Free Workers' Union of Germany

The Free Workers' Union of Germany (; FAUD) was an anarcho-syndicalist trade union in Germany. It stemmed from the Free Association of German Trade Unions (FDVG) which combined with the Ruhr 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 to anarcho-syndicalism. This also led to further difficulties between the intellectual elites of the FAUD (AS), such as Rudolf Rocker, and the rank and file 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 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.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.

At its peak, the FAUD had 150,000 members.

Suppresion and legacy

Following the Nazis rise to power, in 1933 the Nazi regime suppressed the FAUD.

In spite of the FAUD's dismantlement, many people who had been members took up organized resistance against Nazism and fascism, particularly within the Ruhr region of Germany. Additionally, former FAUD members were also involved in smuggling texts into Nazi Germany from the Netherlands, and were involved in smuggling anti-authoritarian activists into the Netherlands. Former FAUD members who fled to Spain took part in the Spanish Civil War along side their allies in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. (see: Gruppe DAS and the revolution in Spain, 1936–1939).

The primary organ of the FAUD was the newspaper
Der Syndikalist
', which was first published in December 1918, and continued until the group's suppression by the Nazis.

The International Workers' Association (IWA) of which the FAUD was a member, was founded upon the initiative of the German organization in 1922. The anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers' Union (FAU) founded in 1977 considers itself a successor of the FAUD. The FAU was a member of the IWA until 2016.

See also

* List of trade unions
* Union of Manual and Intellectual Workers

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

Institute for Syndicalism ResearchFree Workers' Union of Germany/ Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands texts from the Kate Sharpley Library

{{Portal bar, Anarchism, Germany, Organized labour

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