Event on DGB, Histadrut and social partnership
Histadrut, mistakenly thought to be a trade union, was founded in 1920 during the British Mandate rule over Palestine with the task of ethnically segregating the working class and building an exclusively jewish state. The Histadrut’s ostensibly socialist structure, characterized by the rhetoric of a trade union and the militarization of the welfare state - from the Histadrut emerges the Haganá and the IDF - served to build a mass movement of “settlers without capital” necessary for the colonial project, with a planned economy, centralized control and regulation of the labour-capital relationship in the tradition of fascist corporatism. Even though after the end of the Soviet Union, the state capitalism of the Histadrut exhausted its function and all state enterprises under its control were privatized, its ideological function as a political representative of Zionism in the international trade union movement remained. Profiteer and accomplice since 1967 in the disenfranchisement of Palestinian workers in the occupied territories, Histadrut materially supports the settlement movement, apartheid and the genocidal war of extermination in Gaza.
Why is this story particularly relevant for us today? Because it lies at the roots of the founding of the FRG and the agreement with the victorious colonial powers of the Second World War, which exchanged the denazification of Germany for unconditional political and military support for the colonial outpost of the West. Under this agreement, the FRG and Israel have politically legitimized and built up their relationship with each other, just as the DGB built up its relationship with Histadrut. Histadrut therefore became the “blueprint” for the development of the German “social partnership” in post-war Germany. What it is not about at all is class struggle.
Today, as Germany and its military-industrial complex prepare for a new world war and provide military and political support for the Zionist genocide in Palestine, is it possible for trade unions to stand up against rearmament and social cuts without questioning this kind of social partnership from its roots? After IG Metall and the BDSV advocated increased arms production a year ago, where is the breaking point today where the interests of wage earners collide with the reason of state and the class interests they represent diverge?
Is it then a coincidence that the anti-Semitic extreme right in Germany, the EU and the USA - with the class interests it represents - is also consistently pro-Zionist? How is it to be understood that a gift to this extreme right comes from the liberal center in Germany, such as the resolution of 7.11.24, which speaks of an “imported anti-Semitism” from the Arab countries to Germany?
Shouldn’t the task of a credible political and trade union left be to fill this gap in the analysis, to focus on this root of the social partnership to the right and to recognize the struggle for Palestine as a class issue, just as anti-Zionism should be understood as part of today’s struggle against all variants of fascism?
We want to open a debate based on these suggestions. We invite you to join us on March 18 and 25 in the Mehringhof assembly room on the 1st floor.
The program is divided into two dates. Since both take place during the month of Ramadan, we would like to invite everyone to break the fast at 6 pm. The event will start at 7 pm.
- 18.3. - Kick-off, analysis of information sources, various inputs on the current power relations in the German trade unions in a historical perspective.
- 25.3. - What to do? Strategic exchange and proposals for action. Awareness campaign? The BDS demand for severing relations with the Histadrut.
Sources:
- More comprehensive historical analysis on the “Failure of Nuremberg” in: Mahmood Mamdani “Neither Settler nor Native - the Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities” Chapter 2. “Nuremberg: The Failure of Denazification”.
- Tony Greenstein - UNISON Trade Unionist https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289674682Histradrut-_Israel%27s_racist_union
- https://www.laborforpalestine.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Histadrut-Briefing.pdf
- https://palestina-komitee.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sawt-el-Amel-Assessment-of-Histadrut-Jun-2008.pdf
- https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-trade-unions-professional-syndicates-call-for-escalating-bds-pressure
- https://www.boell.de/de/2015/04/16/wie-die-gewerkschaften-der-nachkriegszeit-die-deutsch-israelischen-beziehungen-aufbauten
- https://x.com/PixieOfDeath/status/1737837339479838737
- https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/492892.konversion-und-rüstungsindustrie-sozialpartnerschaft-auf-kriegskurs.html
- https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/492893.ig-metall-und-rüstung-konversion-umgedreht.html
- https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/ns-zeit/zweiter-weltkrieg/nachkriegszeit/hans-maria-globke-staatssekretaer-adenauer-100.html
- Datum: 13 March 2025