Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Five months after the National Socialists took power in Germany, the workers’ group and the German delegation clashed at the International Labour Conference 1933 Conference 1933 in Geneva. Only a few weeks before, the National Socialists had destroyed the German free trade union movement and set up a compulsory organisation, the German Labour Front (DAF). Nazi-Germany sought international recognition for this organisation from the ILO and the League of Nations respectively. Furthermore it Reiner Tosstorff wanted to sell Germany as a leader of social progress. However, the steps caused severe protest, especially among the workers’ delegates. Their protest finally turned out to be successful, on one hand because of a severe diplomatic incidence caused by Robert Ley, the new workers’ delegate imposed by Nazi-Germany, on the other hand, because the heads of the German delegation were unable to pressure Wilhelm Leuschner, representative of the former free German trade unions to publi- cly support the regime. At the ILC 1933 the international trade union movement, insisting once more on its core values of freedom and solidarity, stood in fierce opposition to the Nazi-dictatorship and its oppression of political and social rights. Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 Labour Nazi the against International Conference Germany resistance at Workers’ ILO Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 Reiner Tosstorff The original version of this book has been published in German language under the title “Wilhelm Leuschner gegen Robert Ley. Ablehnung der Nazi-Diktatur durch die Internationale Arbeitskonferenz 1933 in Genf ” by: VAS - Verlag für Akademische Schriften Ludwigstr. 12 61348 Bad Homburg Germany www.vas-verlag.de In order to make the text more suitable for an international readership and for editorial reasons, some details concerning mainly German history have been omitted to favour a more ILO oriented perspective. Readers interested in the original version should either contact the publishing house or the author. Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 Reiner Tosstorff INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE • GENEVA Copyright © International Labour Organization 2013 First published 2013 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 Reiner Tosstorff; International Labour Office - Geneva: ILO, 2013 ISBN 978-92-2-127539-8 (print) ISBN 978-92-2-127540-4 (PDF web) The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. ILO publications and electronic products can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address, or by email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.ilo.org/publns Photocomposed in Switzerland SCR Printed in Switzerland GEN Contents Preface .............................................. vii Abbreviations .......................................... xiii 1. Introduction ........................................ 1 2. The context: world economic crisis, fascism and the situation of the International Labour Organization ..................... 3 3. Workers’ delegate Wilhelm Leuschner’s role in the run-up to the June 1933 ILC ......................... 7 4. The “Third Reich” delegation ............................ 11 5. Conference prelude: a question of credentials ................ 15 6. Robert Ley’s racist outbursts and growing resistance at the ILC ..... 21 7. Tug of war between Berlin and Geneva – the German delegation withdraws ......................... 25 8. The Nazi propaganda machine starts up ..................... 31 9. The discussion of the 40-hour week ....................... 35 10. The International Labour Conference after the German pull-out: a resolution on refugees ......................... 39 11. Wilhelm Leuschner’s arrest and resistance ................... 41 12. Conclusion ......................................... 45 v Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 Selected readings ....................................... 47 Appendix ............................................. 51 1. IFTU protest against the credentials of the German Workers’ delegation .................................. 51 a) Letter from the International Federation of Trade Unions, Paris, to the Secretary-General of the International Labour Conference .................. 51 b) Memorandum by the Workers’ Delegate on the Credentials Committee ........................ 52 2. Discussion of Robert Ley’s credentials as German Workers’ delegate .................................... 63 3. Discussion of a resolution on behalf of Jewish refugees from Germany ................................ 67 4. Discussion of the forty-hour work week ..................... 75 Photos 1. Workers’ Group, International Labour Conference, 1933 ......... 79 2. Plenary, International Labour Conference, 1933 .............. 79 3. Léon Jouhaux ....................................... 80 4. Wilhelm Leuschner ................................... 80 5. Robert Ley ......................................... 80 6. Occupation of the Trade Union House Engelufer, Berlin 1933 ..... 81 7. Destructions in the Trade Union House Engelufer by the SA, Berlin 1933 ........................ 81 vi Preface Dealing with dictatorships ighty years ago, the delegation of national socialist Germany made an early exit Efrom the International Labour Conference. An attempt to install the German Labour Front as legitimate worker representatives, instead of the free trade unions, had failed due to resistance from the Workers’ Group and, not least, the persistent silence maintained by Wilhelm Leuschner, the German unions’ representative on the ILO Governing Body. Wilhelm Leuschner was a courageous man whose actions were carefully thought through, and right from the start he was an opponent of the Nazi regime. As a resistance fighter for Germany and against Hitler, he was murdered by the Nazis in 1944. In June 1933, his participation in the International Labour Con- ference opened up the possibility of going into exile, but he opted instead to resist from inside Germany. That decision no doubt explains why he chose to pillory the regime by keeping silent at the International Labour Conference, rather than voicing public protests. Like so many other people in 1933, Leuschner had no idea of just how far the national socialists would later take their lust for annihilation and terror. But what was quite clear by 2 May 1933 at the latest, when the Nazis banned the free Ger- man trade unions, occupied their premises and packed countless trade unionists off to the concentration camps, was that even gestures of submission and far-reaching concessions to the Nazis would do nothing to ensure the organizational survival of trade unions that three generations of German workers had built up into one of Europe’s most powerful trade union organizations. At the same time, open political resistance in June 1933 would almost cer- tainly have meant ill-treatment, torture and imprisonment, without in any way improving the chances of success. In this situation, Wilhelm Leuschner needed to adopt the right tactics for his appearance at the International Labour Conference, vii Workers’ resistance against Nazi Germany at the International Labour Conference 1933 and the Workers’ Group had to ponder how it could effectively show solidarity with the German unions without exposing German trade unionists, and Wilhelm Leuschner in particular, to even greater danger. Reiner Tosstorff’s study sets out to describe and understand this complex set of circumstances. And looking beyond this concrete individual case, it still raises