 After Fritz Kater and Max Winkler reaffirmed syndicalist antimilitarism in the August 5 , 1914 Der Pionier edition , the newspaper was banned . Three days later , Die Einigkeit criticized the SPD 's stance on the war . It was then suppressed as well . The FVdG promptly responded by founding the weekly <unk> . After it was banned in June 1915 , the federation founded the bi @-@ weekly <unk> , which survived until May 1917 . Social Democratic publications on the other hand were allowed by Prussian War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn to be distributed even in the army . In the first days of the war , about 30 FVdG activists in Cologne , Elberfeld , Düsseldorf , Krefeld and other cities were arrested — some remaining under house arrest for two years . The government repression against the FVdG was heavy . While bans were often placed on the union 's regular meetings , authorities in Düsseldorf even banned meetings of the syndicalist choir . Another problem for the union was that many of its members were conscripted . Half of the Berlin construction workers , the federation 's largest union , were forced to serve in the army . In some places , all FVdG members were called into service . 
