West German Trade Unions

THE German labor unions are presently passing through a critical period. The outward portents of the crisis are clearly visible. The membership of the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB—German Trade Union Federation), which continued to climb regularly until 1952, is now stationary or, viewed in proportion to employment figures, slightly on the decline. Union headquarters ring with controversies between factions and personalities. The recent, predominantly Catholic, split-off from the DGB threatens to enlarge the hitherto minor area of rival or dual unionism; even a moderate enlargement of this sort would probably lead to an increase (as it did in France) in the indifference of the majority of workers toward all labor organizations.