Positive Integration in Wilhelmine Germany: The Case of Nuremberg’s Building Workers,1899–1914

Abstract

Interpretations of the free trade unions' position in Wilhelmine state hsociety in the years before 1914 remain divided, with `pessimists' arguing that the unions were in a strategic cul-de-sac, while `optimists' point to the unions' positive integration. This article considers the nature and extent of positive integration by examining the activities of Nuremberg's Building Workers' Health and Safety Commission. It suggests that, while the Bavarian model of partial cooperation produced significant reforms between 1899 and 1904, thereafter the government's progressive impetus stalled and trade union disillusionment grew. At the local level, Nuremberg's municipal administration resisted even partial cooperation until 1912. It is this article's contention that the municipality's more conciliatory approach to building health and safety from this date was primarily a consequence of the city's changing political landscape. In this respect, trade union objectives were effectively tied to the political fortunes of the Social Democratic Party.