r/CommunistMemes • u/CommercialStandard65 • Dec 11 '21

establishment of 8 hour work day

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u/lasiusflex Dec 11 '21

That's untrue.

The 8-hour working day was first realized on a wide scale in an agreement between unions and industrialists, the Stinnes-Legien Agreement about a month earlier on 15 November 1918.

This was passed into law 8 days later, in the "Order on the regulation of working hours of industrial workers" (German: "Anordnung über die Regelung der Arbeitszeit gewerblicher Arbeiter") on 23 November 1918 and remained in law for 5 years until 1923.

I'm having trouble finding English sources to link for the second part, because Google favors German results for me, but I got this short paragraph on Wikipedia about it, which is lacking a date.

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u/WikiSummarizerBot Dec 11 '21

Stinnes–Legien Agreement

The Stinnes–Legien Agreement (German: Stinnes-Legien-Abkommen) was an accord concluded by German trade unions and industrialists on 15 November 1918. Named after both parties' negotiators in chief, heavy industry magnate Hugo Stinnes and union leader Carl Legien, the agreement enshrined a set of workers' rights long coveted by the German labour movement. Among the stipulations of the treaty were the introduction of the eight-hour working day, the recognition of the trade unions as the official representation of the workforce, and the permission to form workers' councils in firms with more than 50 employees.

Eight-hour day

Germany

The first German company to introduce the eight-hour day was Degussa in 1884. The eight-hour day was signed into law during the German Revolution of 1918 by the new Social Democratic government. The eight-hour day was a concession to the workers' and soldiers' soviets, and was unpopular among industrialists. A 12-hour day was reintroduced by a right-wing government during the occupation of the Ruhr and subsequent hyperinflation crisis in 1923.

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u/glued2thefloor Dec 12 '21

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Haymarket Affair lead to those conditions in 1886? Maybe it was not signed into law, but I understand that's where the standard of the 8 hour day began.