[Politicization of the age problem--the dispute over industrial pension funds in the Ruhr district on the eve of the 1st World War].

The heterogeneous experience of older industrial workers on the job, in the labor market, and in their families prevented the development of a consciousness recognizing old age as a political problem. Industrial social policies for old age or disability appeared earlier than state programs and continued to play an important role even after the start of social insurance in Germany. The low public pensions and the increasingly uncertain family support of the elderly made supplementary private benefits very attractive. Before 1914, however, in the debate between labor unions and business about the rigid rules of private pension funds and their use for social control, the problems of aging workers became highly politicized. Drawing upon examples from Krupp and Gutehoffnungshütte, the article emphasizes that these industrial social policies were aimed at maintaining a division between mobile and permanently employed workers as well as limiting the influence of the labor movement.