The Foreign Worker and the German Labor Movement: Xenophobia and Solidarity in the Coal Fields of the Ruhr, 1871-1914

Based on extensive research in Polish and German archives this book documents the major developments within the labor movement in the Ruhr, including the mass strikes of 1889, 1905 and 1912 and the so-called ‘Polish Revolt’ of 1899. The author argues that Polish militancy generally exceeded that of native miners and calls into question the standard view of the Polish workers’ relationship to the labor movement. This revisionist book begs a reconsideration of the role that foreign labor plays in modern industrial societies.