Germany 1889

Synopsis

During May 1889 nearly 100,000 German miners went on strike in the Ruhr Valley. They demanded wage increases and an eight-hour workday and raised other grievances. Faced with employer intransigence, some miners petitioned Kaiser Wilhelm II for a resolution of their dispute. Seeing this as an opportunity to enhance his authority, Wilhelm pressured the employers into negotiating a compromise with the miners. This exposed a rift between Wilhelm and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who had hoped to use the strike as an excuse to force more antisocialist legislation through the Reichstag, the German parliament. Despite being pushed into a settlement with the miners, the employers did not keep to the terms of the agreement and the miners failed to gain any lasting concessions. However, the strike had profound consequences for the development of the labor movement in the Ruhr Valley. Repeated conflicts...