Rezension zu Max Hirsch: Die Arbeiterfrage und die deutschen Gewerkvereine

The 1894 review attributed to Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen, signed “Sch.”, assesses Max Hirsch’s anniversary history of the Hirsch-Duncker trade unions. Its opening establishes the book’s claim to attention:

Das vorliegende Büchlein darf nicht unbeachtet bleiben.

English translation: This little book must not go unnoticed.

The reviewer grounds that claim in the conjunction of author and institution: Hirsch’s account matters because of his standing and the importance of the organization he describes.

Schon die Person des Verfassers, dann die Bedeutung dieser „freien reformatorischen Arbeiterberufs-Organisation“, deren Programm der Autor auf den Seiten 69 und 71 kurz zusammenfasst, machen eine Geschichte der letzteren, vom erstern geschrieben, zu einer wertvollen Erscheinung auf dem Büchermarkte.

English translation: The author’s person alone, and then the importance of this “free reformist workers’ occupational organization,” whose programme the author briefly summarizes on pages 69 and 71, make a history of the latter, written by the former, a valuable contribution to the book market.

The review follows Hirsch’s four-part trajectory: preparation and foundation; struggle; decline alongside internal consolidation and outward activity; and expanded mutual aid, membership, and influence on working conditions and public affairs. It then shifts from description to political judgment. Hirsch may sometimes be too optimistic, but the unions’ beneficial effects deserve recognition. Their slower growth than the social-democratic unions nevertheless exposes their vulnerability. The reviewer’s preference for reformist organization culminates in a wish to strengthen it against its rivals and a fear that it may eventually succumb to them. The review thus combines endorsement of Hirsch’s history with anxiety about the movement’s competitive future.