The General Workers' Union of Germany (german: Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands; AAUD) was a factory organisation formed following the
German Revolution of 1918–1919 in opposition to the traditional trade unions.
The AAUD was formed by the
left communist
Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they rega ...
s in the
Communist Workers' Party of Germany
The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. It was founded in April ...
(KAPD) who considered
organising based on
trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
s as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. They were influenced by the
industrial unionism of the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...
.
The council communists organised these factory organisations as the basis for region-wide
workers' councils
A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...
.
A section of the AAUD led by
Otto Rühle
Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars as well as a council communist theorist.
Early years
Otto was born in Großschirma, Saxony on 23 O ...
split from the AAUD, forming the
Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union – Einheitsorganisation
The Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union – Einheitsorganisation (AAUE or AAU-E) (English: General Workers' Union – Unified Organization) was an anti-parliamentarian council communist organisation established in Germany in October 1921. It was a split fro ...
.
The German-Dutch Communist Left - Philippe Bourrinet
/ref>
See also
* Council communism
Council communism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Strong in Germany ...
* Cuno strikes
The Cuno strikes were nationwide strikes in Germany against the government of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno in August 1923. The wave of strikes demanded, eventually with success, the resignation of the Cuno government, which occurred on 12 August 1923, ...
* Factory committee Factory committees (russian: script=Latn, zavodskoy komitet, , ), , , ) were workers' councils representing factory workers in the history of Russia and Soviet Union that accomplished workers' control in various forms. (In Russian language, the ter ...
* Left communism
Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they reg ...
* Works council
A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Program of the AAUD
Theses on the Role of the Party in the Proletarian Revolution
Communist organisations in Germany
Council communism
Labor in Germany
Labor history
Organizations of the German Revolution of 1918–1919