#weimar republic

Carnival in Berlin-1930

Jeanne Mammen (1890-1976)

The rewards—as with Henry Ford’s high-wage–high-consumption model—were supposed to come in the form of economic prosperity for all, and it was on that basis, and because of their commitment to technology, that Social Democrats supported rationalization. But the social benefits were never to emerge, at least not at the level at which they would have a highly beneficial impact on the broad mass of workers. Certainly, major companies deployed an array of welfare programs designed to bind workers to the firm. But major benefits like company housing were generally limited to an elite stratum of the workforce. For the rest, it was sports teams, parks and playgrounds, churches, cultural events, newspapers, and recreational associations, all sponsored by the company and dedicated to creating a loyal workforce. The companies directed many of their efforts at women—not female workers, but the wives of male workers. The presumption was that as the caretakers of the “orderly family,” widely understood as the bedrock of society, women would benefit from advice on how to conduct household labor more productively, which would also signify efficient use of the wages brought home by the male worker. A cozy, comfortable, and rationalized household would give the men the rest and recuperation they needed to perform well day in and day out, by the drill press, the mine seam, or the blast furnace.

Rationalization, far from bringing prosperity to workers, only made their lives more difficult. While wages did rise between 1924 and 1929, so did unemployment, and employed workers found the intensified pace of work nerve-rattling and destructive of their health. Any worker who objected was quickly told that there were thousands of others outside, ready to take his place.

Lesbian illustration by Paul Kamm, Berlin, 1932