Concerted action: Labour's corporatist strategy in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1967-1977

Focusing on corporatist developments in advanced capitalist countries in the 1970s the main argument of the study is a four-fold one. First, to properly understand corporatist development, it must be analyzed as a trade union strategy of "social partnership." Second, trade-union-sponsored corporatism only develops under certain pre-conditions. Third, corporatist arrangements once established are not stable and tend to break down with changing conditions. And fourth, corporatism does not provide the basis for a fundamental transformation of state-labour relations, or state-capital relations.;Within this context the study looks at the case of West Germany. More specifically, the study looks at the corporatism of concerted action in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1967-1977. After a brief discussion of the deep historical roots of German corporatism and the evolution of the German trade unions' corporatist strategy of social partnership from Weimar to the mid-1960s the study analyzes in detail the practice of concerted action between 1967-77.;The study concludes that the evidence of the German case essentially substantiates the initial contentions. The study, moreover, concludes that the corporatism of concerted action did not result in a resolution of the distributional conflicts of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Neither did concerted action lead to equality for labour in economic management. German trade unions did not achieve their objective of social partnership in ten years of concerted action. The result of corporatist cooperation for the unions was a net decline in real income, a decrease in equality in distribution, growing alienation between the union leadership and the rank-and-file, and a general weakening of the trade union movement in Germany.;The development of 20th century corporatism, especially in the post-World War Two period can only be understood if it is analyzed as trade union sponsored phenomenon. It must be seen as a trade union strategy of social partnership with the state and capital to improve conditions of the working class within capitalism. Thus, its development is the state's response to trade union demands in an attempt to manage distributional conflicts at the political level.