Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T23:16:47.613Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life-Long Work or Well-Deserved Leisure in Old Age? Conceptions of Old Age Within the French and German Labour Movements in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

Karen Schniedewind
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The close connection between old age and retirement and to what extent society accepts work-free retirement in old age emerged as the topical themes we know in France and Germany as late as the 1950s and 1960s. By analysing the relevant discussions in the labour circles of both countries the author examines whether this modern concept of retirement originated in the early phase of the welfare state. The concepts and points of criticism which each of the labour movements developed for old age provision show, by virtue of the different national mental attitudes, that their considerations about old age as a life phase diverged from one another to a great degree. The German labour movement believed that old age pensions were primarily a compensation for the reduction in income on reaching an advanced age, and it thus gave preference to the invalidity pension. In contrast, French society supported the idea of welfare security for the old. Along with criticisms of state social policies, the purpose of providing for the old is at the centre of the essay's analysis, more specifically the contrary forms this discussion took in Germany and France: obliged to work in old age or well-earned retirement.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , December 1997 , pp. 397 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1997

References

2 For the development of social policy in the post-war era see the study by Hockerts, Hans Günther, which concentrates on politics and the history of institutions: Sozialpolitische Entscheidungen im Nachkriegsdeutschland: Allüerte und deutsche Sozialversicherungspolitik (Stuttgart, 1980)Google Scholar.

3 See Guillemard, Anne-Marie, Le déclin du social. Formation et crise des politiques de la vieillesse (Paris, 1986)Google Scholar.

4 Conrad, Christoph, Vom Greis zum Rentner. Der Stnikturwandel des Alters in Deutsch-land zwischen 1830 und 1930 (Göttingen, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Dumons, Bruno and Pollet, Gilles, L'Etat et les retraites. Genése d' une politique (Paris, 1994)Google Scholar.

6 Kott, Sandrine, L'Etat social allemand: Représentations et pratiques (Paris, 1995)Google Scholar.

7 Kott, Sandrine, “Gemeinschaft oder Solidarität? Unterschiedliche Modelle der franöttsischen und deutschen Sozialpolitik am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts”, Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 3 (1996), pp. 311–330Google Scholar.

8 Bernstein, Serge, La France des années 30 (Paris, 1991), p. 17Google Scholar.

9 Charle, Christophe, Histoire sociale de la France au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1991), p. 142Google Scholar.

10 Haupt, Heinz-Gerhard, Sozialgeschichte Frankreichs seit 1789 (Frankfurt/Main, 1989), p. 267Google Scholar.

11 Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte. Dritter Band: Von der “Deutschen Doppelrevolution” bis zum Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges 1848–1914 (Munich, 1995), p. 512Google Scholar.

12 Ibid., p. 619.

13 Kaelble, Hartmut, Nachbarn am Rhein: Entfremdung und Annäherung der französischen und deutschen Gesellschaft seit 1880 (Munich, 1991), pp. 42–43Google Scholar.

14 Bourdelais, Patrice, Le nouvel âge de la vieillesse: Histoire du vieillissement de la population (Paris, 1993), p. 175Google Scholar.

15 See the detailed description of the opposition in Bourquin, Irène, “Vie ouvrière” and Sozialpolitik: die Einführung der “Retraites ouvrières” in Frankreich um 1910: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Sozialversicherung (Bern, 1977), p. 277Google Scholar; Noiriel, Gérard, “‘L'Etat-Providence’ et ‘colonisation du monde vécu’: L'exemple de la loi de 1910 sur les Retraites Ouvrières et Paysannes”, Prévenir, 19 (1989), pp. 99–112Google Scholar; on the different motivation of opponent groups in society see Hatzfeld, Henri, Du paupérisme à la Sécurité sociale 1850–1940: Essai sur les origines de la Sécurité socialc en France (Paris, 1971)Google Scholar.

16 Dumons, Bruno and Pollet, Gilles, “La Naissance d'une politique sociale: les retraites en France (1900–1914)”, Revue Française de Science Politique (1990), pp. 629–648Google Scholar, esp.p. 642f.

17 Ibid., p. 646.

18 Bebel, August, “Das Gesetz (über die Invaliditäts– und Altersversicherung im Deutschen Reich”, Die Neue Zeit, 7 (1889), pp. 385–400Google Scholar and 454–473, esp. p. 393.

19 Die Sozialdemokratie im Deutschen Reichstag (Berlin, 1909), pp. 416–417.

20 Molkenbuhr's statement to the Parteitag (Bremen, 1904), in Schröder, Wilhelm, Handbuch der sozialdemokratischen Parteitage von 1863 bis 1909 (Munich, 1910), p. 50Google Scholar.

21 Merrheim, A., “Les Retraites ouvrières et le Projet de loi”, Le Mouvement socialiste (01 1910), pp. 21–45Google Scholar, esp. p. 45. See also Hervé, Gustave “Dans la rue! Bluff électoral”, La Guerre sociale, 2 (12 1909), p. 1Google Scholar.

22 “However, the majority [in the Reichstag] has rejected all motions on the lowering of the pension age, so that the old age pension is, and will remain, merely a ‘decoration’ of the law. Only a few chosen ones will receive it, and they will not be embarrassed by the pension amount.” Bebel, “Das Gesetz liber die Invaliditats- und Altersversicherung”, p. 461.

23 Molkenbuhr, Heinrich, “Zum franzbsischen Altersversicherungsgesetzentwurf”, Die Neue Zeit, 42 (1900–1901), pp. 492–499Google Scholar, esp. p. 495.

24 Schröder, Handbuch der sozialdemokratischen Parteitage, p. 49.

25 Charle, Histoire sociale de la France, p. 142.

26 Haupt, Sozialgeschichte Frankreiclis, p. 267.

27 Bourdelais, Le nouvel âge de la vieilllesse, p. 175. This background explains the privileged status accorded to old persons who had raised several children in the French Old Age Pension Law of 1910. See Schniedewind, Karen, “Soziale Sicherung im Alter. Nationale Stereotypen und unterschiedliche Lo'sungen in Deutschland und Frankreich in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts”, Francia, 21 (1995), pp. 1–22Google Scholar.

28 Bebel, “Das Gesetz Uber die Invaliditäts– and Altersversicherung”, p. 267.

29 Ibid., p. 455.

30 cheval, Edouard, Les résultats pratiques de la loi du 14 juillet 1905 sur l'assistance obligatoire awe vieillards, aux infirmes et aiix incurables privfc de ressources (Chambery, 1911), p. 12Google Scholar.

31 The contemporary regulations concerning official and private assistance for the poor were also depicted in France as humiliating and demoralizing. In some areas the elderly recipient lost the right to vote on entering a hospice: Landrin, Emile, “L'Assurance sociale et rassistance”, Le Mouvement socialiste (08 1903), pp. 561–570Google Scholar, esp. p. 563.

32 Bouhey–Allex, Joseph-Baptiste, “La loi d' assistance du 14 juillet 1905”, La Revue socialiste (07 1904), p. 32–43Google Scholar, esp. p. 43; Neybour, Jean, “Une experience sociale. La loi d'assistance du juillet 1905”, La Revue socialiste (03 1908), pp. 237–247Google Scholar.

33 See Göckenjan, Gerd, “Alter und Armut. Armenpflege fllr alte Leute”, in idem (ed.), Recht aufein gesichertes Alter? Studien zur Geschichtc der Alterssicherung in dcr Frūhzeit der Sozialpolitik (Augsburg, 1990), pp. 105–141Google Scholar; Schiedewind, Karen, “L'assistance aux vieillards en France et en Allemagne à la fin du XIXe et au début du XXe siècle”, Actes du Colloque sur la loi du 15 juillet 1893 instituant l'Assistance médicale gratuite, Grenoble, 1993 (forthcoming, 1997)Google Scholar. Emminghaus notes that public assistance for the aged poor in nineteenth-century Paris was graded: 70 year olds received five Francs monthly, those aged 79 to 82 eight Francs, ten Francs for the 82–8 4 year olds and 12 Francs for those over 84: Emminghaus, Arved, Das Armemvesen und die Armengesetzgebung in europäischen Staaten (Berlin, 1870), p. 632Google Scholar.

34 The Comité de Mendicité had the task to combat the extensive begging of the time and occupied itself especially with the situation of the elderly. In Livre de Bienfaisance highest priority was given to assisting old agricultural labourers and tenant–farmers: Bois, Jean-Pierre, Les vieux de Montaigne aux premières retraites (Paris, 1989), p. 244Google Scholar.

35 Weiss, J.H., “Origins of the French Welfare State. Poor Relief in the Third Republic 1871–1914”, French Historical Studies, 13 (1983/1984), pp. 46–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. pp. 47–48.

36 Rouanet, Gustave, “Les retraites ouvrières”, La Revue socialiste (09 1901), pp. 257–274Google Scholar, esp. p. 258.

37 See Dumons, Bruno and Pollet, Gilles, “Les socialistes français et la question des retraites (1880–1914)”, Vingtième Siècle: revue d'histoire, 38 (1993), pp. 34–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The authors imply that the French mentality was backward: for example, when they accuse the revolutionary socialists, who were against the insurance solution, of not being capable o f thinking in modem terms (p. 39).

38 This viewpoint was a result of Germany's economic crisis in the Weimar years. See Langer, Fritz, “Sozialversicherung oder allgemeine Staatsbürgerversorgung?”, Die Glocke, 43 (1923), pp. 683–688Google Scholar.

39 Renard, Didier, ”Une vieillesse républicaine? L'Etat et la protection sociale de la vieillesse, de l'assistance aux assurances (1880–1914)”, Sociétes Contemporaines, 10 (1992), pp. 9–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Harmel, Maurice, “Une ‘grande’ réforme. Retraites ouvrières”, La Guerre sociale, 51 (12 1909), p. 3Google Scholar.

41 ”Les retraites ouvrieres”, Le Socialiste, 32 (August 1901), p. 1.

42 Fournier, Francois, “Retraites pour la vieillesse” La Vie socialiste (1904–1905), pp. 976–987Google Scholar, esp. p. 977.

43 ”Les retraites ouvrieres”, p. 1. A corresponding draft bill fom Guesde was positively reviewed in La Guerre sociale. Harmel, Maurice, ”La comedie parlementaire – ou lon parle des retraites ouvriéres”. La Guerre sociale, 4 (01 1911), p. 1Google Scholar.

44 Wolff, Herta, Die Stellung der Sozialdemokratie zur deutschen Arbeiterversichenmgsgesetzgcbung von ihrer Entstehung an bis zur Reichsversichenmgsordnung (Berlin, 1933), p. 37Google Scholar.

45 Bebel, ”Das Gesetz Uber die Invalidities- und Altersversicherung”, p. 468.

46 Ibid., p. 467.

47 With one exception, the socialist members of the French parliament, too, accepted pension contributions from the workers' side. Their arguments reflected the minimalist position that a bad law to improve the workers' lot was better than no law at all. So the voting patterns of the socialist parliamentarians had common features in both countries. The debates, however, were different.

48 Hatzfeld, Du Paupérisme á la Sécurité Sociale, p. 205.

49 Guillemard, Le déclin du social, p. 37.

50 Ibid., p. 58.

51 Kleeis, Friedrich, ”Die Abnahme der Altersrenten”, Die Neue Zeit, 24 (1906), pp. 69–72Google Scholar, esp. p. 70.

52 Ibid., p. 69.

53 Harmel, Maurice, ”Les retraites ouvrieres. Contre la capitalisation”, La Guerre sociale, 2 (12 1909), p. 3Google Scholar.

54 Jaures, Jean, “L'ame'lioration de la loi des retraites. Discours de Jaures, a la Chambre, Ic 16 de'cembrc 1911”, La revue socialiste (01 1912), pp. 1–26Google Scholar, esp. p. 9.

55 “[…] retiring permanently as part of a normal life” (A. Rey), in La question des Assurances sociales (Paris, 1925), p. 5.

56 Fontenay, Femand, La misére des vieux (Paris, 1937), p. 15Google Scholar.

57 See Göckenjan, Gerd and Hansen, Eckhard, ”Der lange Weg zum Ruhestand. Zur Sozialpolitik fiir das Alter zwischen 1889 und 1945”, Zeitschrift far Sozialreform, 12 (1993), pp. 725–755Google Scholar.

58 Waldeck–Rochet, (Députe de la Seine), “L'enrichissement des compagnies d'assurances par la mine des petits épargnants”, Cahiers du bolchevisme, 15/2 (1938), pp. 537–544Google Scholar, esp. p. 544.

59 André Parsal (Député de la Seine), “La retraite aux vieux doit etre avant la fin de TannSe 1938”, ibid., p. 532. And at the end of his speech: “Stay united, male and female citizens of advanced years, with the certainty which you and the whole country harbour, that your demands will be successful in obtaining for our France work for the young and bread for the aged” (p. 536).

60 Plans put forward during the revolution for the happy family home, the ideal house in the country, included a separate room for the old folk which was decorated with the motto, “Rest in dignity after a life of labour”: Bois, Les vieux de Montaigne, p. 246.

61 Morizet, Andre, “Les retraites ouvrieres”, Le Mouvement socialiste (08 1901), pp. 226–236Google Scholar, esp. p. 228.

62 Foumier, Francois, “Retraites pour la vieillesse”, La Vie socialiste (1904/1905), pp. 976–987Google Scholar, esp. p. 976.

63 Buckerere, A., “Assurance sociale”, Le Socialiste (08 1908), p. 1Google Scholar.

64 Fontenay, La miscre des vieiix, p. 9.

65 This demand was supported by Edouard Cheval, for example, in his Ph.D., which has a political and economic orientation: “The peasant, who had toiled all his life o n his bare patch o f ground to scrape enough to eat, the agricultural or industrial worker who, for years, has been bent over the same task monotonously repeating the same movements, as soon as they are weakened by age, can no longer find useful work. They should be able to end their days in a retirement which would be a fitting reward o f a full life”: Cheval, Les resultats pratiques de la hi du 15 juillet 1905, p. 4. For similar arguments see also Degas, M., Les Assurances sociales (Paris, 1924), p. 60Google Scholar.

66 See the introduction to Asholt, Wolfgang and Fahnders, Walter (eds), Arbeit und Milfiig-gang 1789–1914: Dokumente And Analysen (Frankfurt/Main, 1991), pp. 9–19Google Scholar.

67 Lafargue, Paul, “Das Recht auf Faulheit. Widerlegung des ‘Rechts auf Arbeit’ von 1848”, in Patzold, Jan (ed.), Paul Lafargue: Das Recht auf Faulheit und andere Satiren (Berlin, 2nd ed., 1991), pp. 7–53Google Scholar, esp. p. 26.

68 Ibid, p. 129.

69 Ibid., p. 130.

70 For details of the changes made in translation see Benz, Ernst, Das Recht auf Faulheit oder Die friedliche Beendigung des Klassenkampfs (Stuttgart, 1974), esp. pp. 60–73Google Scholar.

71 Ibid., p. 63.

72 Why he ignored the phrase “Die Widerlegung des Rechts auf Arbeit” (a refutation of the right to work) is not clear, as Kautsky had criticized this demand in 1884: as a demand of petit–bourgeois socialists, who strive for an idealized copy of present society, forgetting that the right to work could eventually turn into the right to the workhouse: Kautsky, Karl, “Das Recht auf Arbeit”, Die Neuc Zeit (1884), pp. 299–303Google Scholar, esp. pp. 299–300.

73 Ibid., p. 303.

74 See the comprehensive study by Campbell, Joan, Joy in Work, German Work: The National Debate, 1800–1945 (Princeton, 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

75 Kleeis, Friedrich, “Herabsetzung des Lebensalters fllr den Bezug von Altersrente?”, Arbeiter-Versorgung (1906), p. 65Google Scholar.

76 Molkenbuhr, “Zum franzSsischen Altersversicherungsgesetzentwurf”, pp. 493–494.

77 Göckenjan and Hansen, “Der lange Weg zum Ruhestand”.

78 Borchardt, Bruno, “Einige Worte zur Arbeitsmoral”, Sozialistische Monatshefte (1922), pp. 784–790Google Scholar, esp. p. 784.

79 Ibid., p. 790.

80 Thorez, Maurice, speech of 21 July 1945, cited in Lazar, Marc, “Damne de la terre et homme de marbre: L'ouvrier dans Fimaginaire du PCF du milieu des annees trente a la fin des annees cinquante”, Annales ESC (09–10 1990), pp. 1071–1096Google Scholar, esp. p. 1082.

81 Lazar interprets this attitude as a consequence of the Stakhanov cult in the Soviet Union: Lazar, “Damné de la terre”, p. 1078.

82 Hessler, Otto, “Die Stellung der Jugendlichen zum Beruf und der Arbeit”, Gcwerkschafisarchiv (1926), pp. 258–261Google Scholar, esp. p. 259.

83 Rauecker, Bruno, “Rationalisierung und Arbeiterkultur”, Die Arbeit (1926), pp. 115–122Google Scholar, esp. p. 117.

84 Ibid., p. 122.

85 Eims, Rudi, “Die Krise der Arbeit: Entwicklungsgeschichtliche Betrachtungen”, Gewerkschaftsarchiv (1928), pp.259–264Google Scholar, esp. p. 263.

86 Ibid., p. 264.

87 Sombart, Werner, Der moderne Kapitalismus, vol. II/l (Leipzig, 1917), p. 56Google Scholar, where he described the pensioner ideal as “characteristic of early capitalist economic thinking”.