The German labour movement, 1830s–1840s: early efforts at political transnationalism

Abstract

It is a key idea that the German Labour Movement originated in the early nineteenth century abroad. In the more liberal atmosphere of Paris, Brussels, Geneva and London political refugees and travelling journeymen came together and founded associations. This turn of events should, however, not be seen solely within the analytical framework of class formation but also as part of the civil societal development of a transnational movement that fought for the acceptance of the workers as ‘real citizens’. This paper seeks to place the topic of the (political) formation of the German working class in dialogue with the structure of political remittances and thereby to enquire into the influence of foreign ideas and associational models on the early German working class: which actors, media and ideas helped spread these new forms of associations; how were these shaped by the interplay between national impacts and transnational developments?.