ABSTRACT
The quarter century between the abolition of the Sozialistengesetz in the autumn of 1890 and the beginning of the First World War in the summer of 1914 was a period which determined the long-term development of the German trade union movement. At the beginning of October 1890, when the shackles of the Sozialistengesetz were removed and the social democratic unions regained their freedom to manoeuvre, the existing associations presented a colourful picture. The statistical data available for the period show that the crafts predominated among the trade union organizations in the 1880s. An argument also developed over the principle of centralization and whether it actually could provide a working basis for the German trade union movement. The local clubs which had been formed during the first years of the Sozialistengesetz had often functioned both as trade union offices and as secret meeting places for the outlawed socialists.
