fascism

"In a trade union anti-fascist publication entitled Fascism, published by the — to which the great transport workers' unions of Britain and other countries are affiliated — a writer states as follows:"Between trade unionism and National-Socialism (fascism) no compromise is possible; under National-Socialist dictatorship there is no room for free workers' organisations. To-day, after three years of fascism in Germany, there is no more difference of opinion on this point, but when in 1932 the (German) unions had to decide whether or not to engage in open struggle for their existence, they hesitated and yielded, in the hope that some miracle would save them. Their yielding proved fatal.""

"WE CAN BEGIN RIGHT NOW TO COMBAT FASCISM. The first step is EDUCATION—we must tell the truth about fascism at every opportunity: at our branch meetings, on the job, in the pub or on our way to the football game—wherever we come together with other workers."

"[Y]ou will hear British fascists quoting figures, referring to Germany or Italy, of the International Labour Office of the League of Nations, as though... arrived at by an independent agency. They do not tell you that ...[i]t merely ACCEPTS THE FIGURES SUPPLIED IT BY THE VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS, INCLUDING THE FASCIST GOVERNMENTS. It has no machinery for testing them... Thus, I.L.O. figures, regarding Germany, are the German Nazi government's own figures..."

"YOU who have read this pamphlet — trade unionist, cooperator, or wife, son or daughter of trade unionist or cooperator — it is YOUR job to help this fight."

"We must not sleep, we who believe in liberty, for the jackals may creep upon us unawares. We must not see England, Scotland, Wales—countries which we love, although conditions are by no means perfect within them—turned into grim lands where those who labour must move at the crack of the whip, wielded by the fascist agents of the exploiters of labour."

"[[Liberty|[L]iberties]] are threatened. Let us hasten to defend them, here and now."

"REAL wages must be reckoned in accordance with what they will buy, with prices. If prices rise, and wages are stationary, it is the same thing as a wage-cut."

"Last September (1936), 300 men on public assistance in the town of Breslau were ordered.... to report at the railway station.... They were not told where they were being sent, nor for how long. They were taken to Koenigsberg, in East Prussia... They were segregated in a camp, their letters were all censored, they worked under military discipline and received nothing beyond bed and board for full-time work. Such cases occur frequently."

"The pamphlet, we hope, will be read widely by those who have attained to manhood and womanhood since 1914. ...YET TO MAKE THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE MARCH TOWARD FREEDOM AND EMANCIPATION OF THE WORKING CLASS ...The great battles were won before their day, and their young lives have been overshadowed by the Great War and its terrible aftermath. ...[T]he better conditions they enjoy were obtained as a result of action in a State with a democratic form of government, by trade unions, and other organisations which are not permitted to function in fascist countries. ...[T]he triumphs of fascism here as elsewhere would result in the scrapping of that great political and social structure upon which rests the material well-being and spiritual freedom of our people. It would mean a new inquisition where the persecuted and oppressed would be those who... sought to make available for all... standards... possible by intelligent action in an enlightened community."

"Here is a list of the compulsory deductions from German workers' wages... compulsory contributions to insurance, church taxes, rates, etc... 14.2% Payments to Labour Front and Nazi Public Assistance... 1.9% ayments to Party funds, air defences, etc... 1.6% Deductions for newspapers, radio in factory, Nazi Party journals, etc... 3.3% Payments to various state organisations : Sports Clubs, Ex-Service Men, etc... 1.0% Payments towards sundry other purposes : Nazi Party celebrations, etc... 1.3% Total 23.3%"

"[C]ompulsory deductions is a sore point with the German workers... one of the methods by which the fascists reduce wages without... appearing in... official figures."

"23 per cent... is deducted from the wages... almost a quarter. ...[T]hese figures do not appear in the Nazi official wage statistics—they give... wages BEFORE... deductions..."

"[W]e again see a disparity between... arms... and other fields. The German Statistical Research Institute—the Nazis'... official institute, from whom we take... [all] figures... gives the daily average... 1935 as 7 hours per day. BUT... that average is made by adding up all the hours... in all industries... then dividing... by the number of workers. ...[W]e see... in the arms industry... eight, nine or... ten hours per day—while in... "consumption goods" (food, drink, clothing, smoking, furniture, etc. ...to make life human) ...only five or six hours. ...[Y]et there are millions ...who badly need food and clothing. ...[S]omething wrong somewhere!"

"[L]ook... at the REDUCTIONS IN MONEY WAGES... under Nazi rule. Between 1929 and 1932 wages had been drastically reduced. But even so (using only Nazi figures) in the iron industry, the chemical industry and the building industry there have been slight reductions in money wages since 1935- Iron- workers' hourly wages were 92 pfennigs in 1935 and they fell to 91.3 in 1936. The 1935 average hourly wage of chemical workers was 82.5 in 1935—in 1936... 81.7 pfennigs. Building workers'... 84.7... per hour in 1935, and by 1936... 83.6. [T]he papermaking industry: skilled workers'... dropped from 71.2 in 1935 to 70.7 in 1936, and unskilled workers'... 59.6 to 57.6—a.... very nasty drop for... already less than... subsistence wage."

"Short time is on the increase in many industries... while short time (five or six hours per day, four or five days per week) is spreading there is no corresponding increase in hourly wages, and thus... workers... are earning less and less... But the Nazis boast their wages PER HOUR are unaltered, and thus, until you look into it, everything in Naziland is lovely."

"[I]f... deductions are made compulsorily from your wages... about which you have not been consulted... this amounts to a wage reduction... although... receiving the same sum."

"[D]istinguish between real... and nominal, or money, wages. We reckon real wages in accordance with their purchasing power. If... you can only buy half what you bought last week—because prices have gone up—your wages have... been cut in half."

"[T]he fascists in Germany have been rearming... Hitler and his pals are out for war... [T]o make war, they are increasing... armaments at break-neck speed. This means... more workers... employed in... armaments and munitions... [where] the few slight increases in wages have occurred... in one or two branches... But...looking into the wages of ALL... German workers... whether wages AS A WHOLE... And...prices—what those wages can buy. ...[T]he only stable factor is the MONEY WAGE, and even that has declined recently in some industries. Both the and compulsory and semi-compulsory deductions... introduced by the Nazis, have substantially reduced REAL WAGES."

"[T]he figures of state insurance... [are] very difficult to "cook." They show the percentages of the population earning various rates of wages in 1929 (pre-fascist) and 1935 (under Hitler). ...[T]here has been a considerable drift from the higher-wages ...into ...lower wages are earned. It's reckoned in weekly wages. ...[F]rom 1929 to 1935 (three years pre-fascist and three years of fascist rule), the percentage of the German people receiving HIGH WAGES HAS DECREASED, and... receiving LOWER WAGES... INCREASED. ...German workers now ... are earning less while working than they would have received in unemployed benefit in 1932, before the fascists came to power and severely slashed the unemployment assistance rates."

"And, supposing you, as a German worker, don't like the way the "leader" of your factory runs things, and you want to find a job elsewhere... [W]e see a reversion to the practices of the Middle Ages, when the serf was not allowed to leave the service of the feudal lord. All through the [labour] laws... in fascist Germany runs this increasing... RESTRICTION OF FREEDOM TO MOVE ABOUT. Agricultural labourers are prevented from coming to work in the towns, and town workers from going to the country. There exists a system of compulsory labour... [T]he workers' freedom of movement is limited by the introduction of the Workers' Passport (Arheitsbuch)... [for] all workers earning less than 8,000 marks (about £650) per year. ...[O]nly highly paid administrative posts in industry...[were] above this figure. Fascist Party officials... are exempt... as are government officials. The police... inspect these passports at any time. Unsatisfactory entries... by the employer... particularly... referring to... political opinions, or showing... a "discontented" worker—practically debar him from... employment. So... however poor the conditions, he cannot risk leaving..."

"Fascist law binds the worker to the employer, just as the serf of the soil, in feudal days, was bound to serve his lord. The millowner, factory-owner, mine-owner, multiple shop proprietor, or other employer is given sole power... [T]he "Law to Regulate National Labour" (Gesetz zür Ordnung der nationalen Arbeit) of January 20th, 1934, Paragraph two... the man who ALONE has the right to make decisions in any concern is the EMPLOYER. He is called "the Leader () of his factory." The workers are his "followers.""

"[F]ascists or Nazis... deprived... workers of... open, independent action. Their unions have been destroyed as well as the working-class press. All... parties, except the Nazi, or fascist... have been forbidden. Thousands of working-class leaders and... trade unionists are in prison or concentration camps. Many... killed for... [being] active on behalf of the working class. ...[W]orkers are forbidden to organise and... express... discontent. Their factory councils have been abolished. Except for the courage... in their hearts, their secret will to... freedom, and... "underground" resistance, they are defenceless."

"We can see... the fascists... in Germany... have destroyed the workers' organisations, the trade unions, leaving the workers defenceless; while the employers are still strongly organised in a representative, active body. Thus the fascists have turned over the workers, unprotected and gagged, to the mercies of the employers. They... have acted as strike-breakers on a national scale.... betrayers of the common people, delivering them to their exploiters."

"[A]lthough... German fascists destroyed the workers' organisations, the trade unions, they did not apply the same methods to the EMPLOYERS' ORGANISATIONS. While the workers... are now nakedly exposed to attacks upon their wages, hours and conditions, with no organisation... to protect them, the Employers have their strong Organisation of Industrial Concerns. This... has preserved intact its funds from pre-Nazi days. The fascists... did not dare lay a finger on the funds or organisations of the big capitalists. And for very good reason: it was the secret money gifts of these big capitalists which helped the fascists to trick and terrorise their way to power. It is true that they made a bluff at "dissolving" the organisation of the German employers, in the earlier days... when they... needed to fool... their... followers who had been duped into a belief in their "socialist" promises They "dissolved" it one day—without touching its funds—and it reappeared the next day, under another name, and is still going strong!"

"[B]ehind the employers stands the fascist State, with... new laws... courts, police, secret police, storm-troopers, concentration camps. In fascist Germany, as in fascist Italy, the workers have been robbed of the right to strike... It is illegal—a crime—to strike in Germany or Italy, or to "incite" others to strike. If workers endeavour to express, in an organised manner, any protest against evil conditions, they can be transported to a concentration camp... for years."

"Why have the fascists stripped the workers of their defence? ... THE WORKERS' ORGANISATIONS AND PRESS STOOD BETWEEN THE WORKERS AND THE EMPLOYERS, THEY WERE A WALL OF DEFENCE AGAINST WAGE-CUTS, LONGER HOURS, HARSHER WORKING RULES, WORSE CONDITIONS GENERALLY. So, said the employers, they had to go. And the employers hired the fascists to do the dirty work..."

"EMPLOYERS... belong to the Labour Front. This should destroy the last plea of the fascist propagandist that the Labour Front performs any function... comparable with... a trade union."

"Even under the Hitler terror, with spies everywhere among the workers, and with starvation at every worker's elbow, the unconquerable of the working class emerges frequently at the expense of the Labour Front. Jests, whispered from man to man... related to the various Labour Front departments... "The Patriotism Department tells us to love our Fatherland but all we own of it now is what we have under our finger-nails," ...And, as for the Travel Department ..."My wife gets all the travelling she can stand now, going around all day trying to get a quarter-pound of margarine.""

"Not only workers belong to the Labour Front... but... employers, company directors, managers, superintendents... [I]magine the Federation of British Industries, or any other employers' organisation, being allowed to affiliate with the Trades Union Congress! Capitalists are members of the Labour Front. ...[T]his would mean ...directors of our railway companies would become members of the executive committee of the ! Or that wealthy mine-owners would sit in high places with voice and vote at the conferences of the Miners' Federation... [T]hat is what the British Fascists mean when they talk about 100 per cent, trade unionism... the kind which kow-tows to the employer and hands him the keys of the office—and... !"

"The objects of the Labour Front, it is announced, are "educational." It has abandoned... defending the workers' interests. In the early days of German fascism... a few working-class people, unemployed and others, who really thought that National-Socialism... was something more than a name by means of which the fascists sought to win over some of the less intelligent workers. These young fascists were sincere... and did not at first realise... they had been the dupes of... unscrupulous political careerists, financed by the capitalists and banks."

"[T]he Labour Front (Arbeitsfront)... has no similarity... with any... previous organisations of... workers. It is officially connected with the fascist government and... fascist party; It exerts no efforts to improve the lot of the workers. The workers have no control over it."

"Among... British fascists one may... sometimes find young men and women... sincere... idealistic, and... shortsighted. Well, these young Nazis—workers, unemployed, or clerks, for the most part—were soon undeceived. It became evident that the main object of the Labour Front was to provide "eye-wash" for the workers while the bosses picked their pockets, and... to provide... jobs... for... minor bosses of the Nazi Party."

"[N]ot only are the big employers MEMBERS of the Labour Front, they are its LEADERS. In the Leipzig Agreement... issued in... 1935, defining the nature and status of the Labour Front... "either the chairman or vice-chairman of ALL district or special branches of the Labour Front must be an industrialist." An industrialist—a capitalist. And if... not an employer, then... a member of the Fascist Party appointed by Labour Front headquarters."

"Nazis maintain a continual barrage of propaganda... to camouflage the facts. ...[A]ll the figures at our disposal come from OFFICIAL FASCIST SOURCES."

"Thus we see that, under the Republic... [t]he wage-earner did not feel that his wages, hours and working conditions could be changed... at the whim of the employer. He felt... to some extent, safeguarded, both by his trade union, on a national scale, and by his factory council in the... place of work."

"After the Nazis... seized power, they proceeded to destroy the German trade union movement. Everywhere, brownshirted bands of fascists entered the headquarters of the trade unions, seized the furniture, typewriters and cash. The machinery, presses, etc., of the labour papers were smashed..."

"The funds of the unions... were confiscated. Some leaders were killed, often after... revoltingly brutal torture, and others were thrown into prison or condemned to... the concentration camps... These... people... were not punished for any specific offence—they had violated no laws, they had committed no crime. Their only offence... to represent the interests of their fellow trade unionists, to maintain... standards of wages and conditions and to better them. They were not "Reds," for the most part... just... ordinary trade unionists. But they represented the... view of the workers, and... in the eyes of the fascists... [were] obedient flunkeys of the employers... [a] sufficient crime."

"This is the function of trade unionism—to establish... decent conditions... and to preserve those... against... attempts to lower them. ...[T]o work towards an ever improving standard for the workers. ...The trade unions exist to help them get a larger share, and to produce under healthy, safe and decent conditions."

"Purely upon the surface, the present councils bear a faint resemblance to the former factory councils. ...The present councils... further the designs of the employers."

"[W]hatever the political attitude of a trade union—whether Socialist, non-party, Catholic, Conservative or Syndicalist—the fascists are out to destroy it if it bears the least trace of INDEPENDENT WORKING-CLASS EFFORT TO INFLUENCE WAGES, HOURS AND WORKING CONDITIONS."

"[B]efore the Nazis destroyed them, [there] were the Betriebsräte, or FACTORY COUNCILS. The German Republic, by a law passed in 1920, established and recognised these... in all industrial concerns. These... were elected... by the workers by a FREE AND SECRET BALLOT... to represent their interests."

"[W]orkers' councils met independently—no employers... attended their meetings. The councils exercised a certain amount of control over working conditions... maintenance of the health of the workers, safety from accident and disablement... and also saw to it that there were no breaches by the employer of the agreements... regarding wages, hours, overtime..."

"In the first elections held for the Confidence Councils, in 1934, the workers... voted overwhelmingly against the lists in their entirety. ... [T]he fascists ...in the 1935 elections ...permitted voting ...only for candidates in the list ...as before. As they had this time included a few names of candidates who enjoyed a certain measure of confidence among the workers, the voting was consequently not so obviously hostile ...but ...strongly against the lists. In 1936, the elections were "postponed"... [i.e.,] did not take place at all."

"Most people in Germany are of the opinion that there will be no more elections to the Nazi factory councils."

"After the trade unions were broken, their ample funds... stolen, were paid... in part, into the coffers of this dummy organisation."

"German trade unions were... "taken over " by the Labour Front. This means that, after their headquarters and funds had been seized, and many leaders and officials killed or imprisoned, the membership of the former trade unions was automatically transferred to the Labour Front, whether they liked it or not. ...[E]very former trade unionist is compelled to continue paying his contributions—but... to the Labour Front."

"The shock came for these... believers in... Hitler... when... [he] announced, in July 1933, "The revolution is ended. I shall deal ruthlessly with any so-called second revolution." ...Soon these young people found themselves kicked out of their jobs, expelled from the fascist organisations—except for a few... bribed with official jobs. ...[T]hat was the end of any attempt to make the Labour Front live up to its name."

"Dr. Ley...[the Labour Front's] chief, stated... 1933, in... Der Deutsche, official organ of the Labour Front, "it has always been clear that the trade unionist conception must be eradicated" ...[H]e proceeded ..."I have succeeded ...in rooting out from the organisation this trade unionist mode of thought." Thus the supreme leader of the Labour Front himself admits... this body fulfils none of the functions of a trade union. ...[I]ts main activity is the issuing of Nazi propaganda, besides which it aims at organising certain sports and leisure activities..."

"[T]his Labour Front is enormously rich, because membership is... compulsory. In December 1935, Dr. Ley said: "We hope and believe that no one will find work in Germany who is not a member of the Labour Front" and a German court has held that an employer is within his rights in dismissing a worker who refuses to join the Labour Front. ...[A]s the Labour Front includes in its membership shopkeepers, professional men and EMPLOYERS ...it has over 18 million members. Every one... pays his contributions... And what is done with... this money? There is no insurance to pay out... when the fascists smashed the trade unions they abolished... sickness and death benefits and other insurance schemes, although they didn't return the money which thousands of workers had contributed... Some... Labour Front money goes in propaganda, quite a lot... to maintain a horde of idle officials, but the bulk... is turned over to the fascist state... for armaments. It is... a thinly disguised... compulsory extra taxation."

"The fascists,... the servants of the big industrial employers, were out to smash anything which had the faintest flavour of trade unionism, and the 1 \frac{1}{4} million Christian trade unionists... organisations [were] broken up just as ruthlessly as... small unions..."