accepted the privation almost of the necessaries of life, or spent nearly their little all, in fulfilling the gratuitous office of members of the North-German Parliament,—on the other, benevolent men who have devoted their lives to the benefit of their fellows. But, on the whole, it seems difficult not to suspect that the present Trades'-Unions movement of Germany is little more than a new form of party warfare between the two great disputants for power in North Germany, the formerly triumphant Fortschritt party, and the shrewd and unscrupulous politician who felled it with a backhander at Sadowa. Both are courting and caressing the working-class, which they feel instinctively to be the ultimate arbiter of the conflict. Perhaps it may yet see through both, and hold its own.
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