 The early years of the Representatives ' Centralization of Germany were dominated by a discussion on how to finance strikes by individual local trade unions . The issue was how local unions could retain their autonomy when receiving financial assistance . Originally , all support between local organizations had been voluntary . But this system became more and more impractical , especially after the turn of the 20th century saw numerous large strikes in which employers reacted more aggressively — often by locking out workers . In 1899 , the Business Committee felt it had to support a strike in Braunschweig . It took out a loan , which was paid off with dues income and from donations by Berlin unions . The following year , the Business Committee incurred 8 @,@ 000 Marks in debt by supporting strikes . Part of the debt was paid off by the SPD , while the rest was apportioned among the local unions . 
