German anarcho-syndicalists and labour law under the Weimar Republic

Under the Weimar Republic, German anarcho-syndicalism experienced significant growth in 1918-1921, before declining rapidly thereafter. One of the reasons for this decline was the movement’s difficulty in positioning itself in the face of the gradual institutionalisation of industrial relations (collective agreements, works councils). Little by little, German anarcho-syndicalists tried to adapt their trade union practices to this new environment, but at the same time lost their foothold in companies, which reduced the impact of this strategic shift. The case of the German anarcho-syndicalists therefore provides a better understanding of the decline, in most European countries, of a trade union movement that had lived its moment of glory in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.