"Red" Works Councils

There is the greatest confusion within the working class about the council idea. In 1920, capital, with its trade union and social democratic helpers, cleverly managed to transform the workers' councils that had grown out of the revolution into statutory works councils. This act was the result of the balance of power between capital and labor. Although the revolutionary proletariat was defeated by the counter-revolution in 1920 when the Works Councils Act was passed, it still had revolutionary organs, the workers' councils. Even then, the workers' councils were not absolute revolutionary instruments of the proletariat, as they were corroded by social democracy. But they were a platform on which the revolutionary proletariat could develop its power with the necessary knowledge. Capital was well aware of this with its trade union institutions: Capital and the trade unions both had an interest in eliminating the power of the workers' councils for the sake of their existence. Capitalism saw in the workers' councils a factor that in certain situations could shatter the capitalist system, just as the workers' councils were an obstacle to the trade unions in their counter-revolutionary activities. A proletariat that had come to terms with the council system would logically recognize the historical obsolescence of the professional trade unions. The trade unions were fully aware of this, hence their ruthless struggle against the workers' councils.

By means of the Works Councils Act, capital and trade unions have castrated the workers' councils into a legal institution of the profit economy. The statutory works council is not responsible to the proletariat, but to the capitalists. The oppositional gimmicks do not change this fact in the slightest, as practice has proven all too well. At the time when the proletariat was gathered in front of the Reichstag to protest against the legal disfigurement of the councils, it was easy to sabotage the legal works council elections and to hold on to the workers' councils, which are responsible to the working class. The working class had to pay for the protest with its blood, but without drawing the necessary conclusions.

The “opposition” to the Works Councils Act played the most miserable role, just like today's “opposition” of the KPD in the trade unions. It was embodied by the powerful USPD, above all by Däumig. The “opposition” to the Works Councils Act was characterized by half measures and a lack of principle. The preface to the Works Councils Act in the journal “Der Arbeiterrat”, Issue 5-6, Volume 2, organ of Germany's works councils, which was directed by Ernst Däumig, demonstrates the illusions with which they approached the first works council election. It reads:

“The good people may calm down. We will, however, take part in these elections, and that -- let it be announced to them right away -- with such intensity that they will lose sight and hearing. We will use these elections as proof that our strength is unbroken, despite machine guns, preventive detention, a state of emergency and a ban on the press."

This naïve political attitude of the lame-duck “opposition” has taken its revenge: the first elections to the “legal councils” drained the proletariat of its last energy. It was not capital that lost its hearing and sight as a result of the works council elections, but unfortunately the proletariat.

If one compares the “opposition” of that time with that of today, one finds the same phrases as in 1920. The KPD has taken over the sad legacy of the USPD “opposition”. Today's KPD has just as little strength to promote and create unlawful revolutionary councils as the USPD once did, but this tactic is not accidental. The election of legal workers' councils is conditioned by the trade union and parliamentary attitude. Just as the trade union question has been degenerated by the KPD into a question of personnel, so the question, or rather the attitude of the proletariat to statutory works councils, has been degraded by the KPD into a question of personnel. We must repeatedly and sharply oppose this attitude, as it distracts the proletariat from the principles of the class struggle. The most revolutionary proletarian is robbed of his revolutionary power in the meshes of the Works Councils Act; he is faced with the question of working with or against the law. If he tries to run against the law as a legal works council, he makes himself impossible as a legal council. The KPD is now trying to do both, but this is a fantasy, because no one can serve two masters. We see the effect of these KPD works councils in all large companies. They shy away from the slightest revolutionary consequences. Why is that? Only because they do not want to come into conflict with the legal provisions of the Works Council Act. An example: The workers at the turbine factory were locked out on April 6, 1925 on the occasion of the coppersmith strike. The works councils inform the workforce of this fact without convening a works meeting to comment on it. The proletariat is thrown onto the street and the matter is closed for the works councils, even for the “oppositional” works councils. It is difficult to distinguish them from the SPD works councils. They too are of the opinion that the trade unions will take the necessary steps in the “interests” of the proletariat.

The SPD and KPD only rarely comment on the elections of the statutory works councils at works meetings. Behind the scenes, the SPD and KPD come to an agreement on the election of works councils by means of a hush agreement. Whereas the KPD used to put up its own lists, today the KPD lacks the courage to do so. They are forbidden by the trade union gods to draw up their own lists and they comply. However, the “Rote Fahne” never tires of writing, “Elect red works councils!” There are also small KPD stickers in the factories with the same inscription. Now if a proletarian really does mistakenly believe that there is a difference between SPD and “red” works councils and he intends to elect a “red” works council, he must realize the ridiculous fact that there is only one list for election. So anyone who wants to elect “red” works councils must also elect SPD works councils, according to the latest tactics of the KPD. The “red” works councils are exactly the same executive organs of the trade unions as the SPD works councils. The KPD proves to us more and more every day that it knows no communist principles and is nothing more than a social-democratic opposition.

The proletariat does not have to choose between SPD and “red” works councils, but between legal councils, which are responsible to capital and the trade unions, and the councils of the proletarian revolution, which are based on the strength of the revolutionary proletariat and are responsible to it. Those who want the latter cannot want the trade unions and must help to abolish them, since they are the fiercest opponents of communist council rule. The “red” statutory works councils of the KPD hinder the revolution just as much as those of the SPD. They contribute most to the hardening of the antagonisms between capital and labor, since they couple the revolutionary proletarians to the SPD.

We call out to the proletariat: do not elect any legal works councils, no matter what they call themselves. Not even those of the latest offshoot of the trade unions, the labor union. You have nothing to expect from any of them, because they all want to flourish on the legal muck. Only through the workplace organization, which unites the proletariat beyond professional conceit, can the revolutionary councils, the future bearers of the needs-based economy, arise.