Polish Coal Miners' Union and the German Labor Movement in the Ruhr, 1902-1934

John Kulczycki Professor of History,University of Illinois at Chicago

'Kulczycki tells his story with a good sense of its human conflicts and drama, as well as with the meticulous attention to detail, nuance, and change that is expected of a specialized monograph. [...] a persuasive account of one particular labor organization within its discrete historical context and, by implication rather than with didactic rhetoric, he has also written a cautionary tale for our own time.'The Sarmatian Review'Kulczycki... skilfully fill(s) a gap in the labour and political history of the Ruhr.'Business History'This is an excellent conclusion to Kulczycki's trilogy of monographs on the history of the Poles under the Empire. It also provides fruitful points of comparison for labor histories elsewhere.'Labor History'well researched, focuses on issues of central importance to historians of Poland, and offers an opportunity for analyzing the role of minorities in a multicultural society.'Slavic Review'[a] well-written, well-edited, finely conceived,

• Part 1 Natinal solidarity in the interest of the working class: the formation of a Polish trade union, 1902-1905 - a Polish working class in the Ruhr region, the origins of the Polish trade union, the creation of a Polish trade union, the ZZP and the union movement, 1902-1904; the achievement of parity - the 1905 strike: the origins of the strike, the strike begins, the miners' meetings and union growth, the strike and the Polish community, the strike ends; consolidation of the Polish union movement, 1905-1912 - the growth and development of the ZZP after the 1905 strike, unification of the Polish workers' organizations in Germany, restructuring the ZZP, union membership after the fusion, Masurians, ties between the ZZP and its members, the politics of the ZZP and the Prussian authorities, the ZZP and the interests of the working class, national solidarity versus working-class interests; integration of the ZZP in the labour movement, 1905-1914 - union solidarity, the split in the commission of seven, a Christian union, the "socialist" union; miners' elections, the triple alliance, a divided labour movement, disaffection with the unions, divisions in the Polish national movement, the ZZP and ethnic solidarity, the ZZP on the eve of the war. Part 2 National solidarity in the interest of the Polish nation-state: the world war and the reorientation of the ZZP - the immediate impact of the war, union co-operation, POWs and forced labourers in the mines, the revival of the labour movement, the changing geopolitical situation, a socio-political program for the ZZP, the national workers' party, transformation of the ZZP; Polish disengagement from the labour movement, 1918-1924 - the post-war turmoil in Germany and the ZZP, Polish participation in the revolutionary movement in the Ruhr, Polish miners and left-wing radicalism, Polish miners and the Kapp Putsch, the official Polish view, German-Polish antagonism, 1920-1922, the French occupation of the Ruhr region; a resumption of the battle over the length of the workday; the self-liquidation of the Polish miners' union - the return to the homeland, opting for Polish citizenship, migration to France, the decline of the Polish miners' union in the Ruhr, the final phase in the history of the ZZP in the Ruhr region; conclusion - national versus social solidarity. Appendices: membership in the ZZP; program and demands of the ZZP, 1917.