Free Association of German Trade Unions information
Trade union federation in Imperial and early Weimar Germany
FVdG
Free Association of German Trade Union
Freie Vereinigung deutscher Gewerkschaften
Re-founded as
Free Workers' Union of Germany
Founded
1897
Dissolved
1919
Headquarters
Berlin
Location
Germany
Members
1897: 6,803 1900: 19,752 1903: 17,061 1906: 16,662 1910: 6,454 1914: 6,000[1] August 1919: 60,000 December 1919: 111,675[2]
Key people
Fritz Kater Gustav Keßler Fritz Köster Rudolf Rocker
The Free Association of German Trade Unions (German: Freie Vereinigung deutscher Gewerkschaftenⓘ; abbreviated FVdG; sometimes also translated as Free Association of German Unions[3] or Free Alliance of German Trade Unions)[4] was a trade union federation in Imperial and early Weimar Germany. It was founded in 1897 in Halle under the name Representatives' Centralization of Germany as the national umbrella organization of the localist current of the German labor movement. The localists rejected the centralization in the labor movement following the sunset of the Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 and preferred grassroots democratic structures. The lack of a strike code soon led to conflict within the organization. Various ways of providing financial support for strikes were tested before a system of voluntary solidarity was agreed upon in 1903, the same year that the name Free Association of German Trade Unions was adopted.
During the years following its formation, the FVdG began to adopt increasingly radical positions. During the German socialist movement's debate over the use of mass strikes, the FVdG advanced the view that the general strike must be a weapon in the hands of the working class. The federation believed the mass strike was the last step before a socialist revolution and became increasingly critical of parliamentary action. Disputes with the mainstream labor movement finally led to the expulsion of FVdG members from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1908 and the complete severing of relations between the two organizations. Anarchist and especially syndicalist positions became increasingly popular within the FVdG. During World War I, the FVdG rejected the SPD's and mainstream labor movement's cooperation with the German state—known as the Burgfrieden—but was unable to organize any significant resistance to or continue its regular activities during the war. Immediately after the November Revolution, the FVdG very quickly became a mass organization. It was particularly attractive to miners from the Ruhr area opposed to the mainstream unions' reformist policies. In December 1919, the federation merged with several minor left communist unions to become the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD).
^Figures from before World War I taken from Müller 1985a, p. 344.
^Figures from 1919 taken from Bock 1969, p. 134 and 156 respectively.
^Bock 1990 (translated by Wayne Thorpe) uses this translation.
^Müller 1985b uses this variant.
and 24 Related for: Free Association of German Trade Unions information
Tradeunions in Germany have a history reaching back to the German revolution in 1848, and still play an important role in the German economy and society...
The European FreeTradeAssociation (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and freetrade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein...
unions and free-trade areas. Both types oftrading bloc have internal arrangements which parties conclude in order to liberalize and facilitate trade...
monetary unions List of customs and monetary unions List of economic and monetary unions Monetary unions Customs unions worldwide Freetrade areas worldwide...
The European Union has concluded freetrade agreements (FTAs) and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating...
in Germany. General Commission of German Trade Unions (1892–1919) FreeAssociationofGermanTradeUnions (1897–1919) Weimar Constitution 1919 Betriebsrätegesetz...
union confederation in Europe is the German Confederation ofTradeUnions. Usually there are at least two national union confederations, one for academically...
The Liechtenstein FreeTradeAssociation (German: Liechtensteinischer Freiwirtschaftsbund) was a political party in Liechtenstein active from 1931 to 1933...
controlled German Labor Front. In West Germany after World War II, freetradeunions were quickly resurrected and guaranteed by the German Grundgesetz...
International Confederation ofFreeTradeUnions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). The Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in Vienna...
Confederation ofFreeTradeUnions (ICFTU) in 1949. Throughout the Cold War, membership of the WFTU was made up predominantly oftradeunions from the Soviet-aligned...
The Federation ofFreeTradeUnions in Austria (German: Bund freier Gewerkschaften in Österreich) was a tradeunion centre in Austria. The federation was...
August 1914. It was the organ of the radical socialist Free AssociationofGermanTradeUnions (FVdG). Its original editor was Gustav Kessler, but he was...
totalitarianism of what would become the Soviet Union. In November 1918, they moved to Berlin; Rocker had been invited by FreeAssociationofGermanTradeUnions (FVdG)...
creates a freetrade area. Note that every customs union, common market, economic union, customs and monetary union and economic and monetary union is also...
it joined with the International Confederation ofFreeTradeUnions to form the International TradeUnion Confederation (ITUC). Rather than join ITUC, the...
customs union is generally defined as a type oftrade bloc which is composed of a freetrade area with a common external tariff. Customs unions are established...
creation of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund ("General German Trades Union Federation" / ADGB), an amalgamation of 52 tradeunions and other...
Global Information