In Wilhelmine Germany, unemployment insurance was put into effect at the communal level at the end of the 19th century, although it was not established at the national level. The main system adopted was the Genter system, in which the municipalities paid subsidies to the trade unions that provided their out-of-work members with unemployment benefits. The system involved such problems as the exclusion of non-organized labourers (namely, the majority of the working class) and the expansion of the Social Democratic Party through its financial support for the Free Trade Union. Despite these problems, however, the introduction of the Genter system was seriously considered in many municipalities, including Schoneberg and Charlottenburg in the Administrative Union of Greater Berlin. The municipality of Schoneberg managed to establish a new system (based on the Genter system) aimed at including non-organized labourers. Meanwhile, a similar system was also proposed in Charlottenburg but rejected by the city council. The objective of the present article is to make a comparative analysis of the abovementioned municipalities with their contrasting results, and to show the historical context in which the Genter system was accepted, while focusing upon the then political philosophy, the social task of municipalities.
View full abstract