Craig D. Patton, Flammable Material: German Chemical Workers in War, Revolution, and Inflation, 1914–1924. Berlin: Haude and Spener, 1998. v + 315 pp. 169 DM cloth.

Abstract

This clearly written, well-researched monograph analyzes the shop-floor actions, strikes, and general insurgency of German chemical workers during and after World War One, proving, once again, that reports of labor history's demise are premature. Patton's work suggests that we still have much to learn from an anatomy of militant working-class behavior. In the classic manner, Flammable Material surveys the overall economic and industrial context of rebellion while also offering a detailed comparative study of conditions, organization, and activity in specific companies—in this case, the four biggest concerns, Bayer, Höchst, Leuna, and BASF. Simultaneously, the book moves beyond traditional labor history (at least of the dominant German variety) by adopting the perspective “from below” as opposed to from inside trade unions and socialist parties. Moreover, Patton criticizes assumptions that often crop up even in the field of the new labor history. Indeed, his study was motivated by his dissatisfaction with explanations of the oft-noted volatility of chemical workers from 1918 to 1921. He challenges, first, the notion that their actions were “wild” or spontaneous, showing that they were driven by long-festering, well-articulated grievances and steered by shop-floor leaders and organizations. He disputes, second, the assumption that chemical workers were apolitical. To understand both the curve and content of workplace solidarity and militancy, he argues, the historian must consider the impact of partisan politics on chemical workers, on the one hand, and their intense concern with the balance of power between employees and management, on the other.