862.5043/13
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 20.]
Sir: With reference to confidential despatch No. 2357 of May 2, 1933,69 and to section 5 of despatch No. 2314 of April 22, 1933,70 I have the honor to report that on the day following the May Day celebration, the trade unions affiliated with the Social-Democratic Party were taken over by the “Nazi Factory and Office Cells’ Organization.”
This Gleichschaltung of the principal trade unions in Germany, with over three million members, was carried out by the Nazi Storm Detachments under the direction of a newly created “Committee for the Protection of Labor,” headed by Dr. Ley, the Nazi President of the Prussian Staatsrat. The plan for the seizure of the trade unions, which had been kept secret up to the last minute, was carried out with the usual Nazi ruthlessness and completeness. Punctually at 10 a.m., all of the offices of the trade unions throughout the Reich affiliated with the Social-Democrats, as well as the Workmen’s Bank, were occupied by Storm Detachments. Union leaders, editors of union journals, and [Page 274] directors of the Workmen’s Bank were arrested. Among the fifty officials arrested are such prominent labor leaders as Leipart, Grassmann, and former Minister of Labor Wissell. The arrests were made by uniformed Nazis.
A few hours after the seizure of the trade unions, Dr. Ley stated to representatives of the press that he was selected for this task because he enjoyed the confidence of Chancellor Hitler. The seizure of the unions, he said, was an important step in furthering the revolution. Various labor organizations had been in process of dissolution, and there was danger that the workmen, who paid dues to these organizations, would lose their insurance and other social benefits.
The head of the press section of the “Nazi Factory and Office Cells’ Organization” emphasized that the Nazis did not intend to destroy the trade unions and that this applied also to the trade union journals, which would be taken over by his organization. Hereafter, the press section of the Nazi Cells’ Organization would direct the policy of the trade union journals, and the official organ of the Nazi Cells’ Organization would become the official organ of the trade unions.
In a manifesto to the German workmen and employees, Dr. Ley pointed out that with the seizure of the trade unions the second stage of the National-Socialist Revolution had begun. In a few weeks the Nazis, as the May Day celebration had shown, had achieved more in the interest of labor than the corrupt Marxist parties had been able to do in years. Though the trade union leaders had pretended to be loyal to Hitler, it was safer to take them in custody. By taking over the unions, the Nazis had wrested from the Marxists their main weapon. He assured the workmen that the trade unions and their institutions were regarded by the Nazis as sacred and inviolable, and that they would be preserved, after reorganization, in the interest of the workmen. The Nazis would retain what was good in the unions and would further extend the rights of the workmen in order to give them a place in the Third Reich as respected members of the community, on a footing of equality with the rest of the population. The reorganized unions would serve as the foundation for the corporative State.
Intimidated by the fate of the Socialist trade unions, the Christian Labor Unions and the minor unions have declared, in writing, that they are willing to submit unreservedly to Hitler’s leadership. Thus, all the trade unions, comprising 8 million organized workmen and employees, have now been put under direct Nazi control. According to an order issued by Dr. Ley, the chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Labor, all negotiations for collective wage agreements hereafter are to be conducted by this committee only.
Dr. Ley is now the head of all organized labor. Two other members [Page 275] of the committee, Herr Schumann and Herr Forster, have been appointed as heads of the manual workers, and clerical workers’ unions. This would seem to indicate that the Third Reich is to have one central union consisting of two distinct units of manual and clerical workers.
Storm Detachments, not the regular police, were employed in taking possession of the trade unions. It is characteristic of the political situation in present-day Germany, that the duly constituted authorities remained in the background, even Minister of Labor Seldte not being in any way identified with this seizure. It shows to what extent the State and the Nazi Party have become, to all intents and purposes, identical. Of especial significance is the fact that Goering’s order of last week, to the effect that only regular police had the right to make arrests, was completely disregarded. Only after the Nazis had gotten complete control of the unions did the Government state semi-offieially that it approved this action as being in line with the Chancellor’s fight against Marxism.
Immediately after the Nazis took possession of the trade unions they began to publish stories with startling headlines of corrupt practices by the deposed labor leaders that had been discovered by their investigators. It is asserted that prominent trade union officials were guilty of padding their accounts and of other irregularities. The report that Herr Löbe, the former Social-Democratic President of the Reichstag, who had always enjoyed a reputation for political integrity, had an account of 3 million marks in the Workmen’s Bank at Munich was especially exploited by the Nazi press, although Herr Löbe promptly informed the press that he had addressed a letter to Dr. Ley denying that he ever had such an account.
The previous attempts of the trade union leaders to come to terms with the Government, in order to be allowed to function as non-political organizations and to continue their social insurance and savings-bank activities, proved entirely futile. While the union leaders were still negotiating with the Nazi leaders with this end in view and permitted their members to take part in the Nazi May Day celebration, the Nazis were secretly preparing for this final blow, which they carried out with such cunning that the trade union leaders were taken completely by surprise.
Through the subordination of the trade unions to Nazi control, the link between the Social-Democrats and the principal trade unions has been completely severed. This move on the part of the Nazis is perhaps the severest blow which they have thus far dealt to the hated Social-Democrats. It shows that the capacity for resistance of the trade unions has been widely over-estimated and that the Nazis are determined to make no compromise with political foes.
[Page 276]In view of alleged attempts by union members to sabotage the work of the Committee for the Protection of Labor, the Prussian Minister of Justice has ordered the formation of a special section in his Ministry, to be charged with the task of combating such sabotage. Even an article in the Berliner Tageblatt of May 4, discussing the possible form which the reorganization of the unions might take, was considered by Dr. Ley as sabotage because the views expressed in that article are apparently not in conformity with the Nazi plans. The author of the article in question has been threatened with arrest. The Nazi leaders are very sensitive; they not only brook no opposition, but want no suggestions from outsiders, however competent they may be.
Respectfully yours,