The General Workers' Union of Germany (; AAUD) was a factory organisation formed following the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

in opposition to the traditional trade unions. The AAUD was formed by the

left communist Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard ...

s in the

Communist Workers' Party of Germany The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KP ...

(KAPD) who considered organising based on

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

s as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. They were influenced by the

industrial unionism Industrial unionism is a trade union organising method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in b ...

of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

. The council communists organised these factory organisations as the basis for region-wide

workers' councils A workers' council, also called labour council, is a type of council in a workplace or a locality made up of workers or of temporary and instantly revocable delegates elected by the workers in a locality's workplaces. In such a system of poli ...

. A section of the AAUD led by

Otto Rühle Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (; 23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First World War, First and Second World Wars as well as a Council communism, council communist theorist. Early years Otto was ...

split from the AAUD, forming the Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union – Einheitsorganisation.The German-Dutch Communist Left - Philippe Bourrinet
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

Program of the AAUDTheses on the Role of the Party in the Proletarian Revolution
Council communist organizations Communist organisations in Germany Labor history of Germany Left communism in Germany Organizations of the German Revolution of 1918–1919

See also

References

External links