[Diskussionsbeitrag zum Kohlenbergbau, Bd. II, S. 735–736, Nr. 132]

Emil Lederer: Intervention on Coal Mining (1920)

This recorded commission speaking turn, published in volume II, pp. 735–736, as no. 132, concerns competing proposals for representative institutions in coal mining. Lederer organizes the discussion around three positions: Wissell’s approach, which treats the Works Councils Act as the limit of institutional development; the position of the previous year’s report, whose substance he does not restate; and Kaufmann’s proposal for more complex bodies with broader rights.

Within this mapping, Lederer questions the exclusion of occupational representatives in favour of territorial representatives:

Ich sehe übrigens nicht ein, weshalb man die Fachvertreter nicht auch heranziehen soll.

English translation: Incidentally, I do not see why occupational representatives should not also be involved.

The word “auch” makes this an argument for inclusion, rather than an explicit demand to replace territorial representation. Lederer then shifts from institutional alternatives to the commission’s immediate procedure:

Unsere Aufgabe ist es, die Vorschläge des Herrn Werner kennenzulernen, ihm unsere Mitarbeit angedeihen zu lassen, unsere Argumente vorzubringen und dann die einzelnen Fragen auszuarbeiten und zusammenzustellen.

English translation: Our task is to acquaint ourselves with Mr Werner’s proposals, offer him our collaboration, put forward our arguments, and then work out and collate the individual questions.

His central recommendation is to move beyond rehearsing established positions toward informed, collaborative examination. The earlier discussion of Rathenau’s proposal supplies a precedent: scrutiny followed by suggestions for improvement. The intervention’s significance lies in connecting a modest substantive opening—admitting occupational expertise—with a practical method for advancing deliberation without first resolving every institutional disagreement.