Carl Legien
Encyclopedia
Carl Legien was a German
unionist, moderate Social Democratic
politician and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions
.
, Province of Prussia
, (now Malbork
, Poland), to Rudolf, a tax official, and Maria Legien. His parents died in his childhood and Legien grew up in an orphanage in Thorn
, Province of Prussia (now Toruń
) from 1867 to 1875. He became a wood turner and served in the Prussian Army
from 1881 to 1884. He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany
(SPD) in 1885, a wood turners’ union in 1886 and worked as a turner in several cities in Germany until 1891, since 1886 in Hamburg
.
In 1887 Legien became the first chairman of the German Association of Turners and of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions (Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands) in 1891, a position he would hold until its dissolution in 1919. He was elected a member of the German Parliament
in 1893 (until 1898) and again in 1903 (until his death in 1920). He became the leader of the SPD's right wing and opposed its more leftist factions.
He took part in the International Workers Congresses of Paris, 1889
.
Legien became Chairman of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
in 1903 and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions
in 1913 until its dissolution in 1919.
At the outbreak of World War I
he supported the war with "patriotic fervor" and the SPD-majority’s Burgfrieden
policy, a "civil truce", which assured the German government not to "obstruct the German war effort". Legien and other leading Social Democrats expected this policy to end the animosity and discrimination of socialist workers in Germany, while the German Empire's government (particularly the War Ministry) evaluated organised labour as an important factor in war industries. As a result workers became a mobilized, disciplined loyal force in the war effort in return for concessions, and the German labour movement became an obstacle against opposition to war. In the context of the separation of the opposing Social Democratic minority, which led to the foundation of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
(USPD), Legien and Gustav Bauer
declared that the "Jewish gang" must be dealt with, in attempt to drive them out of the their faction.
Robert S. Wistrich
classifies Carl Legien as belonging to a group of whom some had antisemitic tendencies.
During the war he worked in variety of ways to help German war effort. He threw down calls from socialists in USA to mediate a end of conflict with German government, while defending the resumption of submarine warfare by German Kriegsmarine
as response to rejection to rejection of "Germany's sincere offer of immediate peace negotiations"
On 15 November 1918 he signed the Stinnes-Legien-Agreement with industrialist Hugo Stinnes
, an agreement in which the German employers for the first time accepted nationwide unions as legitimate workers-organisations and which introduced an eight-hour day, workers councils in plants with more than 50 employees and parity employment offices. The employers agreed to stop discrimination of union members and their support of "house unions" (yellow unions) while the unions rejected radical socialists’ demands. Most of the agreement's regulations became part of the Weimar German constitution.
In 1919 he became the first Chairman of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
.
To Legien the expected loss of Upper Silesia
to Poland
(calling them "primitive Poles") after World War I would intensify the 'psychological' impact of the "draconian peace" on the German working class.
He countered the right-wing Kapp Putsch
of March 1920 by organizing a massive general strike in Germany with about 12 million employees following the joint call of the legal government and the unions. The strike immediately halted all production, transportation, mining and public services, it was "the strongest mass movement the German proletariat ever created" and "gave the Kapp régime its death blow".
At that time he declined Friedrich Ebert
’s offer to become Chancellor of Germany.
Legien died after a short illness in Berlin
and was buried at Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
.
Bruno Taut
's "Wohnstadt Carl Legien", a social housing project of the 1920s and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, bears his name as well as several streets all over Germany. A memorial was erected in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
unionist, moderate Social Democratic
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
politician and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions
International Federation of Trade Unions
The International Federation of Trade Unions was an international organization of trade unions, existing between 1919 and 1945. IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU....
.
Biography
Legien was born in MarienburgMarienburg
-The historical German names of these places:*Ordensburg Marienburg , the large brick castle built by the Teutonic Knights**Malbork, Poland, site of the Ordensburg Marienburg, formerly Marienburg in Westpreußen and during World War II, Nazi Stalag XX-B for enlisted men*Alūksne, Latvia*Feldioara,...
, Province of Prussia
Province of Prussia
The Province of Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1829-1878 created out of the provinces of East Prussia and West Prussia....
, (now Malbork
Malbork
Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region , with 38,478 inhabitants . Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship...
, Poland), to Rudolf, a tax official, and Maria Legien. His parents died in his childhood and Legien grew up in an orphanage in Thorn
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
, Province of Prussia (now Toruń
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
) from 1867 to 1875. He became a wood turner and served in the Prussian Army
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War...
from 1881 to 1884. He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(SPD) in 1885, a wood turners’ union in 1886 and worked as a turner in several cities in Germany until 1891, since 1886 in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
In 1887 Legien became the first chairman of the German Association of Turners and of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions (Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands) in 1891, a position he would hold until its dissolution in 1919. He was elected a member of the German Parliament
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
in 1893 (until 1898) and again in 1903 (until his death in 1920). He became the leader of the SPD's right wing and opposed its more leftist factions.
He took part in the International Workers Congresses of Paris, 1889
International Workers Congresses of Paris, 1889
Two congresses were held in Paris, beginning on July 14, 1889. They had been called for by the London International Trades Union Congress, meeting in London in November 1888, and the French Syndicalist Congress, meeting at the same time. Internecine conflicts within the French socialist movement,...
.
Legien became Chairman of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres
International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres , later renamed the International Federation of Trade Unions, was an international consultative body of trade unions...
in 1903 and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions
International Federation of Trade Unions
The International Federation of Trade Unions was an international organization of trade unions, existing between 1919 and 1945. IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU....
in 1913 until its dissolution in 1919.
At the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he supported the war with "patriotic fervor" and the SPD-majority’s Burgfrieden
Burgfrieden
Burgfrieden—literally "fortress peace" or "castle peace" but more accurately "party truce"—is a German term used for the political truce the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the other political parties agreed to during World War I...
policy, a "civil truce", which assured the German government not to "obstruct the German war effort". Legien and other leading Social Democrats expected this policy to end the animosity and discrimination of socialist workers in Germany, while the German Empire's government (particularly the War Ministry) evaluated organised labour as an important factor in war industries. As a result workers became a mobilized, disciplined loyal force in the war effort in return for concessions, and the German labour movement became an obstacle against opposition to war. In the context of the separation of the opposing Social Democratic minority, which led to the foundation of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
(USPD), Legien and Gustav Bauer
Gustav Bauer
' was a German Social Democratic Party leader and Chancellor of Germany from 1919 to 1920.Born in Darkehmen near Königsberg in East Prussia, Bauer, who rose to notice through his leadership of a white-collar trade union, served from 1908 to 1918 as chairman of the General Commission of Trade...
declared that the "Jewish gang" must be dealt with, in attempt to drive them out of the their faction.
Robert S. Wistrich
Robert S. Wistrich
Robert Solomon Wistrich is the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the head of the University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Wistrich is "a leading scholar of the history of antisemitism."-Early...
classifies Carl Legien as belonging to a group of whom some had antisemitic tendencies.
During the war he worked in variety of ways to help German war effort. He threw down calls from socialists in USA to mediate a end of conflict with German government, while defending the resumption of submarine warfare by German Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
as response to rejection to rejection of "Germany's sincere offer of immediate peace negotiations"
On 15 November 1918 he signed the Stinnes-Legien-Agreement with industrialist Hugo Stinnes
Hugo Stinnes
-Life and career:Stinnes was born in Mülheim, in the Ruhr Valley, North German Confederation. His father was also named Hugo, and his grandfather Matthias Stinnes had founded a modest enterprise in Mülheim....
, an agreement in which the German employers for the first time accepted nationwide unions as legitimate workers-organisations and which introduced an eight-hour day, workers councils in plants with more than 50 employees and parity employment offices. The employers agreed to stop discrimination of union members and their support of "house unions" (yellow unions) while the unions rejected radical socialists’ demands. Most of the agreement's regulations became part of the Weimar German constitution.
Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
The Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund was a confederation of German trade unions in Germany founded during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1919 and was initially powerful enough to organize a general strike in 1920 against a right-wing coup d'état. After the 1929 Wall Street crash,...
.
To Legien the expected loss of Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...
to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(calling them "primitive Poles") after World War I would intensify the 'psychological' impact of the "draconian peace" on the German working class.
He countered the right-wing Kapp Putsch
Kapp Putsch
The Kapp Putsch — or more accurately the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch — was a 1920 coup attempt during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 aimed at overthrowing the Weimar Republic...
of March 1920 by organizing a massive general strike in Germany with about 12 million employees following the joint call of the legal government and the unions. The strike immediately halted all production, transportation, mining and public services, it was "the strongest mass movement the German proletariat ever created" and "gave the Kapp régime its death blow".
At that time he declined Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .When Ebert was elected as the leader of the SPD after the death of August Bebel, the party members of the SPD were deeply divided because of the party's support for World War I. Ebert supported the Burgfrieden and...
’s offer to become Chancellor of Germany.
Legien died after a short illness in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and was buried at Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
The Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery , also known as the Memorial to the Socialists , is a cemetery in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. When the cemetery was founded in 1881 it was called the Freidrichsfelde Municipal Cemetery Berlin...
.
Honours
In 1922 the Stinnes-line named "MS Carl Legien" in his honour.Bruno Taut
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut , was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar period....
's "Wohnstadt Carl Legien", a social housing project of the 1920s and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, bears his name as well as several streets all over Germany. A memorial was erected in Berlin-Kreuzberg.