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Cook, Alice Hanson / Workers' education in the U.S. Zone of Germany
(1947)
Military government's interest in workers' education, pp. 3-5
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*0RK.RT3' EDUJC*';TION IN THE U.S-. ZOWE OF GM-RIJY LUNCiE TIE BZEbIN1ILW OF OCCU.. 2TI0N by ULICUE Ii1NSON COOK . 1. iJILI.. :Tf GOVERLJI;ENTIS INY22EST IN WOLLNRZ' EDUC .[~TOT ilitary ikwernment recognized the unions as one of the dreenda ae c~r-ier forces after the collapse of the Nazi regime. Viry '21! union lender l had ';eoome Nazis in. spite of the pressures of the Hitle- perio,. :vany Df thpe hae spent .nonths or years in jail in punisaiaent %rfo. their' anti-, .zi record and. persistent. anti-Nazi activ-ity. - NION STRIUTUMJFE Military gcvernment 's first poliy was to ene.oulrage labor Organization at the. 4oant level but to hold back on organizaticn int, indust'iul unions . r -. lrations until local leadlership cnuld have P stabisfl.4 itself. :+DrjiTaj organization has novi been exrmitted in the four separate Lainder, and zonal ana' inter-zonal conferences of these Land organizations andc of the .unions in the other 7.ones have taken place. This decentralization of union organization within the lmerican Zone (The British Zone unions have a single federation which includes the Bremen unions as well).and Ibetween. the zones has produced some differences in union structure, and consequently different machinery and point of.viw a.- t.: the approach to some problems of union administration. Specifically in relation to workers' education, it means that the method of work in this field aeei not and cannot be uniform throughout the zone. One thing all the unions'havo in common is a grouping around large industrial units and the-Alnclusion of all workers re~garlless of religious or political affiliat.on. The unions in the different zones operate under unilateral policies tailored ty the differing viewpoints of the separate Occupying powers. Only the Unorks Council as an employee orguaizatiou cdme's under. an sallied Control Council Law which. applies to all Germany. Iowe'-er, th imxlmementation of this law differs in each Zone. Some unions in the British and Am6rican Zones have Iae tontative plans toward unitinar into a single federation. But it is difficult for tcO, unions to formulate thair ultimate sals, oven in terms of structure, whee so ruel de"pe3nds on the form the G~erman state will assume and the solution it will bri n to Politico-aconomic questions. These ara questions .'hich hal We 'answerj-d only by the .illied Powvrg. Lot, .- . vl hJrin exPr esed are those of the - utihor, and dr not ^-(~ G (-,Suly reflect the viev-s of US, L.ilitary Gay.rmmnt. - 3 -
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