Evening star., 1940-10-20

Why did the German wage-earners
and Salaried classes, on whom the Ma
tional Socialist Labor party relied for
early support, give up their fourishing
trade union and the freedom of initia-
tive and movement until they are now
virtually industrial serfs, tied to particu-
lar jobs and localities?
This timely question is briefly
answered in a 60-page pamphlet, How
Nazi Germany Has Modified and Con-
trolled Labor compiled from official
sources by DR.. Ludwig Hamburger, for
merly professor of labor legislation in
the University of Geneva and now a
visiting scholar at the Brookings Institu-
ton, which publishes his survey.
The most effective instrument of Nazi
control is the work book, modern
counterpart of the 18th century brass
collar of feudalism. The work book
law was enacted in February, 1886, about
two years after Hitler was appointed
Reich Chancellor by the ageing Presi-
dent Won Hindenburg. AS a gradual
measure, it applied at first only to the
neering industries. in which there
were shortages of skilled labor. BY Sep
tember, 1885, it had been extended to
cover nearly all the German wage
earning classes
Under the 1886 law the government
employment Office draws up work book
for each worker and salaried employe
who rRnllirp6 n submit his hOnk if ha
wishes to continue in employment Each
book contains details as to the bearers
apprenticeship, if any; vocational and
other training leading to specialization;
former positions held; present place of
work. In addition, it must show whether
the worker has driving or flying licenses
and his knowledge, if any, of agricultural
work.
Employer Keeps Book.
The information in the book is kept
on file on the registration cards of the
employment office while the actual books
remain in the hands of the employer, to
enable him to keep it up to date. The
employer must keep the proper employ
ment office informed on every entry or
change Of entry made.
The book makes it convenient for gov
ernmental authorities to insure that
every man or woman is working IN the
place they consider best for him and
the country, either by keeping him in
the place he is filling or by putting him
in another. The complete data provide
a comprehensive and detailed basis for
wholesale planning of a future labor
supply.
1t is interesting to note that this rigid
control became effective three years be-
fore the invasion of Poland. and that
while it was a part of the German war
economy it was accepted by the workers
before war had started Dr. Hamburger
observes:
THE German work book, in the hands
OF a monopolized employment service,
marks the end of the labor market, sub
stituting for it complete state control
over the movements of labor
The work book, however, was only one
of many measures used by Hitler and
his followers to subjugate the workers.
DR.. Hamburger confines himself to laws.
DEGREES and orders and does not men,
ton the equally important and strange
career of DR.. Robert Ley, the clustering
alcoholic, who, with storm trooper aid,
made himself Doss of the trade unions
and employers by combining their jurls-
dictions in the Nazi Labor Front"
Policy Developed by Trial.
AS a radical left-Winger among the
Nazi leaders, DR.. Ley copied the Com
munist plan of cells and blocks of work.
ers spied upon by political wardens. He
began his organizing work within few
months after Hitler's appointment as
chancellor, and by collecting the former
trade union dues and by levies on en-
ployers he has become one of the prin-
cipal financiers of Germany, with 3O0,-
100000 marks year at his disposal with
out accountability From part of this
fund, the workers are given holidays,
concerts and other entertainments, as
substitute for their lost freedom.
The total RECOMMENDATION of labor as it
exists today, DR.. Hamburger concludes,
was not fully planned in advance, but
with one step leading to another. as
Austria led to Czecho-Slovakia, Poland
and finally to Holland, Belgium and
France 1t began with unemployment
relief and paradoxical shortages of ag-
ricultural labor
The first actual restriction of freedom
to choose employment was decreed in
1884, when non-agricultural employers
were ordered to discharge former agrl-
cultural workers in order to relieve a