Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/789

 NATIONAL-SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN GERMANY 769

destruction of the trades unions, or at least a very serious diminu- tion of the power and influence which they might exert. Since, in the first place, a force divided into three parts is never so strong as a united force ; secondly, a part of the workingmen who will hear nothing of party politics are thereby frightened away from entrance into trades unions ; and, thereby, the con- nection with the Social Democratic party especially offers the capitalist managers a good excuse for denouncing the trades unions before the German government as purely political, and thus for restricting their freedom of action. All this the National Socialists would remove from the trades unions by impressing on them a non-partisan character, by transforming them into a separate, independent agency which goes its own way and knows no other purpose than securing better wages and conditions for labor in the contest with capitalists. Before the eyes of the National Socialists float as an ideal the splendid Eng- lish trades unions which have hitherto remained non-partisan, and have been so successful. They purpose to work unceasingly until this ideal is realized. Their labors have already been crowned with partial success. Already this ideal has been dis- cussed fully in Social Democratic trades unions, and with such effect that already a large number of adherents have been won to it.

In addition to the promotion and transformation of trades unions, the National Socialists have undertaken, as the second of their social efforts, an intensive work on behalf of associations [Genossetischaften) . In Germany there exist at the present time over 20,000 associations of rural handicraftsmen, peasants, and laborers. First among these, the credit associations of the handicraftsmen have attained a high degree of success by the method established more than fifty years ago by their founder, Schulze-Delitsch. On the contrary, this method of administra- tion has not been followed where associations for purchase, sale, and production are concerned. Never have these attained any importance. And the National Socialists find the reason for this failure in their present form of organization. Some of them have given themselves entirely to associated work, and have thus