Workers' Councils

GA 331a

The Difference Between Workers' Councils and Works Councils

Documents explaining the terms

May 16, 1919
Rudolf Steiner in a public lecture in Stuttgart
GA 330

Holding meetings at the top only leads us to continue the old damage, because what wants to be realized today must come directly from the people, and the symptom that history wants this is the council system. And there is something else that is significant: This council system has basically already come into being in two forms, and just as the suffering of the proletariat has necessarily led to the threefold division of the social organism, because the proletariat has experienced hardship in body and soul in the three areas of life, this remarkable phenomenon of the council system also points to the threefold division of the social organism. Initially, this council system presents itself in such a way that, on the one hand, so-called workers' councils are emerging, but on the other hand, another form of council is already appearing, namely the form of council that is now emerging as a demand for works councils.

Anyone who has an instinct for what is emerging from the times can already know today that the system of general workers' councils points to the political side, the state side, the legal side, and this can only develop if we can move towards a legal life that is separate from economic and spiritual life. Such things come about by detaching themselves from humanity, so to speak, out of an inevitable historical obscurity. But the question must be asked: How can what is asserting itself in this way be shaped on a healthy foundation that makes a real organization of human society possible? Just as the system of workers' councils points to an independent legal foundation, so the institution of works councils points to an independent economic foundation, for it is there that the practical impulses for the threefold social organism must be sought, so that we do not build on thin air with a program, but build on solid ground based on historical reality, which we only need to observe correctly.

June 15, 1919
Emil Molt in the essay “Works councils! From practice for practice”
Waldorf News 1st year No. 9/10

In addition to the topic of socialization, it is likely to be the establishment of works councils that is of primary interest to employers and workers. While very little was heard about socialization before November 9, the concept of works councils only emerged after this time and was born out of the idea of socialization.

The concept of workers' councils was also unknown in Germany in the past; it originated during the Russian Revolution and was imported from there along with other revolutionary ideas. These “councils” are completely unsuited to German conditions. They are politically conceived and staged accordingly, and now lead a shadowy existence due to the fact that, as a result of the complete reform of economic life, there is no field of activity for them at all. Let us be clear about this: political workers' councils have no place in countries with a government and a state parliament; they lack an organic structure and are therefore the fifth wheel on the wagon.

The situation is different with works councils. They are a necessity of the times, and without them, true socialization is not feasible at all.

July 29, 1919
Hans Kühn to the local groups of the Threefold Social Order Association
Circular No. 12 of the Association for the Threefold Social Order, July 29, 1919

A works council that is not based on the threefold social order is the opposite of what we are striving for and could lead to dangerous situations, especially if the works councils, as is the case in many places in northern Germany, continue to be mixed up with the political interests of the workers' councils. We ask that you insist, above all, on a clear separation of these two bodies.