The master artisans' movement in modern Germany reached a climax in the revolution of 1848, and then after a long period of stagnation, began to develop again with the establishment of the Second Reich. "Verein selbstandiger Handwerker and Fabrikanten Deutschlands" (the Association of Independent Artisans and Manufacturers in Germany), founded in 1873, was the central organisation of the master artisans' movement for about ten years. But it showed an obvious rupture with the movement before and after it, because it explicitly supported "Gewerbefreiheit" (industrial freedom) and cooperation with manufacturers. The upholders of "Verein" were mainly liberal masters in big cities, and particularly the masters in Berlin took the leadership of the association. In the industrial revolution, especially during the boom after the second half of the 1850s, each type of handicraft industry in Berlin, confronting and adapting itself to the industrial economy, formed and established new structures of production and distribution. In such circumstances master artisans were rarely conscious of clashes of interests with manufacturers, and neither were laborers, so that after the 1860s the view of liberalism or "Manchesterism" was dominant in Berlin. The distinctive characteristics of "Verein", its "liberal" character, must be seen against this economic and social background. The trend of the master artisans' movement was deeply influenced by the conversion of Germany from liberalism to conservatism under the burden of the Great Depression. Gradually "Verein" lost the support of many master artisans, and after the 1880s the movement began to reorganize itself. Now it entered the new phase.
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