Why Did German Early Industrial Capitalists Suggest Workers’ Pensions, Arbitration Boards and Minimum Wages?
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Alfred Reckendrees
Alfred Reckendrees is Associate Professor for Business History at the Copenhagen Business School.
Abstract
Today at the beginning of the 21st century, there is a debate across Europe about how much welfare society should provide, and how much private insurance is possible. Two hundred years ago, in the formative period of industrial capitalism, social problems had long been left to private initiative. Commodification of labour and its concentration in large factories, however, created demand for social protection beyond the limited shelter provided by charity. Representatives of industry in Aachen suggested compulsory factory rules granting rights to workers, compulsory workers’ pension funds, minimum wages and maximum working hours. The article argues that the industrialists’ aim was to stabilize the social order of industrial capitalism by using ideas of social partnership. Labour should not just be pacified, but reconciled with capitalist society. While interpreting social policy as a capitalist aim, the article aims to contribute to the discussion about the origins of the welfare state.
About the author
Alfred Reckendrees
is Associate Professor for Business History at the Copenhagen Business School.
Acknowledgement
Drafts of the article have been presented at the BHC Conference Columbus/Ohio, the EBHA Conference Uppsala, the World Economic History Congress, Business History @ Erasmus (University of Rotterdam), the MPP writing workshop, and the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne; I am grateful for many constructive comments that improved the paper. Particular thanks for comments and encouragement to Fred Block, Michael Bordo, Deirdre McCloskey, Per H. Hansen, Martin Höpner Thomas Paster, Thomas Presskorn, Peter Swenson and Dan Wadhwani.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf auf Toni Pierenkemper (17. Oktober 1944 bis 19. Juli 2019)
- Industrialisierung oder Kapitalismus: Alternative Zentralbegriffe
- Mozart und seine Subskription der drei Klavierkonzerte KV 413-415 von 1783
- Regionale Industrialisierung revisited – Die niederrheinische Textilregion von der Protoindustrialisierung bis zum 20. Jahrhundert als Fallbeispiel
- Why Did German Early Industrial Capitalists Suggest Workers’ Pensions, Arbitration Boards and Minimum Wages?
- New Law for New Enterprises: Cooperative Law in Germany, 1867–1889
- Das Wechselkreditgeschäft der Reichsbank vor der Bankenkrise von 1931
- Work Creation, Rearmament, Public and Private Investment in Germany 1933–1938: An Input-Output Analysis of their Impact on Employment and Production
- Der Ursprung der geräuschlosen Kriegsfinanzierung im „Dritten Reich“ 1935–1939
- Die Expansion der deutschen Großbanken nach Österreich und in die Tschechoslowakei 1938/39
- Führen digitales Geld und digitale Bezahlsysteme zu finanzieller Inklusion und Wirtschaftswachstum?
- Preis für Wirtschaftsgeschichte
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf auf Toni Pierenkemper (17. Oktober 1944 bis 19. Juli 2019)
- Industrialisierung oder Kapitalismus: Alternative Zentralbegriffe
- Mozart und seine Subskription der drei Klavierkonzerte KV 413-415 von 1783
- Regionale Industrialisierung revisited – Die niederrheinische Textilregion von der Protoindustrialisierung bis zum 20. Jahrhundert als Fallbeispiel
- Why Did German Early Industrial Capitalists Suggest Workers’ Pensions, Arbitration Boards and Minimum Wages?
- New Law for New Enterprises: Cooperative Law in Germany, 1867–1889
- Das Wechselkreditgeschäft der Reichsbank vor der Bankenkrise von 1931
- Work Creation, Rearmament, Public and Private Investment in Germany 1933–1938: An Input-Output Analysis of their Impact on Employment and Production
- Der Ursprung der geräuschlosen Kriegsfinanzierung im „Dritten Reich“ 1935–1939
- Die Expansion der deutschen Großbanken nach Österreich und in die Tschechoslowakei 1938/39
- Führen digitales Geld und digitale Bezahlsysteme zu finanzieller Inklusion und Wirtschaftswachstum?
- Preis für Wirtschaftsgeschichte
