General Workers' Union of Germany

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The General Workers' Union of Germany ({{langx|de|Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union Deutschlands}}; AAUD) was a factory organisation formed following the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in opposition to the traditional trade unions.

The AAUD was formed by the left communists in the Communist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD) who considered organising based on trades as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. They were influenced by the industrial unionism of the Industrial Workers of the World.{{cite web|title=Vor 80 Jahren|url=http://www.trend.infopartisan.net/trd0999/t400999.html|website=Trend|publisher=Redaktion trend bzw. "Arbeitskreis Kapitalismus aufheben"|accessdate=29 August 2016}} The council communists organised these factory organisations as the basis for region-wide workers' councils.[http://www.marxists.org/archive/reichenbach/1969/retrospect.htm Bernhard Reichenbach, The KAPD in Retrospect: An Interview with a Member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany]

A section of the AAUD led by Otto Rühle split from the AAUD, forming the Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union – Einheitsorganisation.[http://libcom.org/files/dutchleft.pdf The German-Dutch Communist Left - Philippe Bourrinet]