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War and the Working Class: The Case of Düsseldorf 1914–1918

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Elizabeth H. Tobin
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The causes of any revolution are notoriously hard to discover. Despite years of effort, historians still disagree about the relative importance of the short-term and long-term causes of the German revolution in 1918–19. Some describe the “events” at the end of the war as a largely unrevolutionary desire for peace and food, brought about by the privations of the war years; others explain them as the culmination of decades of escalating class conflicts, which the conditions of war sharply exposed. One problem with this whole debate has been an insufficient knowledge of exactly what happened to Germany's workers during the war. Although most historians agree that money wages went up, real wages declined and most people ate less, few have been able to gauge the extent or importance of the change in wages or determine whether workers were simply somewhat hungry, malnourished, or starving. Furthermore there is not enough known about the composition of the work force during the war and the different hardships endured by skilled and unskilled workers.

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Central European History , Volume 18 , Issue 3-4 , September 1985 , pp. 257 - 298
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1985

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References

1. Two of the best examples of the first interpretation are Moore, Barrington Jr., Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt (New York, 1978)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Winkler, Heinrich A., Von der Revolution zur Stabilisierung: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1918 bis 1924 (Berlin/Bonn, 1984)Google Scholar. For the second interpretation the seminal work is Kocka, Jürgen, Klassengesellschaft im Krieg 1914–1918 (Göttingen, 1973)Google Scholar. Mary Nolan follows this analysis for Düsseldorf, , Social Democracy and Society: Working-class Radicalism in Düsseldorf 1890–1920 (New York, 1981)Google Scholar. This article disagrees with Nolan's argument that the war is important mainly because it accentuates prewar trends.

2. An exception is Gunter Mai's excellent Kriegswirtschaft und Arbeiterbewegung in Württemberg 1914–1918 (Stuttgart, 1983)Google Scholar. One reason for the scarcity of works on these subjects may be that the sources are incomplete, scattered, and sometimes contradictory. I have therefore discussed the limitations of separate sources in the notes.

3. For a fuller discussion of the processes which radicalized both workers and the social democratic leaders, see my dissertation, “The Revolution in Düsseldorf, 1918–19” (Princeton, 1984)Google Scholar. For a comparison of Düsseldorf with other cities, see Tobin, , “Revolution and Alienation: The Foundations of Weimar,” in Towards the Holocaust: The Social and Economic Collapse of the Weimar Republic, ed. Dobkowski, Michael and Wallimann, Isidor (Westport, CN, 1983), 155–76.Google Scholar

4. Most, Otto, Düsseldorf als Handels-, Industrie-, Kunst- und Gartenstadt (Düsseldorf, probably 1913), 11.Google Scholar

5. Henning, Friedrich-Wilhelm, Düsseldorf und seine Wirtschaft: Zur Geschkhte einer Region, vol. 2, Von 1860 bis zur Gegenwart (Düsseldorf, 1981): 405.Google Scholar

6. For Schiess: Balkenhol, Bernd, Armut und Arbeitslosigkeit in der Industrialisierung—dargestellt am Beispiel Düsseldorfs 1850–1900 (Düsseldorf, 1976), 33Google Scholar; Beckers, Hubertus, Entwicklungsgeschichte der Industrieunternehmen in Düsseldorf (1815–1914) (Ph.D. diss., Cologne, 1958), 107Google Scholar. For Piedboeuf: Beckers, 67, 82; Der Deutsche Metallarbeiter-Verband im Jahre 1916, Jahr- und Handbuch für Verbandsmitglieder, ed. Metallarbeiter-Verbandes, Vorstand des Deutschen (Stuttgart, 1917), 101Google Scholar. For Poensgen: Most, 8; Beckers, 70, 78, 115; Henning, 419–20. For Rheinmetall: “Erhardt Nummer” of Deutsche Industrie, Deutsche Kultur, no. 15, Jg. IV (Berlin, probably 1906–1907): 5Google Scholar, in Mannesmann Archiv (MA), R7 60 06. For Mannesmann: Memo from Mannesmann's Statistisches Büro, 25 June 1918, MA, M 11. 018.

7. For the number of iron and steel firms, see Most, 7; Henning, 402. For the number employing ten or more persons on 31 Dec. 1913, see Bericht über den Stand und die Verwaltung der Gemeinde-Angelegenheiten der Stadt Düsseldorf für den Zeitraum vom 1. April 1913 bis 31. März 1914 (henceforth Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1913) (Düsseldorf, n.d.), 206Google Scholar.

8. Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf (HStADü) 15086, 15136, 15224; Oehler, Adalbert, Düsseldorf im Weltkrieg: Schicksal und Arbeit einer deutschen Grossstadt (Düsseldorf, 1927), 244Google Scholar; Balkenhol, 31–34; Henning, 407, 418, 589; Beckers 72–118; “Ehrhardt Nummer,” 5; MA, RO 11 11, folder 1; R7 60 06; M 11. 018.

9. Mitteilungen zur Statistik der Stadt Düsseldorf, no. 3: Industrie und Handelsgewerbe in Düsseldorf nach der Betriebszählung von 12. Juni 1907, bearbeitet von DrMost, Otto (Düsseldorf, 1908), Part B, 4–5.Google Scholar

10. Statistisches Jahrbuch deutscher Städte, Jg. 21 (1916): 388–89. Only approximate comparisons are possible, as the figures presented do not include integrated steel plants. See also Mai, 63.

11. Mitteilungen, 27; 100 Jahre Henkel, 1876–1976 (Dortmund, 1976), 72Google Scholar; Most, 10. The suburb of Gerresheim and thus the factory had not been incorporated into Düsseldorf at the time of the 1907 census.

12. According to Mitteilungen, at the time of the 1907 census, Düsseldorf's total population was 262,474, the number of blue-collar workers in industry 47,568 (18.1%) and the total employed in steel, metal, and machines 24,460. On 31 Dec. 1913, the population was 402,300 (Oehler, 6); the number of blue-collar workers in factories with a minimum often workers, and in some smaller factories, was 59,081 (14.7%) (Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1913, 206–7) and the total number employed in steel, metals, and machines was 45,000 (Henning, 589).

13. Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, 207, pt. 2 (Berlin, 1910): 477, 479Google Scholar. The Betriebszählung largely confirms these percentages, Mitteilungen, 29.

14. Membership in Compulsory Health Insurance Funds (Krankenkassen), Statistischer Monatsbericht der Stadt Düsseldorf, July 1914.

15. Gewerbeinspektion zu Düsseldorf Stadt, HStADü 15058; Henning, 590.

16. From firms' requests for postwar contracts, HStADü 15224, and a report from the Reichswerft, HStADü 15141.

17. Lux, Hans Arthur, ed., Düsseldorf, 2d ed. (Düsseldorf, 1925), 256–57.Google Scholar

18. Oehler, 244.

19. 1 July 1914: 132, 152; 1 Sept. 1914: 93, 969. The membership of the Compulsory Health Insurance Funds began to register slow growth again by 1 Oct. 1914, Statistische Monatsberichte der Stadt Düsseldorf, 1914–1918. These funds were compulsory for all employed persons whose income did not exceed 5,000 Mk./year, with some exceptions. For a full explanation of Krankenkasse membership, see Dawson, William, Social Insurance in Germany 1883–1911 (London, 1912).Google Scholar

20. Krankenkasse statistics can give some indications of these changes. The membership in Innungs-Krankenkassen, or guild insurance groups, dropped steadily throughout the war. For example the bakers' guild insurance group counted 886 members on 31 Jan. 1915, 526 in 1916, 485 in 1917, and 381 in 1918. Membership in the textile insurance groups also dropped steadily throughout the war (710 on 1 Jan. 1915, 142 in 1917). But membership in the “iron and steel” factory insurance groups (excluding machine workers) regained its prewar strength by 1 May 1915 (21, 776) and doubled that number by 1 May 1917 (43,141). Krankenkasse statistics provide a useful indication of the timing and volume of changes in the working class, but membership figures for different sectors do not show the exact number of workers in that sector. Not all those blue-collar workers employed in a given industry necessarily belonged to a firm insurance company, but some white-collar workers did. Jahresbericht des Statistischen Amts der Stadt Düsseldorf für die Jahre 1915 bis 1918 (Düsseldorf, 1919), 86–90Google Scholar; Statistiche Monatsberichte der Stadt Düsseldorf, Mar.. 1914–Mar. 1917.

21. The trade inspection's yearly survey counted all firms with at least ten workers and, in some branches, some smaller firms as well. Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1913, 206; Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf für den Zeitraum vom 1. April 1914 bis 31. März 1919 (Düsseldorf, n.d.), 352.Google Scholar

22. Approximate number of migrants to Düsseldorf: 1912:70,800; 1913:67,400; 1914: 60,500; 1915:66,500; 1916:62,500; 1917:68,000; 1918: 34,000. Calculated from charts in Zur wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Entwicklung Düsseldorfs im Jahre 1913: Jahresbericht des Statistischen Amts der Stadt Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf, 1914), 3Google Scholar and in Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1914–1919, 13.

23. Oehler, 245–47.

24. Oehler, 248.

25. Kriegsamtstelle questionaires, MA, R2 1015 and from 9 Mar. 1918, MA, R1 10 72, folder 1.

26. Oehler, 243. For substantiation of the total number of workers see also the report of the Stellv. Generalstab der Armee, Berlin, to Kriegsministerium (31,000 in Apr. 1918), Stern, Leo, ed., Die Auswirkungen der Grossen Sozialistischen Oktoberrevolution auf Deutschland, 3: 1293Google Scholar; the city report on “hard workers” which gives specific figures for Rheinmetall (29,161 in Mar. 1918, 34,695 in Sept. 1918), HStADü 15285; and the report by Lt. Kühn from Dec. 1918, HStADü 15107. Oehler gives a figure of 48,000 as Rheinmetall's largest work force during the war and the same figure is reported in 50 Jahre Rheinmetall (Rheinmetall-Borsig, 1939), 77Google Scholar. But in a Dec. 1918 application for peace-goods contracts the firm sets the highest figure at 41,000 HStADü 15224. For the Nov. 1918 figure for female employment, see Lt. Kühn, HStADü 15107, p. 64.

27. Bry, Gerhard, Wages in Germany, 1871–1945 (Princeton, 1960), 54.Google Scholar

28. Bry, 434; Zimmermann, Waldemar, “Die Veränderung der Einkommens- und Lebensverhältnisse der deutschen Arbeiter durch den Krieg,” in Die Einwirkung des Krieges auf die Bevölkerung und Lebenshaltung in Deutschland, ed. Meerwarth, Rudolf, et al. (Stuttgart, 1932), 380.Google Scholar

29. Most of the data on wages in D¨sseldorf during the war consist of scattered figures from individual factories, with four exceptions: 1) a survey of wages at 44 firms taken by the Arbeitgeber-Verband für den Bezirk der Nordwestlichen Gruppe des Vereins Deutscher Eisen und Stahlindustrieller (Arbeitgeber-Verband Nordwest) in June 1917, MA, P8 25 23, folder 1 pp. 370–79; 2) figures on average wages at both Mannesmann plants for June 1914 and Oct. 1918, MA, M 11. 019, p. 262; 3) a number of wage series for several workshops at the Düsseldorfer Pipes and Iron-Rolling Works, MA, R1 10 72; R1 10 76, folder 5; R2 1014; R2 1015; R8 10 26; and 4) a survey of the wages of skilled and less-skilled turners and smiths in Düsseldorf, Mar. 1918, Zimmermann, 381.

30. “Ortsübliche Lohn,” Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, Jg. 35 (1914): 90; average wage for new metal workers computed from data given in Jahresbericht des Statistischen Amts der Stadt Düsseldorf, 1913, 38. For wartime wages, HStADü 9081, p. 162; 33576; and the result of the Arbeitgeber-Verband Nordwest survey, including 12, 095 women at 44 firms, MA, P8 25 23, folder 1, p. 370.

31. For Düsseldorfer Pipes: MA, R1 10 72, folders 1 and 2; R2 10 15; for Rheinmetall: HStADü 33588, p. 17.

32. Oehler, 251; Zimmermann, 381.

33. Bry, 198, 203.

34. The lathe workers were guaranteed an hourly wage of 0.60- 0.70 Mk., but usually earned more. Police report, HStADü 33590, p. 196; mayor to army command in Münster, Feb. 1917, Stern, 2: 279.

35. Ernst Schiess and Haniel & Lueg each agreed to one-time only bonuses; Losenhausen raised its wages. Police report, HStADü 9081, pp. 6–8.

36. Report from mayor, Stern, 2: 379.

37. Reports from the police chief: for Rheinmetall in Feb. 1917, HStADü 33590, p. 202, and Stern, 2: 380–81; for Rheinmetall in June 1917, HStADü 33590, p. 237 (at the detonator workshop) and p. 238 (in Rath); for the Düsseldorfer Iron and Wire Industry, HStADü 33590, p. 276.

38. Bry, 110. The Düsseldorf case, in which wage inequalities appear to have heightened radicalism, differs from that reported by other researchers in which a narrowing of the difference between the wages of skilled and unskilled promoted radicalism. See Cronin, J. E., “Labor Insurgency and Class Formation: Comparative Perspectives on the Crisis of 1917–1920 in Europe,” Social Science History 4 (1980): 125–52.Google Scholar

39. The cost of food index used by Bry is very similar to that used here for Düsseldorf. His cost of living index is somewhat higher. Had prices of other goods in Düsseldorf been available, the argument about the decline in real wages would have been strengthened. Bry, 440–42.

40. Oehler, 630, on the increase in savings; see Mai, 399–400 for comparison.

41. Bry, 46; Knackfuss, Karl, Die Arbeitszeit-Frage in der rheinisch-westfälischen Eisen- und Stahlindustrie: Ihre Entwicklung und produktionstechnische Bedeutung (Ph.D. diss., Cologne, 1927), 2, in MA, P2 25 29Google Scholar.

42. HStADü 33588, p. 11; 33590, p. 196; Oehler, 251.

43. Arbeitgeber-Verband Nordwest to Ernst Poensgen in Hoerde, MA, P8 25 23, folder 1, p. 74.

44. MA, R2 10 14; R1 10 72, folder 1.

45. Police reports on strikes at three different construction firms, all working on construction of an addition for Rheinmetall on 20 Dec. 1917, HStADü 33590, pp. 278–80.

46. DMV im Jahre 1916, 335.

47. According to the factory, the hourly wage for these workers was 0.60−0.70 Mk., but they usually earned more than this through piece work. HStADü 33590, p. 196; 9081, p. 164.

48. Police report, 6 May 1918, HStADü 9081, p. 539.

49. For the lengthy negotiations about a shortened work week, see the descriptions by the Arbeitgeber-Verband Nordwest, Rundschreiben no. 9/18, 25 Mar. 1918 and no. 19/18, 6 June 1918, HStADü 9081, pp. 548–51.

50. 13 July 1918, HStADü 9081, p. 547.

51. Police reports, HStADü 33588, p. 1; 33590, p. 296.

52. Police report, 10 May 1918, HStADü 9081, p. 542.

53. See reports on the weekly market during the war in the Düsseldorfer Volkszeitung (VZ).

54. Oehler, 311, 376.

55. 17 Apr. 1917, HStADü Präsidialbüro (Präs.) I. 29, p. 247. Descriptions of the centrality of the food issue for workers' mood can be found in almost all reports on general morale during the war, for example the quarterly reports of 15 Nov. 1917, HStADü Präs. I. 29, p. 377; 6 May 1918, HStADü Präs. I. 29, p. 420; 24 Sept. 1918, Stadtarchiv Düsseldorf (SADü) III 4604, p. 248.

56. Unless otherwise noted, all material concerning food rations for normal citizens and for “hard workers” comes from the following sources: Oehler, and the records of the three committees which met regularly during the war. At the highest level, the Regierungspräsidenten of the three Rhenish governmental districts, Düsseldorf, Arnsberg, and Cologne, met approximately once a month at the train station in Dortmund to decide upon guidelines, Dezerentenbesprechungen, HStADü 15073. The second committee consisted of the Regierungspräsident of Düsseldorf and all the Regierungsräte, Landräte, Oberbürgermeister and Beigeordneten, as well as invited guests, the Committee for Discussion of Food Questions, HStADü 14914–14917. The third committee was the executive, or Hauptausschuss, of the Committee for Discussion, including only the Regierungspräsident and a select group of county officials from the full committee. The mayor of Düsseldorf or his deputy and at least one city Beigeordnete were always present, HStADü 14915–14917.

57. Oehler, 350; Hoffmann, Erich, Dr. Francis Kruse (Leipzig, 1937), 153Google Scholar; report by an eyewitness, SADü XXIII 32.

58. Police reports, HStADü 33590, pp. 235–41, 255–58.

59. Comparison of the poorhouse diet cited by Teuteberg with other attempts to estimate prewar diets indicate that the poorhouse diet was reasonably typical, although perhaps more nutritious than other diets. The inmates probably ate rather more potatoes and bread, and less meat and beer. For the average diet of a Württemberger before the war, see Mai, 409, and for the average diet of a German worker in 1907–1908, see Zimmermann, 319. Roberts, James, “Drink and Working Class Living Standards in Late 19th Century Germany,” in Arbeiterexistenz im 19.Jahrhundert: Lebensstandard und Lebensgestaltung deutscher Arbeiter und Handwerker, ed. Conze, Werner and Engelhardt, Ulrich (Stuttgart, 1981), 89Google Scholar, has estimated from a survey of metal workers' food budgets that their calorie intake ranged from 21, 586 to 26, 206 per week, depending on income.

60. Oehler, 444, gives the total rations available for four weeks to a family of five with three children ages 12, 7, and 1 1/2. I have divided the rations by four, for the number of weeks, assumed that the two younger children received half rations and that the father received hard worker rations. I confirmed these calculations by checking the resulting figures against other sources which provide data on rationing for these two time periods, listed in footnote 56. Unfortunately, these independent sources only give rationing figures for butter and fats, bread, potatoes, meat, and sugar.

61. Because the figures presented in this table depict such extraordinary nutritional deficiencies, every attempt was made to bias the results in the direction of higher calories and protein content. Although Düsseldorfers ate food of poor quality, I calculated nutritional content as if the food were of good quality and as if it were prepared in the most nutritious manner possible.

62. Oehler, 329.

63. Popplow, Ulrich, “Göttingen in der Novemberrevolution 1918/19,” Göttinger Jahrbuch 24 (1976): 209Google Scholar; these figures are further substantiated by the Reichsgesundheitsamt which calculated the calories in rations in the summer of 1917 at 1000/day, compared to the prewar necessary minimum of 2280/day. Mai, 412.

64. HStADü 15073, pp. 366–67; reports from the mayor's office give the total population as approximately 390, 000, SADü VII 534, p. 18; a report from the office of the Regierungspräsident gives the total number of hard workers in the arms industries as 101, 044 in Sept. 1918, HStADü 15284.

65. “Ladenspreise von Lebensmittel,” Statistische Monatsberichte der Stadt Düsseldorf, June, July 1914; June, July 1918. Black market price for butter from a report by the Regierungspräsident, Stern 3:1402; black market price for potatoes from a speech made by a builder from Düsseldorf at a meeting of the three metal workers' unions in Essen, 30 July 1918, HStADü 9081, p. 503.

66. Hoffmann, 162–65; quarterly report, 6 May 1918, HStADü Pras. I. 29, pp. 421–22.

67. Hoffmann, 162.

68. Hoffmann, 165. Some cities also apparently bought food in the black market, Skalweit, August, Die deutsche Kriegsernährungswirtschaft (Stuttgart, 1927), 221Google Scholar. Thus the factories' activities not only kept food away from legal markets but their competition with local government agencies probably also drove up prices within the black market.

69. Hoffmann, 165; guidelines for provisioning industries, 13 Feb. 1918 and 15 July 1918, HStADü 15073, pp. 311, 315, 388. This was part of a nationwide attempt to control industry's involvement in the black market, Skalweit, 227.

70. HStADü 15314.

71. VZ, 27 11. 1918, and Freie Presse, 27 11. 1918. The total list of food found at Rheinmetall: 285, 500 lbs. peas, 40,000 lbs. beans, 150,000 lbs. potatoes, 27,000 lbs. groats, 101,200 lbs. pot barley, 72,000 lbs. Wichen and lentils, 15,800 lbs. oats, 6,100 lbs. barley, 38,000 lbs. salt, 49,000 lbs. wheat flour. Mai, 414, shows that the Daimler factory operated on the same scale. By 1917 it had its own stalls with pigs and cows, a slaughterhouse, chicken yards, grain fields, fruit gardens, a lemonade factory, and a winery.

72. Oehler, 289–489, gives the administrative details of price control.

73. Oehler, 344–47.

74. Oehler, 309.

75. Between 1901 and 1909 the actual level of occupancy fluctuated between 2%-5%, Henning, 556.

76. Figures cited by the USPD at a meeting in Düsseldorf in Sept. 1919, HStADü 15972, p. 75. The USPD cited 1% availability in 1918; Oehler, 93, 537, reported 1.4% for Oct. 1917 and 0.8% for May 1918.

77. Evidence for the entire governmental district of Düsseldorf, Statistisches Jahrbuch des Preussischen Staates 16 (1920): 86–87.Google Scholar

78. 1914: 1, 770; 1916: 98; 1917: 26. Oehler, 537.

79. Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1914–1919, 110.

80. HStADü 15972, p. 75.

81. Hoffmann, 147–48; Oehler, 265, 506–8; Beschlussbuch der Stadtverordneten-Versammlung, Bd. 54, 5 June 1917 – 17 Dec. 1918, SADü. One hundred German pounds equals 110.23 U.S. pounds.

82. Oehler, 490–91; Zeitungsbericht, 18 Oct. 1918, SADü III 4604.

83. Zeitungsbericht, 18 Oct. 1918, SADü III 4604.

84. Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1914–1919, 244.

85. 17 Apr. 1917, HStADü Präs. I. 29, p. 257.

86. Verwaltungsbericht Düsseldorf 1914–1919, 37.

87. Zeitungsbericht, 15 Nov. 1917, HStADü Präs. I. 29.

88. 17 Apr. 1917, SADü III 4604, p. 262.

89. I am currently working on a manuscript which will treat the political radicalization of Düsseldorf's workers much more fully. See also my dissertation, “The Revolution in Düsseldorf,” chaps. 3 and 4.

90. On 31 Dec. 1915 the membership of Düsseldorf's Free Union Cartel was 7, 739, or 34% of its July 1914 strength. It began to gain new members again in 1916, HStADü 15906; Freie Presse, 20 July 1918; Anhang zum Korrespondenzblatt der Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands, 24–30 (1914–1920)Google Scholar.

91. Stern 3:1153–1158.

92. HStADü 33590, pp. 201–2; Präs. I. 29, p. 255; Stern 2: 378–81.

93. HStADü 33590, pp. 230–58; Stern 2:597–600.

94. Police chief to the district president, 11 Feb. 1918, HStADü 14966.

95. Notizen zum Halbjahrs-Bericht, by Police Inspector Gauer, 5 Apr. 1917, SADü III 4604, p. 150; also Halbjahrs-Bericht, 23 Sept. 1918, SADü III 4604.

96. Police report to Berlin, 12 Aug. 1918, cited in Klein, Peter, Separatisten am Rhein und Ruhr: Die Konterrevolutionäre separatische Bewegung der deutschen Bourgeoisie in der Rheinprovinz und in Westfalen, November 1918 bis Juli 1919 (Berlin, 1961), 23.Google Scholar