Max Josephson (29 January 1868 – 2 February 1938) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

trade union leader. Born to a Jewish family in Oberbarnim, Josephson became an office assistant in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, and in 1892 was a founder of a small trade union, initially aiming to reduce the number of apprentices in the trade. He was appointed as the auditor of the union and, although he initially hoped that the union was stay out of politics, he accepted a decision to align with the Free Trade Unions, which were linked to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The union did not initially grow, so at the start of 1893, Josephson proposed that it was dissolved. The proposal was voted down, and he was instead elected as vice president, in which role he argued the unions should campaign for shorter working hours and no work on Sundays or public holidays. In 1894, he was elected as president of the union, and by this time, he was also coming to prominence in the Hamburg

Trades Council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

. In 1895, he joined the SPD. In 1897, Josephson supported forming the national

Central Union of Commercial Employees The Central Union of Commercial Employees (german: Zentralverband der Handlungsgehilfen, ZdH) was a trade union representing white collar commercial workers in Germany. The union was founded on the 5 July 1897, and launched the journal ''Handlung ...

, and he was elected as the union's secretary. He prioritised trying to recruit women as members, by organising dance lessons. He briefly served as editor of the union's newspaper, ''Handlungsgehülfen-Blatt'', in 1898. In 1899, he resigned as secretary of the union, to set up his own bookshop, but remained involved in the union. Josephson stood unsuccessfully for the SPD in both the 1901 and 1904 elections. In 1901, he again began working for the union, and in 1902, he was elected as its president. Initially, membership remained small, but after Josephson decided to focus on recruiting workers at

consumer co-operative A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a f ...

s, it began growing more rapidly, reaching 5,815 in 1905. Josephson supported the formation of the International Commercial Employees' Secretariat, in 1904, and served on a voluntary basis as its secretary. He stood down from his trade union posts in 1911, moving to work in the purchasing department of the German consumer associations' combine. In 1933, Josephson was fired, due to being a Jew. He found work as a commercial clerk in Hamburg, and died in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Josephson, Max 1868 births 1938 deaths German trade unionists People from Märkisch-Oderland