LIFELONG WORK OR WELL-DESERVED LEISURE IN OLD-AGE - CONCEPTIONS OF OLD-AGE WITHIN THE FRENCH AND GERMAN LABOR MOVEMENTS IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The close connection between old age and retirement and to what extent society accepts work-free retirement in old age emerged as the topica l themes we know in France and Germany as late as the 1950s and 1960s. By analysing the relevant discussions in the labour circles of both c ountries the author examines whether this modem concept of retirement originated in the early phase of the welfare state. The concepts and p oints of criticism which each of the labour movements developed for ol d age provision show, by virtue of the different national mental attit udes, that their considerations about old age as a life phase diverged from one another to a great degree. The German labour movement believ ed that old age pensions were primarily a compensation for the reducti on in income on reaching an advanced age, and it thus gave preference to the invalidity pension. In contrast, French society supported the i dea of welfare security for the old. Along with criticisms of state so cial policies, the purpose of providing for the old is at the centre o f the essay's analysis, more specifically the contrary forms this disc ussion took in Germany and France: obliged to work in old age or well- earned retirement.