The Polish Coal Miners' Union and the German Labor Movement in the Ruhr, 1902-1934: National and Social Solidarity

(Hardback)

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Description

Drawing on unpublished archival material, this book provides the first complete account of the Polish miners' union in the Ruhr and places it in the wider context of the German labor movement, from the pre-World War I mass strikes to the dramatic post-war events which eventually saw its dissolution. The author persuasively argues that the union's demise does not signal an inherent contradiction between national and social solidarity. Rather, the conflict between these two ideals lies chiefly in the pre-war and post-war history of the Polish Trade Union. With this book, the author convincingly furthers his revisionist challenge of the standard view of the Polish workers' relationship to their German counterparts. Praise for the author's previous book, The Foreign Worker and the German Labor Movement (Berg, 1994): 'a fine piece of scholarship which deserves a wide audience among anyone interested in Imperial Germany, labor history, migration, or nationalism' (Central European History).

Reviews

'Kulczycki tells his story with a good sense of its human conflicts and drama, as well as with the meticulous attention to detail, nuance, and change that is expected of a specialized monograph. [...] a persuasive account of one particular labor organization within its discrete historical context and, by implication rather than with didactic rhetoric, he has also written a cautionary tale for our own time.' The Sarmatian Review 'Kulczycki... skilfully fill(s) a gap in the labour and political history of the Ruhr.' Business History 'This is an excellent conclusion to Kulczycki's trilogy of monographs on the history of the Poles under the Empire. It also provides fruitful points of comparison for labor histories elsewhere.' Labor History 'well researched, focuses on issues of central importance to historians of Poland, and offers an opportunity for analyzing the role of minorities in a multicultural society.' Slavic Review '[a] well-written, well-edited, finely conceived, and vigorously argued work of labor history.' International Labor and Working-Class History 'Kulczycki has managed to throw light on an important set of factors complicating the emergence and the successful functioning of trade unions from their origins until today: the interplay of nation and class... Equally significant is Kulczycki's elevation of the long-neglected Polish labour movement in the Ruhr to centre stage.' Labour/Le Travail '[This book] should be read by any specialist on Polish-German relations as well as those interested in the goals and development of modern labor movements.' The Polish Review '[This book is] well-researched and tightly argued.' Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism

Author Bio

John Kulczycki Professor of History,University of Illinois at Chicago