6 - social Flashcards
1
Q
Urban working class/blue collar workers
Bismarck [1871-1918]
A
- Sickness Insurance (1883) which provided 13 weeks’ pay to 3 million workers — they paid 2/3rd and employers 1/3
- Old Age pensions (1889) to those over 70 — many did not live that long
- Ban on child labour extended to all industries in 1903
- Anti-socialist laws [1878] = trade unions were banned
2
Q
Urban working class/blue collar workers
Weimar Germany [1918-33]
A
- 2 million houses were built to alleviate overcrowding in cities
- SPD continued to be the largest party until 1932
- The Great Depression hugely affected the working calss with 9 million uneployed by 1933 vs. real wages increased by 12% in 1928
- Weimar constitution granted employees equal rights with employers + 8 hour working day
3
Q
Urban working class/blue collar workers
Nazi Germany [1933-45]
A
- The working class grew by 10% from 1929-1938 = preparing for war
- Nazis banned trade unions = May 1933 trde union offices were raided and seized by Nazi stormtroopers.
- DAF only trade unions allowed - KdF holidays created in Nov 1933 by the DAF – 1938 over 10 million taken
4
Q
Urban working class/blue collar workers
West Germany [1945-90]
A
Guest workers = from Turkey and Greece — 14 million by 1973 = underclass
74% lived in urban areas by 1980
8.3% lived in rural communitires in 1970
5
Q
Artisan
Bismarck [1871-1918]
A
- The Mittelstand [lower middle class] were affected by industrialisation in 1871; factories could mass produce their goods
- 1882-85, one-man artisan businesses dropped by 13.5% and suffered even more decline from 1897-1907
- 1897 = the government enacted protectionist Craft Laws, however, these were not effective
- 1908 = the right to train apprentices was restricted to examined handcraft masters
6
Q
Artisan
Weimar Germany [1918-1933]
A
- Mittlestand supported the Nazi party during the 1920s
- In the Nazis’ origninal manifesto (the 25 point programme) there were a number of policies aimed at supporting small traders [e.g. shutting down larger businesses and giving thier premises to smaller ones at a reduced rate]
- Skilled workers made up 33% of the Nazi party membership in the 1920s despite only making up 27% of the population as a whole
7
Q
Artisan
Nazi Germany [1933-45]
A
- Hitler supported the Mittelstand from 1933 as a way of thanking them for thier continued support – e.g. the army ordered boots and uniforms from artisans and from 1931-36, the number of artisan business rose by 20%
- Trade unions banned in May 1933 and the DAF only union — KDF holidays a bonus
- 1936-39 artisan businesses declined by 11% and department stores were more successful
8
Q
Artisan
West Germany [1945-90]
A
- Marshall Plan 1947 so the economy began to recover
- Artisans were given special status - causing them to increase
- 1955 = over 3.5 million Germans were employed in the artisan business [an increase from 1 million from 1939]
9
Q
Juker’s decline
Bismarck [1871-1918]
A
- The Prussian voting systemm meant that Junker’s votes were more than middle and lower votes
- Riots in Prussia following 1908 election in which the SPD won just 7 seats with 23% of the vote in contrast to the Junker Conservatives who won 212 seats with just 16% of the vote.
- By 1912, the SPD became the largest party in the Reichstag with just 110 seats and over 4 million votes.
- The Silent dictatorship
10
Q
Junker’s decline
Weiamar Germany [1918-33]
A
- Junker Paul von Hindenburg was President of Germany from 1925-34 = retained high positions
- von Seeckt refused to fire upon the Freikorps during the Kapp Putsch in 1920 — ended by Ebert, who called a genral strike and Kapp fled = power of Ebert and the support of the workers
- REVOLUTION: 28th October = reformist Prince Max pushed through reforms + November 9th Kaiser abdicated
- Von Papen’s cabinet of barons + Hindenberg president
11
Q
Junker’s decline
Nazi [1933-45]
A
- Hitler manipulated Junkers: Night of the Long Knives June 1934 in response to concers over the SA’s recklessness
- Hitler was a dictator so everyone had litte power = Fuhrer in August 1934 when Hindenburg died
- Powerful Junkers in Hitler’s cabinet gradually went; 1834 Franz von Papen left and in January 1938 Werner von Blomberg was forced to resign
12
Q
Decline in peasantry
Bismarck [1871-1918]
A
- 1900 = agriculture made up 30% of German national income, but by 1989, this was under 2%
- German workers in agriculture jobs declined from 49% in 1871 to 2% in 1989
- It was Junkers who pursuaded Bismarck to introduce import tariffs in 1879 to increase their income as to stop cheap grain from being imported from Russia and the US
= Marriage of Iron and Rye—- the coalition of interests between industry and agriculture that supported the adoption of protectionism in Imperial Germany by the Tariffs
13
Q
Decline in peasantry
Weimar [1918-33]
A
- Food shortages during the war = Turnip Winter 1916-17
- Kriegsbrot = war bread was made from flour from potatoes and later sawdust to bulk it out
- Wall Street Crash 1929 and the Great Depression
- Hyperinflation in 1920 = by 1923 $1 was equal to DM4.2 trillion [DM9 trillon for a loaf of bread]
14
Q
Decline in peasantry
Nazi [1933-45]
A
- Farm life was ideolised through the ‘Blood and Soil’ programme
- The phrase was populised by Richard Walther Darré — Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture
- In 1939, Germany had become 83 percent self-sufficient in basic crops = autarky through invading other countries
15
Q
Decline in peasantry
West Germany [1945-90]
A
- Farming machinery was subsidised by the government vs. 1950-60 = the rural economy lost 50% of its workforce = mechanicisation + modernisation
- Technology more prominent in the West Germany ecoonomy = their GNP trebled furing the 1950s due to these investments
- ‘62 Common Agriculture Policy had common prices
- 1.6% of GDP agricultural by ‘89
