Lujo Brentano (1844-1931) has been considered as a prominent leader of the liberal social reformers in the Verein fur Sozialpolitik. However, in an apparent contradiction to it, he proposed a compulsory trade union plan at the Mannheim conference of the Verein in 1905. In this paper, through close analyses of Brentano's publications and letters, I re-examine his shifting ideas on trade unions from his essay in 1871-72 to the Mannheim conference in 1905, and shed new light on him as an eminent figure in the constellation of intellectuals in the Imperial Germany. In Die Arbeitergilden der Gegenwart (1871/72), which gained a public applause for the first time, were expounded two theories side by side : the state organism theory and the supply-demand theory about labour. The latter derived from liberalism, whereas the former belonged to German traditional conservative thought. Brentano argued that the trade unions, just as the gilds used to be so, should cover all workers and be integrated in the state organism. But the supply-demand theory allowed the existence of the organization which consisted only of skilled labourers. Brentano, therefore, had to wait till the spontaneous organization of the unskilled, not to speak of the skilled, came to a maturity. However, he could not always wait till the spontaneous growth of trade unions. He actually proposed the organization from above (i.e. by state) in 1872 and 1888. But in both cases, he quickly returned to his earlier faith in spontaneity. The seven-men commission, representing four unions, during the Ruhr miners' strike in 1905 captured Brentano. He considered that the commission covered virtually all mine workers and the time had come for the state to integrate unions at last. He therefore proposed the compulsory trade union plan. This plan should be interpreted as an inevitable consequence of the theories in his Arbeitergilden. Thus Brentano cannot be regarded as a single-minded liberalist, nor a simple conservative. He was firmly based upon German intellectual tradition. In order to reach his ultimate organic goal, he would take liberal means if possible.
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