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Labour Under Nazi Rule Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange Rare Books and Manuscripts Special Collections 1940 Labour Under Nazi Rule William Alexander Robson Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.kenyon.edu/rarebooks Recommended Citation Robson, William Alexander, "Labour Under Nazi Rule" (1940). Rare Books and Manuscripts. 12. https://digital.kenyon.edu/rarebooks/12 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rare Books and Manuscripts by an authorized administrator of Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. No. 33 Price 3d. net LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE By WILLIAM A. ROBSON THE WORLD TO-DAY A new series of short illustrated books, df. about 100 pages each, designed to gifg Iler ttnent to cetbiin topics of LD AFFAIRS outstanding importance th~ can be given within the compass of an Oxford Pamphl .. T.he books are bound in cloth boards, price 2s. 6d. net each. The first four titles all deal with the New World. Tlze first two volumes are J. ~BOUR UNDER U.S.A. By D. w. BROGAN. With as illwtratiotu in half-tone and a map. NAZI RULE In this brilliant little volume Professor Brogan answers just the sort of questiQns that ..the average English reader asks about the Un~ States of America. He gives a vivid picture of the American seen~, of !Pe people, their government, their religiens, press, BY education, literature,.,theatre, sport, cinema, and social.lifa. The text of the constitution of the United States is printed u an WILLIAM A. ROBSON appendix. and AMERICA'S ECONOMIC STRENGTH By c. J. HITCH. With 18 illustratiom in half-tone, a map, and 16 diagrams. This book gives a short account, in non technical language, of the development and organization of American Economy, with special reference to its relation to the war in Europe. The im­ portance of the United Statei 11t a producer of food, raw materials, industrial products, planes, and munitions is examined, and the financial and trade position described. In preparation LATIN AMERICA CANADA B:yJ.L~ B:y B. K, SANDWELL LIES AS ALLIES OT HITLER AT WAB B~ VISCOUNT MAWHAM PtJPn eoom, 6d. OXFORD "'· 11. ,,., This accqunt of Oeiinap }llen~ mote~ ~mont AT THE CLARENDON PRESS of what is senCRI knbwJe4p. It is the comid indict;qieni by a lawyer of hish diatindion who, Wltil l'eCelttly,~ wea Lord Cliancell()! of Great Britain, of a me~od of ~ wbich tho G4rm~ FUhre.r hu foduced to • acienoe by the. en)plojqleQt of wlUch he hopes to mislead neutrel opimon &Rd co hOodwink tho Gcrnwi public. HITLER'S achievement in abolishing unemployment has LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE been much admired outside Germany as well as inside. ~he extent to which industrial servitude and regimenta­ HE position of the workers in a community .tion have been exacted as the price of that achievement is T is not only extremely important as an index either not realized, or is glossed over as though it were of economic and social welfare, but it is also highly merely an. irrelevant incident. This Pamphlet describes significant from a political point of view. Funda­ t~e. swe:pmg changes that have been made by the Nazi mental changes in the purposes or constitution of a regime m the status and organization of labour from regime are quickly reflected in an alteration of the ~he liquidation of the highly progressive German'work­ status and condition of the labouring masses. It mg-~l~ss mo~ement. in 1933 down to the system of would be possible to cite innumerable instances unffiltigated mdustnal conscription introduced since 1938. 'The employed masses of German men and drawn from past and present times to illustrate the women have ceased to be free citizens of the world of close connexion between the status of the workers labou~. They have entered a state of peonage the like and the political regime under which they live. of which has not been seen in the countries of Western The tremendous change which German labour Europe for centuries.' has undergone since the accession to power of the D~. W. A. Robson is University Reader in Admini­ Nazi party is, therefore, in no way a matter for strative Law at the London School of Economics· and surprise. It is, nevertheless, of great significance as is an authority on industrial law and relations. fie is an indication of the underlying aims and philosophy Joint Editor of the Political Quarterly and the author of of the Hitler government. many well-known works on law and government. Before 1933 Germany was one of the most progressive countries in the world so far as the position of organized labour was concerned. The German working-class movement started to emerge First Published 4th July Ig40 on its industrial side about l 860, and, except for a Reprinted ISthJuly I940, Feb. I94I period of legal proscription under Bismarck be­ tween 1878 and 1890, trade unions grew con­ tinuously until 1922, when the membership reached a peak of over nine millions. Thereafter the num­ bers declined to rather less than six millions in 1929. Printed in Great Britain and published by On its political side, the movement founded the THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Amen House, E.c. 4 Social Democratic party as early as 1890; and by LONDON EDTNDURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPETOWN BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS l 914 this party polled nearly 4 t million votes, a HUMPHREY MILFORD Publisher to the University third of the whole electorate. Bismarck, although 4655·33 4 LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE strongly hostile and repressive towards the Socialist LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE 5 mo~e1?ent, was ~ pioneer in initiating a system of States in the protection afforded to her workers social msurance m Germany. against excessively long hours of work. The most important feature of working-class pro­ Labour under the Weimar Republic gress in Germany was, however, the establishment After the Great W~r of 1914-~8 the most striking of works councils 'to protect the common interests advances were made m German mdustrial relations. of employees against the employer'. The Works Coll~ctive bargaining had hitherto not been fully Councils Act, 1920, set up works councils in all recogmzed under the civil law. One of the first establishments employing twenty workers or more. step.s after the revolutionary upheaval which accom­ The members were eleeted by the employees alone pamed the defeat of Germ~ny was an Order (dated from among their own ranks, and the number varied 23 pecember 1918) regulatmg collective bargaining. from three to thirty according to the size of the T~is decree gave exclusive recognition to trade enterprise. umons as contracting parties on the workers' side The works council was authorized to co-operate and conferred a new and enhanced status on th~ with the management in improving industrial effi­ collective bargain .. The Order was confirmed by ciency and in introducing new labour methods. It an Act of th.e Nat10na! Assembly in March 1919. was empowered to promote industrial peace; to It gav~ an immense impetus to the practice of supervise the carrying out of collective agreements; collective bargaining, and in consequence to the to negotiate with the employer on the question of power of the trade unions. It authorized the Minis­ works rules. It was to assist the factory inspectors ter of Lab~ur to ~x!end a collective agreement, in improving industrial hygiene and in reducing under certam condit10ns, to unorganized workers. the number of accidents. It was to co-operate in By 1922 ~h~ conditions of employment of more the administration of welfare schemes in the t~an 14 mtlhon workers were determined by collec­ factory. tive agreements. The works councils were not designed to usurp In. 1919 legislation provided for a maximum the functions of the trade unions; on the contrary, working day of eight hours and a maximum working they depended for their success on the closest week of forty-eight hours, a break of thirty-six collaboration with the unions. The general regula­ ho~rs of continuous rest during the week, a half­ tion of wages and hours was not normally dealt with hohday on .Saturday, and restrictions on night work. by the works council, except in so far as this was Although mroads were made later on these stan­ covered by works rules (Arbeitsordnung), for which ~ards, it is nevertheless true that throughout the its approval was required. It could intervene to hfe of the Weimar Republic Germany remained prevent the dismissal of workers, or appeal on their substantially in advance of England and the United behalf to the Labour Court to secure reinstatement or the payment of monetary compensation as an 6 LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE LABOUR UNDER NAZI RULE 7 alternative. It was charged with seeing that indus­ and included all labour cases previously coming trial legislation was duly observed by the employer. before the civil courts. They were competent to It could demand a quarterly report from the em­ decide questions relating to particular disagree­ ployer concerning wages, output, profits, and other ments between individual employers and employees, matters relevant to the claims of labour. It had and disputes arising out of collective agreements. access to wages books and other information. It Elaborate machinery for conciliation was also set could require the presentation of accounts with full up. This was of two kinds: official conciliation explanations. It had a statutory right to nominate boards or conciliators appointed by the Ministry one or two members on the board of directors of a of Labour; and unofficial or voluntary conciliation joint stock company.
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