Work, Class, and Social Democracy in the Global Age of August Bebel (1840-1913)

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Work, Class, and Social Democracy in the Global Age of August Bebel (1840-1913)

Veranstalter
James Retallack (University of Toronto), Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington) and Swen Steinberg (Queen’s University Kingston / German Historical Institute Washington)
Veranstaltungsort
Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto
PLZ
M5S 0A7
Ort
Toronto
Land
Canada
Findet statt
In Präsenz
Vom - Bis
25.05.2023 - 27.05.2023
Website
https://www.ghi-dc.org/events/event/date/work-class-and-social-democracy-in-the-global-age-of-august-bebel-1840-1913
Von
Swen Steinberg, Queen's University Kingston / German Historical Institute Washington

Conference at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto | Conveners: James Retallack (University of Toronto), Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington) and Swen Steinberg (Queen’s University Kingston / German Historical Institute Washington) | Official Partners: Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Bonn); Institute for Social Movements (Bochum)

Work, Class, and Social Democracy in the Global Age of August Bebel (1840-1913)

The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of labour history, and not only for historians of Germany. There was a marked turning-away from both labour history and workers' history after 1980, due in part to new interest in the German and European bourgeoisies, in part to the "cultural turn" and other scholarly trends. Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union after 1991 and the decline of Marxist historiographies. In 2010, a forum of scholars acknowledged that "class," as an analytical category, had largely lost its appeal. But now we are more than ten years further on, and scholars have recently been telling us that histories of work, of labour movements, and of capitalism are all back "in." Are they really?
Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that work and the concept of work are central to our existence and self-worth. And scholarship has not stood still since 1980. Histories of work have embraced the history of capitalism, class, race, ethnicity, religion, language, migration, and locality; of gender construction, the body, and emotions; of education, life-cycles, and generations. The study of labour movements has also revealed important connections between cultures of commemoration, memory studies, and the role of "citizen workers" in civil society. The time seems ripe for another stocktaking on these interrelated themes, bringing history into conversation with other disciplines.
Including the iconic figure of August Bebel provides focus in another way. Was the leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) a worker, a craftsman, a manufacturer, a merchant, an entrepreneur, even perhaps a Bürger? Was he the embodiment of Social Democracy, as Lenin once claimed? Either way, the collapse of capitalist society that Bebel foresaw as early as the 1880s never occurred, and within a year of his death his legions were marching faithfully to the front for Kaiser and Fatherland. Karl Kautsky's assessment of Social Democracy was closer to the mark: the SPD was a revolutionary but not a revolution-making party.
While the focus of this conference falls on the pre-1914 period and on Central Europe, this conference presents contributions that consider transnational or global comparisons and suggest how historians of nineteenth-century social movements can speak to those studying or participating in more modern ones.

Programm

THURSDAY, 25 MAY, 2023

9:30 a.m. Welcome from James Retallack, University of Toronto, and Simone Lässig, German Historical Institute Washington (Munk School)

10:00-11:30 a.m. Session 1: Work, Class, and Race

Moderator: Swen Steinberg, Queen’s University, Kingston

Work, Class, Race, and Violence in German Southwest Africa before 1914
Steven Press, Stanford University, Stanford

Different Worlds of Work? Actors, Interests, and the Concepts of Work, Care and Violence Along the Global Commodity-chain of Diamonds from Colonial Namibia, 1908-1913
Mona Rudolph, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Comment: Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, Flinders University, Adelaide

11:30-1:30 p.m. Break

1:30-3:00 p.m. Session 2: Labour Movements and European Emergencies

Moderator: Janine Murphy, Memorial University, St. John’s

Emergency Politics and the Rise of the Labor Movement in France, Germany, and Italy (1848-1898)
Amerigo Caruso, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

German Social Democrats in July 1914: The Anti-war Protests Reconsidered
Andrew Bonnell, University of Queensland, Brisbane

Comment: David Blackbourn, Vanderbilt University, Nashville

3:00–3:30 p.m. Break

3:30-5:00 p.m. Session 3: Blood, Sweat, and Food

Moderator: Jens-Uwe Guettel, Pennsylvania State University, State College

Liberated from Work or Deprived of a Livelihood? Food and the Future of the Peasantry in Social Democratic Thought
Carolyn Taratko, Universität Erfurt

Becoming the Third Pillar of Socialism: German Social Democracy and Consumers’ Co-operatives at the Turn of the Century
Philipp Urban, Institut für soziale Bewegungen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Comment: Celia Applegate, Vanderbilt University, Nashville

5:00-6:15 p.m. Break

6:15-7:45 p.m. Keynote Address (Debates Room, Hart House, 1 Hart House Circle)

Moderator: Simone Lässig, German Historical Institute, Washington

“A Workers’ Emperor and a President Worker? Germany’s August Bebel and Brazil’s Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in Comparative Perspective”

Speaker: John D. French, Professor of History and African and African-American Studies, Duke University, Durham

FRIDAY, 26 MAY, 2023

10:00-12:00 a.m. Session 4: Resistance in the Workplace, Resistance to the State (Munk School)

Moderator: Philipp Urban, Institut für soziale Bewegungen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Joining the Histories of Labour and Security: Class Formation, Negative Integration, and State Security in Britain and Germany
Christine Krüger, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Establishing Order in the Workplace: Legal Negotiations of Industrial Relations in Nineteenth-century Germany
Johanna Wolf, Max-Planck-Institut für Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtstheorie, Frankfurt a.M.

Work and Work Ethics of a Craftsman, Businessman, and Socialist Politician: August Bebel’s Relationship to Work and Labour
Jürgen Schmidt, Karl-Marx-Haus, Trier

Comment: Stefan Berger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

12:00-1:30 p.m. Break

1:30-3:00 p.m. Session 5: Emotional Work: Class Antagonisms and Violence

Moderator: Amerigo Caruso, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

The Invective Power of Work: Emotions in the Formation of (Working) Class – In-groups and Outsiders in the German Empire
Dagmar Ellerbrock, Technische Universität Dresden

‘Now the only thing left for us to do is to take the path of violence’: Resistance and Rebellion in the German Empire from 1900 to 1914 and Beyond
Jens-Uwe Guettel, Pennsylvania State University, State College

Comment: Anja Kruke, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn

SATURDAY, 27 MAY, 2023

9:00-10:30 a.m. Session 6: Class, Religion, and Modernization (Munk School)

Moderator: Carolyn Taratko, Universität Erfurt

Precarious Integration: The Making and Unmaking of Working-Class Gymnasts in the Transatlantic German Gymnastics Movement, 1860–1900
Janine Murphy, Memorial University, St. John’s

August Bebel, Islam, and the Pre-History of Socialist Modernity
Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, Flinders University, Adelaide

Comment: Andrew Bonnell, University of Queensland, Brisbane

10:30-11:00 a.m. Break

11:00-12:30 p.m. Roundtable

Moderator: Stefan Berger, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Jürgen Kocka (Freie Universität Berlin), James Retallack (University of Toronto), David Blackbourn (Vanderbilt University), and the audience

12:30-1:00 p.m. Closing Remarks

Program (as PDF for download): https://www.ghi-dc.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Conference_Program_Work__Class_and_Social_Democracy_.pdf

https://www.ghi-dc.org/events/event/date/work-class-and-social-democracy-in-the-global-age-of-august-bebel-1840-1913