Labour History Review

See for example G. D. Feldman and K. Tenfelde (eds), Workers, Owners and Politics in Coal Mining. An International Comparison of Industrial Relations, Oxford, Berg, 1990. Workers, Owners and Politics in Coal Mining. An International Comparison of Industrial Relations Google Scholar

See S. Berger, ‘Comparative History’, in S. Berger, H. Feldner and K. Passmore (eds), Writing History, London, Edward Arnold, 2003, for different types of comparative history. Writing History Google Scholar

The literature on the two coalfields is vast. However, there are only three pieces of comparative literature on the Ruhr and South Wales specifically. These comparative works are W. Berg, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland und Großbritannien im Übergang zum organisierten Kapitalismus: Unternehmer. Angestellte, Arbeiter und Staat im Steinkohlenbergbau des Ruhrgebietes und von Südwales, 1850-1914, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1984; Werner Berg, ‘Zwei Typen industriegesellschaftliche Modernisierung: Die Bergarbeiter im Ruhrgebiet in Südwales im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert’, in G. Schmidt (ed.), Bergbau in Großbritannien und im Ruhrgebiet. Studien zur vergleichen Geschichte des Bregbau, 1850-1930, Bochum, 1985; and S. Berger, ‘Working-Class culture and the Labour Movement in the South Wales and Ruhr Coalfields, 1850-2000: A Comparison’, Llafur, 8, 2, 2001, pp. 5-40. Google Scholar

For some of the hindrances to organization see Berg, Wirtschaft, pp. 675-7. Google Scholar

D. A. Thomas presented his proposal in a pamphlet entitled Some Notes on the Present State of the Coal Trade in the United Kingdom with special reference to that of South Wales and Monmouthshire and together with a proposal for the prevention of undue competition and for maintaining prices at a remunerative level, Cardiff, 1896. In the document he cited the RWKS as an example of successful co-operation, although he did not recommend it as a model to be copied by the South Wales owners. Google Scholar

See J. J. Kulczyncki, The Foreign Workers and the German Labour Movement: Xenophobia and Solidarity in the Coalfields of the Ruhr, 1871-1914, Oxford, Berg, 1994; C. Kleßmann, ‘Polnische Bergarbeiter im Ruhrgebiet: soziale Lage und gewerkschafthche Organisation’, Hans Mommsen and Ulrich Borsdorf (eds), Glück auf, Kameraden: Die Bergarbeiter und ihre Organisationen in Deutschland, Köln, Bund-Verlag, 1979, PP. 109-30. The Foreign Workers and the German Labour Movement: Xenophobia and Solidarity in the Coalfields of the Ruhr, 1871-1914 Google Scholar

Gelsenkirchen had a high number of Masurians. See Franz Josef Brüggemeier and Lutz Niethammer, ‘Schlafgänger, Schnapskasinos und schwerindustrielle Kolonie. Aspekte der Arbeiterwohnungsfrage im Ruhrgebiet vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg’, in J. Reulecke and W. Weber (eds), Fabrik, Familie, Feierabend. Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte des Alltags im Industriealter, Wuppertal, Peter Hammer Verlag, 1978, p. 156. Fabrik, Familie, Feierabend. Beiträge zur Sozialgeschichte des Alltags im Industriealter 156 Google Scholar

D. Geary, ‘The industrial bourgeoisie and labour relations in Germany 1871-1933’, in D. Blackbourn and R. J. Evans (eds), The German Bourgeoisie. Essays on the Social History of the German Middle Class from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Century, London and New York, Routledge, 1991, p. 146. The German Bourgeoisie. Essays on the Social History of the German Middle Class from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Century 146 Google Scholar

H. A. Clegg, The Changing Systems of Industrial Relations in Great Britain, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1979; H. Gospel, Markets, Firms and the Management of Labour in Modern Britain, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; R. Bean, Comparative Industrial Relations: Introduction to Cross National Perspectives, London, Routledge, 1994. The Changing Systems of Industrial Relations in Great Britain Google Scholar

T. Adams, ‘Market and institutional forces in industrial relations: the development of national collective bargaining, 1910-1920’, Economic History Review, 1, no. 3, 1997, pp. 506-30. ‘Market and institutional forces in industrial relations: the development of national collective bargaining, 1910-1920’ Economic History Review 1 506 30 Google Scholar

R. Church, ‘Employers, trade unions and the state, 1889-1987. The origins and decline of tripartism in the British coal industry’, in Feldman and Tenfelde (eds), Workers, Owners, p. 22. Google Scholar

For the development of mining trade unionism in South Wales see E. W. Evans, The Miners; H. Francis and D. Smith, The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century, Cardiff, Cardiff University Press, 1998; and R. Page Arnot, The South Wales Miners: A History of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, London, Lawrence & Wishart, 1967. Google Scholar

See K. Tenfelde, Sozialgeschichte der Bergarbeiter an der Ruhr im 19. Jahrhundert, Bonn—Bad Godesberg, Neue Gesellschaft, 1977; and F.-J. Brüggemeier, Leben vor Ort: Ruhrbergleute und Ruhrbergbau, 1889-1919, München, Beck, 1984. There are also two contemporary histories of the Ruhr miners’ movements, Otto Hue, Die Bergarbeiter. Historische Darstellungen der Bergarbeiter-Verhältnisse von der ältesten bis in die Neue-Zeit, 2 Bde. Stuttgart 1910, reprint Berlin/Bonn, J. H. W. Dietz, 1981; and H. Imbusch, Arebitsverhältnis und Arbeiterorganisationen im deutschen Bergbeau: Eine geschichtliche Darstellung, Essen—Ruhr 1908, reprint Berlin/Bonn, J. H. W. Dietz, 1980. Sozialgeschichte der Bergarbeiter an der Ruhr im 19. Jahrhundert Google Scholar

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M. Schneider, ‘The Christian trade unions and strike activity’, in W. J. Mommsen and H.-G. Husung, The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany 1880-1914, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1985, p. 246. The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany 1880-1914 246 Google Scholar

See O. Hue, Neutrale oder parteüsche Gewerkschaften. Ein Beitrag zur Gewerkschaftsfrage zugleich eine Geschichte der deutschen Bergarbeiterbewegung, 1900. Google Scholar

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For the rejection of co-operation see, Heinrich Imbusch, Ist eine Verschmelzung der Bergarbeiterorganisationen möglich?, Essen, 1906. Google Scholar

Regierungspräsident Düsseldorf to Minster of the Interior, 6 September 1905, STAD 9041. See also S. H. F. Hickey, Workers in Imperial Germany: The Miners of the Ruhr, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1985, pp. 239-40; and Brüggemeier, Leben, p. 220. Google Scholar

C. Kleßmann, ‘Zjednoczenie Zawdowe Polskie (ZZP — Polnische Berufsvereinigung) und Alter Verband im Ruhrgebiet’, in Internationale wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz, 1979, pp. 68-71; J. J. Kulczycki, ‘A Trade Union for the Polish Miners in the Ruhr: Alter Verband, Gewerkverein and Zjednoczenie Zawodowe Polskie’, in K. Tenfelde (ed.), Towards a Social History of Mining in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Papers Presented to the International Mining History Congress Bochum, Munich, Beck, 1989, pp. 610-7. Google Scholar

See Francis and Smith, Fed, pp. 13-23 for syndicalist plans to reform the structure of the SWMF. Google Scholar

South Wales Daily News, 30 May 1899. Google Scholar

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K. Tenfelde, ‘Linksradikale Strömungen in der Ruhrbergarbeiterschaft 1905 bis 1919’, in Mommsen and Borsdorf (eds), Glück auf, pp. 199-224. Google Scholar

E. D. Lewis, The Rhondda Valleys, Cardiff, Cardiff University Press, 1958. The Rhondda Valleys Google Scholar

See J. H. Morris and L. J. Williams, ‘The South Wales Sliding Scale, 1876-79: an experiment in industrial relations’, in Walter E. Minchinton (ed.), Industrial South Wales 1750-1925: Essays in Economic History, London, Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., 1969, pp. 218-31. Morris and Williams in fact regard the acceptance of the Sliding Scale as something of a face-saving exercise for the miners following the defeat in 1875. R. Church, in his History of the British Coal Mining Industry, 1830-1913: Victorian Pre-eminence, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986, p. 700, largely supports this view. Industrial South Wales 1750-1925: Essays in Economic History 218 31 Google Scholar

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Imbuch, Arbeitsverhältnis, p. 663. Google Scholar

Tenfelde, Sozialgeschichte, pp. 186-7. Google Scholar

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Tenfelde, Sozialgeschichte, pp. 573-97. Google Scholar

See Imbusch, Arebitsverhältnis and Hue, Die Bergarbeiter. 34 Geary, ‘The industrial bourgeoisie’, pp. 151-2. Google Scholar

The Colliery Guardian, 30 May 1890. Google Scholar

E. Spencer Glovka, ‘Employer response to unionism: Ruhr coal industrialists before 1914’, Journal of Modern History, 3, September 1976, pp. 397-412. ‘Employer response to unionism: Ruhr coal industrialists before 1914’ Journal of Modern History 3 397 412 Google Scholar

See Volksblatt, 6 March 1908, clipping, STAM 1849, for the Alter Verband criticism of the committees. Google Scholar

K. J. Mattheier, ‘Werkvereine und wirtschaftsfriedlcih-nationale (gelbe) Arbeiterbewegung im Ruhrgebiet’ in Jürgen Reulecke, Arbeiterbewegung an Rhein und Ruhr, Wuppertal, 1974, pp. 190-2. Jürgen Reulecke, Arbeiterbewegung an Rhein und Ruhr 190 2 Google Scholar

R. Page Arnot, South Wales Miners: A History of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, 1914-1926, Cardiff, Cymric Press, 1975, pp. 4-5. South Wales Miners: A History of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, 1914-1926 4 5 Google Scholar

J. Tampke, The Ruhr and Revolution: The Revolutionary Movement in the Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Region 1912-1919, London, Croom Helm, 1979, p. 33. The Ruhr and Revolution: The Revolutionary Movement in the Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Region 1912-1919 33 Google Scholar

Volksblatt, 1 August 1914. Google Scholar

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South Wales Daily News, 8 August 1914. Google Scholar

E. Weitz, Conflict in the Ruhr: Workers and Socialist Politics in Essen 1910-1925 (Unpub. PhD Thesis, Boston University School, 1983), p. 64. South Wales Daily News, 7 August 1914. See also A. Mor-O'Brien, ‘Keir Hardie, C. B. Stanton, and the First World War’, Llafur, 4, 3, 1986, pp. 31-42. Google Scholar

Reported in the South Wales Daily News, 7 August 1914. For the mixed working-class attitudes towards the war see John Home, ‘Labor and Labor Movements in World War 1’, in J. Winter, G. Parker and M. R. Habeck (eds), The Great War and the Twentieth Century, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2000, p. 188, and N. Ferguson, The Pity of War, London, Penguin, 1998, pp. 174-212. Google Scholar

G. D. Feldman, Army, Industry and Labour in Germany 1914-1918, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1966, p. 28. Army, Industry and Labour in Germany 1914-1918 28 Google Scholar

Feldman, Army, pp. 31-2. Google Scholar

The original Act is quoted in full in A. Marwick, The Deluge: British Society and the First World War, London, Macmillan Press, 1991, p. 34. Google Scholar

Sir R. A. S. Redmayne, The British Coal-Mining Industry during the War, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923, p. 19. The British Coal-Mining Industry during the War 19 Google Scholar

Arbeiterzeitung, 18 February 1915, clipping STAM OBA 1855. Google Scholar

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Feldman, Army, pp. 84-5. Google Scholar

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Bergarbeiterzeitung, 10 April 1915, ibid. Google Scholar

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Western Mail, 16 March 1915. Google Scholar

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Arnot, South Wales Miners, p. 42. Google Scholar

Quoted in Arnot, South Wales Miners, p. 69. Google Scholar

South Wales Daily News, 16 July 1915. Google Scholar

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Criticisms of the Welsh miners by William Straker, the Northumberland miners’ representative on the MFGB Executive, were reported in the South Wales Daily News, 15 July 1915. Google Scholar

Arnot, South Wales Miners, pp. 82-4. Google Scholar

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See M. Kitchen, The Silent Dictatorship: The Politics of the German High Command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff 1916-1918, London, Croom Helm, 1976, ch. 1. The Silent Dictatorship: The Politics of the German High Command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff 1916-1918 Google Scholar

Feldman, Army, p. 195. Google Scholar

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R. B. Armeson, Total Warfare and Compulsory Labor: A Study of the Military-Industrial Complex in Germany during World War 1, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1964, p. 56. Total Warfare and Compulsory Labor: A Study of the Military-Industrial Complex in Germany during World War 1 56 Google Scholar

Vorwärts, 3 December 1916, quoted in Armeson, Total Warfare, p. 91. Google Scholar

H. Mommsen, ‘Die Bergarbeiterbewegung an der Ruhr, 1918-1933’, in Reulecke (ed.), Arbeiterbewegung, p. 280. Google Scholar

K. Hartewig, Das unbrechenbare Jahrzehnt: Bergarbeiter und ihre Familien im Ruhrgebiet 1914-1924, München, Beck, 1993, p. 47. Das unbrechenbare Jahrzehnt: Bergarbeiter und ihre Familien im Ruhrgebiet 1914-1924 47 Google Scholar

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Die Bergknappe, 16 August 1916, STAM OBA 1814. Google Scholar

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J. Reulecke, ‘Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Arbeiterbewegung im rheinisch-westfälischen Industriegebiet’, in Reulecke (ed.), Arbeiterbewegung, pp. 221-2. Google Scholar

Weitz, Conflict, pp. 67-8. Google Scholar

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Hartewig, Das unbrechenbare Jahrzehnt, p. 113. Google Scholar

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Oberbergamt to Minister for Trade and Industry, 23 February 1918, STAM OBA 1792. Von Gayl had replaced von Bissing following the Einigungsamt issue. Feldman argues that von Gayl was more industry friendly, thereby strengthening the industrialists’ resistance to trade union incursions. Feldman, Army, pp. 82-3. Google Scholar

Zeche Helene and Amalie to Zechenverband, 26 August 1918, Bergbau Museum Bochum, p. 563. Quoted in Brüggemeier, Leben vor Ort, p. 243. Google Scholar

Quoted in Brüggemeier, Leben vor Ort, p. 243. For South Wales see G. D. H. Cole, Labour in the Coal-Mining Industry 1914-21, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923, pp. 44-5. See The Western Mail, 3 June 1916 for the owners’ resolution not to pay the advance. Google Scholar

Redmayne, British Coal-Mining, p. 61. Google Scholar

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South Wales Daily News, 23 October 1917. Google Scholar

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G. Holmes, ‘The First World War and Government Coal Control’, in C. Baber and L. J. Williams (eds), Modem South Wales: Essays in Economic History, Cardiff, Cardiff University Press, 1986, pp. 210-1. The Price of Coal Limitation Act of 29 July 1915 limited prices on the home market, while the Finance Act of 1915 and Coal Control Agreement of 1917 taxed excess profits at 50 and 80 percent respectively. Modem South Wales: Essays in Economic History 210 1 Google Scholar

G. Feldman, The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics and Society in the German Inflation 1914-1924, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 69-70. The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics and Society in the German Inflation 1914-1924 69 70 Google Scholar

See Feldman, Army, pp. 391-404 and The Great Disorder, pp. 69-72 for the full story of Groeners’ removal. Google Scholar