The Free Workers' Union of Germany (; FAUD) was an

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

in Germany. It stemmed from the Free Association of German Trade Unions (FDVG) which combined with the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

region's Freie Arbeiter Union on September 15, 1919. The FAUD was involved in the revolution in Germany from 1918 to 1923, and continued to be involved in the German labor movement after the FAUD began to decline in 1923. After 1921, the FAUD added an "AS" to their name, signifying a full transition from simple

syndicalism Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of prod ...

to anarcho-syndicalism. This also led to further difficulties between the intellectual elites of the FAUD (AS), such as

Rudolf Rocker Johann Rudolf Rocker (March 25, 1873 – September 19, 1958) was a German anarchist writer and activist. He was born in Mainz to a Roman Catholic artisan family. His father died when he was a child, and his mother when he was in his teens, so he ...

, and the

rank and file Rank and file may refer to: *A military term relating to the horizontal "ranks" (rows) and vertical "files" (columns) of individual foot-soldiers, exclusive of the officers *A term derived from the above used to refer to enlisted troops, as oppose ...

workers, mostly in the Ruhr region, who were more worried about "bread and butter" issues than anarchist political activities. These workers, the majority of the FAUD-(AS) members, formed the :Gelsenkircherichtung (Gelsenkirche tendency) within the movement, and given the movements

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

structure, began to drift away from the FAUD-(AS) intellectually and organizationally. Eventually, those workers who had joined during the revolution left the movement and the remaining FAUD-(AS) members came from the FDVG's original constituencies of the building trades and specialized textile workers. The

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

suppressed the FAUD in January 1933 after coming to power. However, many of its members continued to do political work illegally and organized resistance against the Nazi regime, both in Germany and elsewhere (see: Gruppe DAS and the revolution in Spain, 1936–1939). The International Workers' Association, of which the FAUD was a member, was founded upon the initiative of the German organization in 1922. The Free Workers' Union (FAU), which was founded in 1977, considers itself a successor of the FAUD. At its peak, the FAUD had 150,000 members. The primary organ of the FAUD was the newspaper
Der Syndikalist
', which was first published in December 1918, and continued until the groups suppression by the Nazis.Hans Manfred Bock, "Anarchosyndicalism in the German Labour Movement: a Rediscovered Minority Tradition." In ''Revolutionary Syndicalism: An International Perspective'', translated by Wayne Thorpe, 59–80 (Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1990) pp. 59-80; This text gives a general overview of the topic in English. Further reading can be found in German.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Institute for Syndicalism ResearchFree Workers' Union of Germany/ Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands texts from the Kate Sharpley Library
1918 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany Anarchist organisations in Germany Anarcho-syndicalism Defunct trade unions of Germany International Workers' Association National trade union centers of Germany Organizations of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 Trade unions established in 1919 Trade unions disestablished in 1933 Syndicalist trade unions {{Anarchism-stub

See also

References

Bibliography

External links