THE FALL OF THE FEDERATION-OF-FREE-GERMAN -TRADE-UNIONS - INCREASING PRESSURE TO TAKE DECISIONS, INSTITUTIONALIZED INCAPACITATION AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

The dramatic collapse of the FDGB, the largest mass organisation of th e SED, may be viewed as a domestic problem of the GDR springing from t he failure to develop new forms of competence beyond those tradionally ascribed to a mass organisation. The Breakdown Syndrome of the FDGB i s characterised both by the failure of the attempts the organisation u ndertook to transform itself into an authentic representation of inter ests and by the loss of legitimation suffered by plant-level FDGB orga ns during the early stages; the influence exerted by West German trade unions during the decisive phase of the collapse from September 1989 to the end of January 1990 is purely marginal.