Characteristics of the Regional Economy in South-West-Germany during the World Depression : On the Relationship between Agriculture and Industry

Abstract

This paper will attempt to discuss the peculiar combination of agriculture and industry which characterized the structure of the regional economy in Wurttemberg, South-West-Germany, during the World Depression. The symbiosis between agriculture and industry can be understood in two ways. Firstly, where small peasant farms are dominant, it allows peasants to dovetail their work into both agriculture and industry. It also means backwardness as to the social division of labor, because these peasants still continue their intermediate status as part-peasant and part-worker. Secondly, agricultural and industrial products together create a local market area in a regional dimension through the internal trade between agriculture and industry. In this second case the social division of labor deepens, in contrast to the former. It has been said that the regional economy of Wurttemberg withstood the business depression during the World Depression, because the level of unemployment in this region was much lower than that of other regions in Germany. Therefore it was regarded as a "model" economy. The reason for the low level of unemployment was the occupational combination of agriculture and industry, which allowed the unemployed to continue participating in agricultural activities. This combination took shape in the form of the peasant-worker, who was engaged in factories located in the rural area, and of the so-called "pendler" (swing-worker), who possesed a small farm and worked in factories located in the city. This structure of the regional economy in Wurttemberg was looked upon as a "model" by contemporaries, so that Erich Preiser analysed it during and after the World Depression in order to propose the outline of the development plan in OstpreuBen. He emphasized the settlement of workers and artisans with small farms in rural districts in order to bring forth a local market offering internal trade between agriculture and industry. He recognized this patten of combination in the structure of the Wurttemberg economy, and indeed, the economy of small farmers and carft artisans had shown its prosperity in local market areas. The structure of the regional economy in Wurttemberg should be characterized as a complex formation of an occupational and market symbiosis between agriculture and industry.