The secret meeting in a classroom of the Hattingen trade-union school might have been a military briefing, except that the men wore mufti and talked of such unmilitary objectives as office keys, filing cabinets and street addresses. Intently they took instruction from an incisive young man, then hurried off in automobiles to nine cities of West Germany's industrial Ruhr. At the stroke of 8 next morning, the nine men led small groups of assistants into nine regional offices and the headquarters of the big Northrhine-Westphalia Building Workers' Union, seized the offices and the files.
As union staff members appeared for...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
