General Workers' Union of Germany
Encyclopedia
General Workers' Union of Germany , was the name of factory organisations formed following the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in opposition to the traditional trade unions. The AAUD was formed by the left communists in the Communist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD) who considered organising
based on trade
s as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. The council communists organised these factory organisations as the basis for region-wide workers' councils.
A section of the AAUD led by Otto Rühle
, based in Essen
, split from the AAUD, forming the Essen tendency of the AAUD, AAUD-E.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
based on trade
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
s as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. The council communists organised these factory organisations as the basis for region-wide workers' councils.
A section of the AAUD led by Otto Rühle
Otto Rühle
Otto Rühle was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars, and a founder with along with Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring and others of the group and magazine Internationale, which posed a revolutionary internationalism against a world of warring...
, based in Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, split from the AAUD, forming the Essen tendency of the AAUD, AAUD-E.
See also
- Council communismCouncil communismCouncil communism is a current of libertarian Marxism that emerged out of the November Revolution in the 1920s, characterized by its opposition to state capitalism/state socialism as well as its advocacy of workers' councils as the basis for workers' democracy.Originally affiliated with the...
- Left communismLeft communismLeft communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks at certain periods, from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism held by the Communist International...
- Factory committee - a similar institution in the Russian revolutionRussian RevolutionRussian Revolution can refer to:* Russian Revolution , a series of strikes and uprisings against Nicholas II, resulting in the creation of State Duma.* Russian Revolution...