Talk:Karl Roche

Corrections to Karl Roche's Bio

Johann Friedrich Karl Roche, born in Koenigsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Oblast), Oct. 31, 1862

married to Emma Auguste, née Lange (they had at least two children)

Parents: Christian Roche and Dorotea, née Boehm

(source: Landesarchiv Berlin A Pr. Br. Rep. 030 Nr. 16490)

He died in Hamburg, Jan. 1, 1931

(source: Karl Roche [obituary]; in: Der Syndikalist (Berlin), Jg. XI, Nr. 2, 10. Januar 1931)

Roche got his education at the elementary school ("Volksschule"), which started at the age of six in Prussia and lasted about six to eight years, which means, that he left school at last at the age of fourteen.

(source: Karl Roche, Aus dem roten Sumpf)

Between 1881 and 1886 he was sentenced eight times to prison and forced labor because of begging and vagabonding (a crime in Imperial Germany).

(source: Landesarchiv Berlin A Pr. Br. Rep. 030 Nr. 16490)

In 1887 (still under Bismarck's "Sozialistengesetz") Roche joined the German Social-Democratic Party; since 1891 he was active in the German social-democratic trade union movement led by the Generalkommission under Carl Legien, first in the Verband der Fabrik-, Land- und gewerblichen Hülfsarbeiter Deutschlands [union of unskilled workers] around Hamburg (Germany). He there twice was sentenced to some months in prison because of insult and leze-majesty.

In 1897 Roche joined the Verband der Bau-, Erd- und gewerblichen Hülfsarbeiter Deutschlands [union of unskilled building workers]

This, by the way, indicates, that he didn't learn a trade; and his prison sentences because of begging and vagabonding in the 1880s, as well as some remarks in two brochures Roche published in 1919, give a hint, that, after leaving school, he earned his living quite a year as an agricultural hobo ("Wanderarbeiter").

(source: Karl Roche, Einheitslohn und Arbeitersolidarität/Uniform wage and workers solidarity [Brochure, written in April 1919]; Karl Roche, Zwei Sozialisierungsfragen. 1. Wer soll sozialisieren? 2. Ist die zusammengebrochene Wirtschaft für die Sozialisierung reif?/Two questions of socialization. 1. Who shall socialize? 2. Is the broken down economy ready for socialization? [Brochure, written May 1919])

Until the beginning of 1902 Roche was active in the Hamburg region for the union of unskilled building workers (receiving a fortnight prison sentence for public insult). Then he left for Wuppertal (Elberfeld-Barmen) doing work as a union organizer. Since 1905 Roche worked as "Zweigstellenleiter" (head of the local branch) of the "Verband" in Bochum/Westphalia (two fines for public insult of a police officer, paid by his union).

(source: Landesarchiv Berlin A Pr. Br. Rep. 030 Nr. 16490; Karl Roche, Aus dem roten Sumpf; Archiv Karl Roche, Wer war Karl Roche?)

H. M. Bock's biographical note on Karl Roche is obviously wrong (cf. Syndikalismus und Linkskommunismus von 1918 - 1923, p. 104 [ed. 1969 & 1994]. It is based on a letter by Augustin Souchy, who confused Roche with another important syndicalist militant in Hamburg in the years before WW I, Ernst Schneider (after WW I also known under his aka "Icarus", who later, during WW II in exile in Britain, wrote "The Wilhelmshaven Revolt".)

So much for now.

Literature:

Karl Roche, Aus dem roten Sumpf oder Wie es in einem nicht ganz kleinen Zentralverband zugeht. Berlin 1909 (Verlag Fritz Kater) – reprint Hamburg-Altona 1990 (Verlag Von unten auf!)

Karl Roche, Einheitslohn und Arbeitersolidarität [Vortrag, gehalten am 20. April 1919], Berlin 1919 (Verlag »Der Syndikalist«) http://archivkarlroche.wordpress.com/archiv-karl-roche/broschuren/einheitslohn-und-arbeitersolidaritat/

Karl Roche, Zwei Sozialisierungsfragen. 1. Wer soll sozialisieren? [Vortrag, gehalten am 1. Mai 1919 in Hamburg] 2. Ist die zusammengebrochene Wirtschaft für die Sozialisierung reif? [Vortrag, gehalten im Mai 1919], Hamburg 1919 (Verlag der Syndikalistischen Föderation Hamburg) http://archivkarlroche.wordpress.com/archiv-karl-roche/broschuren/zwei-sozialisierungsfragen/

Archiv Karl Roche, Wer war Karl Roche? Eine biographische Skizze http://archivkarlroche.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/wer-war-karl-roche/#more-3

Karl Roche, Sozialismus und Syndikalismus. Agitationsschriften aus dem Jahre 1919 (Archiv Karl Roche #2) Moers 2009 (May) (Syndikat-A Medienvertrieb) ISBN 978-3-9810846-5-8 (68 pp)

More material (in German) on the pages of the Archiv Karl Roche, Hamburg:

http://archivkarlroche.wordpress.com

http://muckracker.wordpress.com/

Niklot (talk) 00:16, 2 July 2012 (UTC)