South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-12-18
TRADE UNIONS In
GERMANY POSSESS
BIG MEMBERSHIPS
Son of President Ebert Says
Organizations Control
Labor Situation.
BY FRITZ EBERT. Jr.

q ANeUubHC-
Written Expressly for the Interna-
tionaI News Service.
BERLIN. Dec II. - The German
trades union movement Is a field OF
such tremendous proportions that II
Il would take volumes 10 explain Il IN
Al its various phases. However. be-
i low follows concise outline:
The German trades unions comprise
a total mem bershIp OF 10 million
. men and women workers. Il IS
4 needlss 20 emphasize that they pre-
sent a power with which any govern
q ment must count and against which
no government can AFFORD 20 govern
4 The movement has it's representatives
s ia every sphere Of German public
s life. we find them IN responsible
3 posts OF the smallest community. as
3 well as in the nations government
In the new cabinet, headed by Dr.
j With. trades un1onism Is represent
i ed by ecOgnized leaders. such as the
! Vice-Chancellor and Treas. Bauer,
: Food Minister Schmidt. both OF
4 whom are social democrats and
u graduates Of the free" trades union
ism; the minister OF posts. Giesberts.
and the minister Of labor, Brauns,
both Of whom are members OF the
i ~Christian" trade unions movement
3 and are close 20 the centrist party.
8 The Puussian premier. Stegerwald.
also Is prominently identified with
4 trades unionism-
Divided Against Selves.
A convincing proof OF the strength
OF unionism IN Germany was fur
nished in March. 1920. The organ
. Ted workers succeeded, through
strike which was carried out with
4 tunprecedented discipline and soHdar-
ity, IN chasing Herr Knapp and his
henchmen TO the devil and thus saw
ms the life OF the German republic.
The power Of German unionism
would be even greater II Il were not
for the fact that the inner councils
j are divided against each other.
We have. first, the Christian
unions. They are close 70 the cen
trist party, the alliance dating back
4 20 papaI encyclical Of May. 1921.
pleading for a Christian faith" basis
OF the trades union movement There
4 have been occasional Insurgent at
tempts against guardianship" 10y
the church but the trades unions
always remained victorious.
The Christian unions reject all
Tendencies within the movement
which might bring about an up
4 heaval OF the existing social order.
1 They claim that only a thorough
"inside-out" change of the Individual
man. whether he be capitalist or
workman. can help This group OF
uniOnism has a limited influence
which is confined chiefly to the
workers Of the Catholic faith In
1920 it had 1.760.792 members dis
tributed among 25 central unions.
Their funds amounted TO 4413,95O
marks.
Syndicallsts In Groups.
Another group within the German
Grades union movement is the So
called "Hirsch Duncker" union
group. They are essentially nation
uhstic and expect no Improvement of
their position from an International
brotherhood" one OF their prin-
ciples Is TO give preference to "the
road TO understanding They favor
the strike only as the ultimate
means to be used after an others
have failed. I'm 1920 they had II
unions with f.2c5,993 members and
he'd funds amounting to 5.33S.52S
marks.
Besides these main groups there
are minor ones. Including the "svu-
dicalists' and "yorkmen'S" uniou.
whose membership is recruited
mainly from the Ruhr district. the
Polish professional leagues" and the
i newest creation Of the German ma
Workers and Employees"
Far more powerful than all these
groups are the free" unions. count
Ing nearly nine million members.
Ghis group is divided into two parts.
the General German Workmen's I'M
ion and the General Free League Of
Employees. They are independent OF
each other. but pledged TO cooperate
in all questions Of common interest.
Third Faction Proposed.
Efforts are now under way 10 add
90 these two parts a third. the
League OF German Officials" COM
prising the officials of the reich. the
federal states and the communities
Il However, the officials who graduated
from the old school are "a vet un-
able 10 reconcile themselves TO the
idea OF being rated on the same level
with workmen and employees while
there is also considerable opposition
on among the workers against a CO.
operation with the officials. Never
theless. there are signs that sooner
or later the dream of the famous
trades union leader. Karl Legien.
or a solid front Of all workers. en-
pioyes and officials VIII be realized.
The dominating note IN the hfe of
the free unions is class war. This.
however. does not mean war in
every case. With these unions, too.
strike IS the ultimate means for the
realization or just demands They
viii not resort TO strikes until all
possibilities Of negotiations have been
exhausted.
Seek SOcialiStic Order.
The "workmen's communitfes'' did
remarkable work during the demo-
bilization or the armies Immediately
after the war. and the results OF that
work had far-reaching influence
upon the life OF the nation. Il was
in that stage or German history that
the trades union gained a decisive In
nuence upon the shaping OF the des-
tfnies or Ge-uany's economic lie IT
was then. too. that the communists
took up the battle against the work
uner's communities" However. the
destruction OF the trades unions or
dered BY MOSCOW could not possibly
De carried 20 success Slowly but
surely the Communistic influence Is
yielding 20 the realization among the
workers that only one policy can be