Christian Democratic Workers and the Forging of German Democracy, 1920-1980

How do we account for the remarkable political and economic stability achieved in the Federal Republic of Germany in its first three decades after the upheavals of the Wilhelmine era and Weimar Republic? To be sure, there has been no shortage of explanations. These have included the stabilization made possible by the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, economic prosperity, lessons learned from the war-torn past, the erosion of divisive social milieus and not least the integrative role played by the new Christian Democratic Union. An extension of his earlier research on Christian trade unions in the Weimar Republic, William Patch’s masterfully researched work provides a substantively different explanation for Germany’s successful democratization. Focusing on the politics of the trade union halls, Patch argues that it was the Christian trade unionists who played a determinative role. They did so by facilitating cooperation rather than conflict. Caught between the worlds and loyalties...

Democracy · Economic history · Economics · German · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Sociology · Weimar Republic · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · History · Law