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The Political Role of the Free Unions and the Failure of Council Government in Hamburg November, 1918 to March, 1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

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It is, perhaps, all too easy for the student of German political history to adopt the device of speaking of events in the capital city as if they could be taken to represent developments occurring on a national scale. But it is far less accurate to use Berlin in this way than it is to use, for example, Paris or London. For one must keep in mind that the federal structure of Germany was by no means a mere legal fiction. Local political issues and the local organizations of the national parties retained considerable importance throughout the Weimar period. Indeed, one could well argue that in a number of instances, especially in the early years of the Republic, local political struggles were decisive for the formation of national policies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1964

References

page 47 note 1 I wish to express my gratitude to the Penfield Foundation, the Social Science Research Council and the Hoover Institution for their support of the research on which this article is based.

The abreviations used in this article are as follows:

ADGB Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (Free Unions)

KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party)

SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Majority Socialists)

USPD Unabhangige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Independent Socialists)

page 47 note 2 Die Arbeiterräte in der deutschen Innenpolitik, 1918–19 (Düsseldorf, 1962).Google Scholar

page 47 note 3 See, for example, Tormin, Walter, Zwischen Rätediktatur und Sozialer Demokratie (Düsseldorf, 1954), pp. 921Google Scholar

page 48 note 1 In this connection, it is important to keep in mind that, prior to the framing of the Weimar Constitution, it was widely believed in Hamburg and elsewhere that the form of local government in Germany would continue to be for the Länder to decide. It was, of course, one of the major innovations of the Constitution that it enumerated nation wide specifications for the Land governments. See Article 17 of the Weimar Constitution.

page 48 note 2 The city government of Hamburg was also the government of the Land Hamburg.

page 48 note 3 Hamburg was usually referred to as the “Hauptstadt des deutschen Sozialismus”. See, for example, Bünnemann, Richard, Hamburg in der deutschen Revolution von 1918–19, unpubl. diss., Hamburg, 1951, p. 28.Google Scholar

page 48 note 4 Bäumer, Gertrud, “Heimatchronik”, in: Die Hilfe, Nr. 46 (11, 1918), p. 540.Google Scholar

page 49 note 1 Neumann, Paul, Hamburg unter der Regierung des Arbeiter- und Soldatenrats (Hamburg, 1919), p. 62Google Scholar. This is the most reliable account of the revolution in Hamburg, by a participant.

page 49 note 2 Sozialdemokratischer Verein für das hamburgische Staatsgebiet, Jahresbericht der Landesorganisation, Jahrgang 1914–19, p. 10 (hereafter cited as SPD-Hbg, Jbrt. 19141919)Google Scholar; Neumann, , p. 3.Google Scholar

page 49 note 3 Neumann, , p. 4.Google Scholar

page 49 note 4 For Zeller, see Bünnemann, , p. 75.Google Scholar

page 49 note 5 Bünnemann, , pp. 75–8Google Scholar; Neumann, , p. 5.Google Scholar

page 49 note 6 SPD-Hbg, Jbrt. 19141919, p. 10Google Scholar; Neumann, , pp. 67.Google Scholar

page 50 note 1 Neumann, , p. 7.Google Scholar

page 50 note 2 Ibid., p. 8.

page 50 note 3 Ibid., p. 21.

page 50 note 4 SPD-Hbg, Jbrt. 19141919, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 50 note 5 Neumann, , p. 7.Google Scholar

page 50 note 6 Ibid., p. 12.

page 50 note 7 Ibid.

page 51 note 1 See the statement of Carl Hense (SPD) in the negotiations between the representatives of the Senate and those of the Workers' Council on Nov. 16, 1918, in: Wörtlicher Auszug aus dem stenographischen Protokoll, reprinted in: Walther Lamp'l, Die Revolution in Gross-Hamburg (Hamburg, 1921), pp. 95101.Google Scholar

page 51 note 2 SPD-Hbg, Jbrt. 19141919, p. 14.Google Scholar

page 51 note 3 For Laufenberg, see Schüddekopf, Otto E., Linke Leute von Rechts (Stuttgart, 1960), p. 108nGoogle Scholar; Fischer, Ruth, Stalin and German Communism (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), pp. 92–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kolb, , pp. 149–50Google Scholar. Schüddekopf mistakenly associates Laufenberg with the outbreak of the revolution in Hamburg, , p. 100Google Scholar. Compare Neumann, , p. 21.Google Scholar

page 51 note 4 Arbeiter-, und Gross-Hamburg, Soldatenrat, Protokolle, 19181919, Nr. 1, Bd. 1 (unpubl. doc., Hamburg Staatsarchiv)Google Scholar; see also, Lamp'l, , pp. 95109.Google Scholar

page 51 note 5 Schröder, Carl August, Aus Hamburgs Blütezeit, Lebenserinnerungen (Hamburg, 1921), p. 345Google Scholar; Vieth, Ferdinand, Siebzehn Jahre Handelsgesellschaft Produktion mbH. zu Hamburg (Hamburg, 1930), p. 221.Google Scholar

page 52 note 1 Laufenberg, Heinrich, Die Hamburger Revolution (Hamburg, 1919), pp. 89, 13–15.Google Scholar

page 52 note 2 Neumann, , p. 22.Google Scholar

page 52 note 3 Baumann, Frederick-Segel, Um den Staat: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Revolution in Hamburg (Hamburg, 1924), p. 39.Google Scholar

page 52 note 4 Neumann, , p. 129.Google Scholar

page 53 note 1 Volks-Zeitung, Hamburger, Jan. 21, 1919, p. 2.Google Scholar

page 53 note 2 Neumann, , p. 129.Google Scholar

page 53 note 3 Laufenberg, , p. 19.Google Scholar

page 53 note 4 Laufenberg, for example, did represent Hamburg at the Conference of the German States in Berlin, Nov. 27, 1918. (Lamp'l, , p. 23Google Scholar), but at the second conference in January, 1919, the Senate sent a representative. See Reichskanzlei, , Akten betr. Hansestädte, R431/2268 (Bundesarchiv)Google Scholar.

page 53 note 5 The proclamation of November 18 is reprinted in Lamp'l, , p. 19Google Scholar. Kolb, , whenever he deals with the Council Government, seems to assume that it was in full control until March, 1919. See, for example, pp. 293n 295–6.Google Scholar

page 53 note 6 In the elections to the National Assembly, held the day after Laufenberg resigned, the USPD won only 7 per cent of all valid votes cast in the city, as compared to 51 per cent for the Majority Socialists.

page 54 note 1 See Rosenberg, Arthur, A History of the German Republic (London, 1936), pp. 1934Google Scholar; Maehl, William Harvey, “Recent Literature on the German Socialists, 1891–1932”, in: Journal of Modern History, XXXIII, 3 (09, 1961), pp. 302–3Google Scholar; Eberhard Kolb, op. cit., pp. 404–9.

page 55 note 1 This subject is treated in detail in Comfort, Richard A., The Politics of Labor in Hamburg, 1918–26, (Princeton Ph. D. diss., 1962)Google Scholar, available through University Microfilms.

page 55 note 2 At a time when the industrial unions accounted for over 40 per cent of the total member ship of the Hamburg ADGB, almost all of the top leadership positions were held by members of craft unions; of fifty-two secondary positions on which information is available, only nine were held by members of industrial unions. Compare the membership of the Executive Committee of the ADGB-Hamburg as given in the “Atibang” to each Jahresbericht, 1920–24.

page 55 note 3 See Michels, Robert, Political Parties (New York: Dover, 1959), pp. 142–55Google Scholar; Schorske, , pp. 260–62Google Scholar. Compare also the autobiographical novel by Bredel, Willi, Maschinenfabrik N&K (Berlin, 1960), pp. 131–5.Google Scholar

page 55 note 4 Koller, Philip, Das Massen- und Führerproblem in den Freien Gewerkschaften. Er-gänzungsheft XVII zu Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik (Tübingen, 1920), pp. 4950.Google Scholar

page 56 note 1 Schorske, , pp. 260–2Google Scholar; Michels, , p. 144nGoogle Scholar; Dissmann, Robert, “Berufsverbände oder Industrieorganisation”, in: Correspondenzblatt der Generalkommission, Jg. 52, Nr. 24 (06 17, 1922), pp. 535–6.Google Scholar

page 56 note 2 “Politische Gewerkschaftszerstörung”, in: Correspondenzblatt, Jg. 29, Nr. 40 (Oct. 4, 1919). Pp. 461–3.Google Scholar

page 56 note 3 For the development of the trade unions during the war, see: Umbreit, Paul, Die deutschen Gewerkschaften im Weltkrieg (Berlin, 1928)Google Scholar; Reich, Nathan, Labor Relations in Republican Germany (New York, 1938), pp. 222–4Google Scholar; Feldman, Gerald, Army, Industry, and Labor in Germany, 1914–18 (Harvard Ph. D. diss., 1963).Google Scholar

page 56 note 4 The November Agreement is given in full in Preller, Ludwig, Sozialpolitik in der Weimarer Zeit (Stuttgart, 1949), pp. 53–4.Google Scholar

page 57 note 1 ADGB-Hamburg, Jahresbericht 1914, pp. 32–3 and 1921, pp. 60–3.Google Scholar

page 57 note 2 ADGB-Hamburg, Jbrt. 1921, pp. 60–3.Google Scholar

page 57 note 3 Bünnemann, , pp. 53–4Google Scholar; SPD-Hamburg, Jbrt. 19141919, p. 9Google Scholar; Senat-Kriegsakten, , Z.III.n, “Berichte des Korps Lettow-Vorbeck über die politische Lage in Hamburg” (Hamburg Staatsarchiv).Google Scholar

page 57 note 4 Neumann, , p. 18Google Scholar; Baumann, , p. 19.Google Scholar

page 58 note 1 Neumann, , p. 4.Google Scholar

page 58 note 2 Ibid.

page 58 note 3 Baumann, , p. 15.Google Scholar

page 58 note 4 Neumann, , p. 52.Google Scholar

page 58 note 5 Volks-Zeitung, Hamburger, Nov. 17, 1919, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 58 note 6 Ibid., Oct. 14, 1919, p. 1.

page 58 note 7 Neumann, , pp. 52–4.Google Scholar

page 59 note 1 See Retting, Rudolf, Die Gewwrkschaftsarbeit der KPD von 1918 bis 1925, unpubl. diss., (Hamburg, 1954), pp. 111Google Scholar; Prager, Eugen, Geschichte der USPD (Berlin, 1921), pp. 193–4Google Scholar; Baumann, , p. 15Google Scholar.

page 60 note 1 Prager, , 209–11Google Scholar; Volks-Zeitung, Hamburger, Oct. 30, 1919, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 60 note 2 Laufenberg, , pp. 814.Google Scholar

page 60 note 3 Ibid.

page 60 note 4 The most striking instance illustrating the above points was the struggle for the leader ship of the Deutsche Metallarbeiterverband in Hamburg in 1919Google Scholar. See Deutsche Metallarbeiterverband, Verwaltung Hamburg, Geschäftsbericht 1919, pp. 38Google Scholar; Zeitung, Hamburger Volks, Nov. 6, 1919, Beilage.Google Scholar

page 60 note 5 Gross-Hamburg, Arbeiterrat, Jahresbericht 19191920, p. 59.Google Scholar

page 61 note 1 Cited in Varain, Heinz Josef, Freie Gewerkschaften, Sozialdemokratie und Staat (Düsseldorf, 1956), p. 146.Google Scholar

page 61 note 2 See, for example, Die Fteie Gewerkschaft (ADGB supplement to the Hamburger Echo), Vol. 3, Nr. 44 (1924)Google Scholar; Volks-Zeitung, Hamburger, July 1, 1919Google Scholar.

page 61 note 3 All biographical information concerning Bürgerschaft Members was taken from a manuscript in the Hamburg Staatsarchiv referred to as “Handschriftensammlung Nr. 601 (Verzeichnis der Bürgerschaftsmitglieder aufgestellt von Franz Mönckeberg, 1959)”. Since the manuscript is not paginated, references to it will be simply, “Verzeichnis”. The Bürgerscbaft membership is a good source for studying the leadership of the parties, since the practice was to draw up party lists starting with the top local leaders and working downwards as long as the mandates lasted. The dates 1919–25 are used for the purpose of obtaining a larger sample, although the leadership of the SPD changed only very slightly during the period. Compare the study of the national leadership of the SPD by Hunt, Richard N., The Internal Development of the SPD in the Weimar Republic, unpubl. diss. (Yale, 1958).Google Scholar

page 62 note 1 See Siemann, I., Soziologie der Sozialdemokratischen Führerschaft 1918–33 (Göttingen, 1955) Pp. 61–7.Google Scholar

page 62 note 2 All of these characteristics alter radically as one moves to the left in the party line-up. The USPD leaders were younger; there were more who were members of industrial unions and fewer who had worked up through the union bureaucracy. The KPD leaders were younger still; there were no leaders from craft unions and none had worked their way up through the union bureaucracy.

page 62 note 3 “Verzeichnis”.

page 62 note 4 ADGB-Hamburg, Jbrt. 1920, p. 22Google Scholar; “Verzeichnis”.

page 63 note 1 For example, see Neumann, , pp. 2, 19, 48ff.Google Scholar; SPD-Hbg., Jbrt. 19141919, pp. 10, 21.Google Scholar

page 63 note 2 See Neumann, , p. 2.Google Scholar

page 63 note 3 For example, see Neumann, , pp. 46, 59–60Google Scholar; Bünnemann, , p. 129Google Scholar; SPD-Hbg., Jbrt. 19141919, p. 19.Google Scholar

page 63 note 4 Neumann, , pp. 1423.Google Scholar

page 63 note 5 The only work of Laufenberg's which gives any indication of what his ideas were in 1918–19 is his Die Hamburger Revolution (Hamburg, 1919)Google Scholar, but he avoids spelling them out.

page 64 note 1 See Guillebaud, C. W., The Works Council (Cambridge, 1928)Google Scholar; the law itself is given on pp. 249–72; Seidel, Richard, The Trade Union Movement of Germany (Amsterdam, 1928), pp. 105ff.Google Scholar; for tne opposition to the law in Hamburg, see Hamburg, Arbeiterrat Gross, Jahresbericht 19191920, pp. 59ff.Google Scholar

page 64 note 2 This subject is taken up in detail, including an analysis of the electoral returns, in Comfort, op. cit.