862.00 P.R./139
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received July 21.]
Sir:
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2. The German Labor Front. The tasks of the trustees of labor were defined recently by Dr. Seldte, the Minister of Labor. He said that, according to the Nazi concept of government, business and industry must be subordinated to the whole nation and that it was the task of the State to lead and supervise. The days of arbitration of labor disputes in industry in the sense of liberalism and democracy were over. Until the corporative organization of the Third Reich was completed, the State, through the trustees of labor, must regulate wage tariffs and settle disputes between industry and labor. The trustees embodied the highest authority of the State and were bound only by the wishes and instructions of the Reich Government.
A prominent Nazi labor leader recently said that, in view of the dictatorial power of the trustees of labor, it would not be so easy hereafter for employers to shut down their plants or to dismiss a part of their workmen on the ground that business was bad. In such cases the management itself must first accept a cut in salary.
In fact, several cases of employers having been arrested for shutting down their plants or dismissing some of their help have already been reported in the press. Officials of coal mines in East Upper Silesia were arrested only a few days ago for closing down their mines. By order of the labor trustee, operation of the mines has been resumed. The officials [Page 277] have now been released, but they are facing indictment for violating the economic truce. In East Prussia, the trustee of labor removed the board of directors of the Standard Gummi-Werke, replacing them with men of his own choice; this action was taken on the ground that the main stockholder of the concern, a Polish Jew, did not operate the plant in the interest of German economy.
A further illustration of the part employers are expected to play in the German Labor Front, which comprises organizations of employers, employees and workmen and which is to constitute one of the main “estates” in the corporative State, was a statement—which, in view of the prevailing atmosphere of intimidation is probably expected to have the effect of a peremptory order—by Dr. Ley, the head of the Labor Front, to the effect that employers must attend mass meetings of their employees and march with them in street parades, in order to demonstrate that class struggle has been completely overcome.
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Respectfully yours,