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The Theory and Policy of Labour Protection. A. Schäffle
Читать онлайн.Название The Theory and Policy of Labour Protection
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isbn 4064066130022
Автор произведения A. Schäffle
Жанр Языкознание
Издательство Bookwire
A. Schäffle, Statutes etc. Germany. Laws
The Theory and Policy of Labour Protection
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4064066130022
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. DEFINITION OF LABOUR PROTECTION.
CHAPTER III. SURVEY OF THE EXISTING CONDITIONS OF LABOUR PROTECTION.
CHAPTER IV. MAXIMUM WORKING-DAY.
BOOK II. CHAPTER V. PROTECTION OF INTERVALS OF WORK: DAILY INTERVALS, NIGHT REST, AND HOLIDAYS.
CHAPTER VI. ENACTMENTS PROHIBITING CERTAIN KINDS OF WORK.
CHAPTER VII. EXCEPTIONS TO PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION.
CHAPTER VIII. PROTECTION IN OCCUPATION, PROTECTION OF TRUCK AND CONTRACT.
CHAPTER IX. THE RELATIONS OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF LABOUR PROTECTION TO EACH OTHER.
CHAPTER XI. THE “LABOUR BOARDS” AND “LABOUR CHAMBERS” OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY.
CHAPTER XII. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF PROTECTIVE ORGANISATION.
CHAPTER XIII. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR PROTECTION.
CHAPTER XIV. THE AIM AND JUSTIFICATION OF LABOUR PROTECTION.
BOOK I. INTRODUCTORY.
In past years German Social Policy was directed chiefly to Labour Insurance, in which much entirely new work had to be done, and has already been done on a large scale; but in the year 1890 it entered upon the work of Labour Protection, which was begun long ago in the Industrial Code, and this work must still be carried on further and more generally on the same lines.
This result is due to the fact that the Emperor William II. has inscribed upon his banner this hitherto neglected portion of social legislation (which, however, has long been favoured by the Reichstag and especially by the Centre), has placed it on the orders of the day among national and international questions, and has launched it into the stream of European progress with new force and a higher aim.
The subject is one of the greatest interest in more than one respect.
It was to all appearance the cause of the retirement of Prince Bismark into private life. Some day, perhaps, the historian, in seeking an explanation of this important event in the world’s history, will inquire of the political economist and social politician, whether Labour Protection, as conceived by the Emperor—especially as compared to Labour Insurance—were after all so bold a venture, so new a path, so daring a leap in the dark as to necessitate the retirement of that great statesman. I am inclined to answer in the negative, and to assume that the conversion of Social Policy to Labour Protection was the outward pretext rather than the real motive of the unexpected abdication of Prince Bismark of his leading position in the State. The collective result of my inquiry must speak for itself on this point.
The turn which Social Policy has thus taken in the direction of Labour Protection, raises the question among scientific observers whether it is true that the science of statecraft has thus launched forth upon a path of dangerous adventure and rash experimentation, and grappled with a problem, compared with which Prince Bismark’s scheme of Labour Insurance sinks into insignificance. Party-spirit, which loves to belittle real excellence, at present lends itself to the view which would minimise the significance of Labour Insurance as compared with Labour Protection. But this is in my opinion a mistake. Though it is impossible to overestimate the importance for Germany of this task of advancing over the ground already occupied by other nations, and of working towards the introduction of a general scheme of international Labour Protection calculated to ensure international equilibrium of competition, yet in this task Labour Protection is, in fact, only the necessary supplement to Labour Insurance. Both are of the highest importance. But neither the one nor the other gives any ground for the charge that we are playing with the fires of social revolution. The end which the Emperor William sought to attain at the Berlin Conference, in March, 1890, and by the Industrial Code Amendment Bill of the Minister of Commerce, von Berlepsch, is one that has already been separately attained more or less completely in England, Austria and Switzerland. It is in the main merely a question of extending the scope of results already attained in such countries, while what there is of new in his scheme does not by any means constitute the beginning of a social revolution from above. The policy of the Imperial Decree of February 4th, 1890, and of the Bill of von Berlepsch, in no wise pledges its authors to the Radicals. A calm consideration of facts will prove incontestably the correctness of this view.
However, it is not any politico-economic reasons there may have been for the retirement of Prince Bismark, nor the very common habit of depreciating the value of Labour Insurance, nor yet the popular theory, false as I believe it to be, that the Emperor’s policy of Labour Protection is of a revolutionary character, which leads me to take up once again this well-worn theme.
If the “Theory and Policy of Labour Protection” were by this time full and complete, I would willingly lay it aside in order to take into consideration the significance of Bismark’s retirement from the point of view of social science, or to attempt to reassure public opinion as to the conservative character of the impending measures of Labour Protection. But this is not the case.
It is true we have before us an almost overwhelming mass of material in the way of protocols, reports of commissions, judicial decisions, resolutions and counter-resolutions, proposals, petitions and motions, speeches and writings, pamphlets and books. But we are still far from having, as the result of a clear and comprehensive survey of the whole of this material, a complete theory of Labour Protection; for the political problems of Labour Protection, especially those touching the so-called Maximum Working Day and the organisation