[Rezension zu] Wilhelm Carlsson: Der Arbeitgeber-Schutz-Verband für das Holzgewerbe

Emil Lederer: Review of Wilhelm Carlsson’s Der Arbeitgeber-Schutz-Verband für das Holzgewerbe (1913)

Lederer’s review finds a promising comparative subject inadequately analyzed. Strong trade-union organization and fragmented enterprises make the German woodworking employers’ association worth studying: its development could illuminate similar organizations in other trades and medium-sized industries.

Carlsson proceeds through the association’s history, statutory structure, membership scope, and collective-agreement policy, which appears to accept both organized labor and collective bargaining. The review also identifies its wider concerns:

Auch das Verhalten des Schutzverbandes zu wichtigen Fragen, nämlich zur Arbeitsvermittlung, bei Lohnkämpfen und zur Frage der Arbeitskammern wird erörtert.

English translation: The conduct of the protective association toward important questions, namely toward labour exchange, in wage struggles, and toward the question of chambers of labour, is also discussed.

Yet breadth of coverage does not meet Lederer’s central demand for comparative explanation:

Im wesentlichen besteht jedoch die Darstellung leider nur in der Wiedergabe der Quellen, ohne daß der Versuch unternommen worden wäre, das Unterschiede dieser Organisation gegenüber anderen Arbeitgeberorganisationen herauszustellen.

English translation: Essentially, however, the presentation unfortunately consists only in the reproduction of the sources, without any attempt having been made to bring out the differences of this organization as against other employers' organizations.

The distinction between documentary reproduction and analysis governs the review. Lederer faults Carlsson’s apparent sympathy with the association’s policies for accompanying, rather than overcoming, reliance on its publications. The study’s relevance lies in the distinctive organizational response to industrial fragmentation and union strength; its failure is to leave that distinctiveness unexplained.