The Changing Relations Between Trade Unions and the Social Democratic Party in West Germany

1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-415
Author(s):  
Klaus von Beyme
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Cooperative Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western Democracies

In western democracies different patterns of cooperation among working class organizations have developed. The three ‘pillars’ of the working class movement in Britain, the trade unions, the party and the cooperative movement, have no equivalent in the history of Germany, for two reasons.

Reimagining Energy and Growth: Decoupling and the Rise of a New Energy Paradigm in West Germany, 1973–1986

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Gross
Keyword(s):  
Energy Supply ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Oil Shocks ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Energy ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Reducing Energy

AbstractThis article traces the rise of new ideas about energy and growth in West Germany between 1973 and 1986. It shows how new economic expertise emerged in response to the oil shocks, and looks at how West Germany could, paradoxically, sustain growth in a world of seemingly exhausted and insecure energy sources. These experts reconceptualized the economy to imagine a future where “decoupling”—reducing energy consumption while expanding Gross Domestic Production—was possible. They found support in the Social Democratic Party, which, in using their ideas to overcome an internal rift precipitated by the rise of the Green movement in the 1970s, helped make these new ideas mainstream. Investigating this new energy paradigm helps us understand why Germany began to diverge from other large, industrialized states in the 1980s, as it increasingly focused on energy conservation rather than on expanding its energy supply.

Decentralisation in Britain: A Critique of the Case in the Light of West German Experience

1983 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
British Experience ◽  
British Case

The regional decentralisation of government has been persistently advocated in Britain, but none of the attempts to move in this direction has had any success. The comprehensive proposals published on behalf of the Social Democratic Party in July 1982 are taken as a basis for examining why this reform theme nevertheless persists. The assumptions underlying the call for regional government in Britain are set out and then examined in the context of West German federalism. It is argued that the main assumptions in the British case for regional decentralisation were of relatively little importance in the reshaping of a federal system in West Germany, nor have they had much influence on the subsequent consolidation of such a system. Further light is thrown on the obstacles to decentralisation in Britain by considering some of the centralising tendencies which have actually been reinforced after the structural reform of local government. The conclusion is that proposals for extensive regional decentralisation in Britain fail because they work against the grain of British experience in the structuring of government.

scholarly journals The Origins and Myths of the Swedish Model of Workplace Democracy

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
ASTRID HEDIN
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Workplace Democracy ◽  
Democratic Socialism ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Swedish Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dominant Narratives

AbstractIn 1976 Sweden adopted a law on workplace democracy, presented by the Social Democratic government as the ‘reform of the century’. What can the reform tell us about the history of the Swedish Model and how it was revised during the early 1970s under the prime minister, Olof Palme? This article compares four grand narratives of the development of welfare states, viewing dominant narratives of the Swedish Model as influential myths in their own right. The article argues that despite its global reputation as a hallmark of ‘democratic socialism’, the Swedish workplace democracy reform was a broad cross-class compromise, in the wake of a pan-European wave of similarly labelled reforms. Furthermore, the reform served to protect workplaces against Communist activism. The argument builds on the internal meeting protocols of the board and executive committee of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.

The “Polishness” of Production: Factory Politics and the Reinvention of Working-Class National and Political Identities in Russian Poland's Textile Industry, 1880-1910

Slavic Review ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Crago
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
National Union ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Important Place ◽  
The Social ◽  
Polish Society

While the development of nineteenth-century Polish nationalism has received considerable scholarly attention, it has almost always focused on how the intelligentsia became the standard-bearers of Polish national consciousness. As a result, we know very little about how other members of Polish society constructed national identities. This is particularly perplexing when it comes to studying Russian Poland's workers, for there was no dearth of Polish nationalist activity among these workers. National demands articulated by Łodź's Polish workers during strikes in 1892, for example, inspired a group of social democrats to abandon internationalism and instead create the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). During the revolution of 1905, nationalism once again assumed an important place in both working-class protest and organization. Workers played a prominent role in the Polish school strikes. They also supported and sustained a uniquely Polish phenomena—a nationalist working-class political party, the National Union of Workers (NZR). Although the NZR and its constituent trade unions could be found within every industry within Russian Poland, the organization gained its greatest foothold within the textile industry. Moreover, it was within the textile industry in 1906 where bitter debates between nationalist and socialist workers erupted in violence after a disgruntled weaver from the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) concluded a political argument with an NZR coworker by gunning him down in the street.

scholarly journals German Social Democracy and German State Socialism, 1876–1884

1964 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon L. Lidtke
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Socialist Movement ◽  
The One

In the late eighteen-seventies, the German Social Democratic Party, while still healing the wounds of old battles between Lassalleans and Eisenachers, was confronted by foes who delivered attacks on two levels. On the one level, Bismarck and his supporters fought energetically to annihilate the party with the passage of the Socialist Law (October 21, 1878). After some initial faltering steps, the Social Democrats found a firm footing and struggled successfully to preserve their political existence. The movement was preserved, even though the party organization, its affiliates and its newspapers were suppressed. On another level, the Social Democrats faced an ideological challenge. Their political suppression broadly paralleled the emergence of a conservative socialism which flourished for a short time in a variety of forms. Whatever clothing it wore, conservative socialism aimed to undermine the growing appeal of Social Democracy to the working-men of Germany. A theory of State Socialism was the most attractive garment designed by conservative social thought. The response of the Social Democratic Party to the various facets of this conservative socialism is a significant chapter in the history of the German socialist movement.

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