Carl Legien
| Carl Legien | |
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Carl Legien
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| Chairman of the General Commission of German Trade Unions | |
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In office 1891–1919 |
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| Chairman of the General German Trade Union Federation | |
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In office 1919–1920 |
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| Chairman of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres | |
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In office 1903–1913 |
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| President of the International Federation of Trade Unions | |
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In office 1913–1919 |
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| Member of the Reichstag | |
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In office 1893–1898 |
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In office 1903–1920 |
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| Constituency | Kiel |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 1, 1861 Marienburg, Province of Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia |
| Died | December 26, 1920 (aged 59) Berlin, Weimar Germany |
| Political party | SPD |
Carl Legien (1 December 1861 – 26 December 1920) was a German unionist, moderate Social Democratic politician and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions.
Legien was born in Marienburg, Province of Prussia, (now Malbork, Poland), to Rudolf, a tax official, and Maria Legien. His parents died in his childhood and Legien grew up in an orphanage in Thorn, Province of Prussia (now Toruń) from 1867 to 1875. He became a wood turner and served in the Prussian Army from 1881 to 1884. He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1885, a wood turners’ union in 1886 and worked as a turner in several cities in Germany until 1891, since 1886 in Hamburg.
In 1887 Legien became the first chairman of the German Association of Turners and of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions (Generalkommission der Gewerkschaften Deutschlands) in 1891, a position he would hold until its dissolution in 1919. He was elected a member of the German Parliament in 1893 (until 1898) and again in 1903 (until his death in 1920). He became the leader of the SPD's right wing and opposed its more leftist factions.
He took part in the International Workers Congresses of Paris, 1889.
Legien became Chairman of the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres in 1903 and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions in 1913 until its dissolution in 1919.
In 1912, Legien gave a keynote address at the convention of the Socialist Party of America in Indianapolis which was credited with persuading the convention to reject the anarcho-syndicalist program of Bill Haywood.
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