In my contribution to the symposium on Michael Wilkinson’s new book, I focus in on his analysis of Hermann Heller’s thinking regarding the state. Icompare Heller’s writings with those of Hugo Sinzheimer (1875–1945), a legal scholar, practising lawyer and politician who was in a position in 1918-1920 to shape the new labour law of the Weimar Republic and who thereafter became a prominent commentator on that law. In particular, Ilook at two publications from 1933: Heller’s Autoritärer Liberalismus and Sinzheimer’s Die Krisis des Arbeitsrechts, or ‘crisis of labour law’. I then consider the trade union movement’s orientation to the state during the Weimar years, and what light this shone on Heller’s and Sinzheimer’s analysis. I conclude by identifying several questions raised by the Weimar debates for labour law, trade unions and employment relations that are of enduring importance today.
