Swiss publisher and labor activist
Verena Conzett (28 November 1861 – 14 November 1947) was a Swiss magazine publisher, labor activist, and women's rights activist. She became the first president of the Swiss Women Workers' Union in 1890. Her own experience as a child factory worker led to her lifelong advocacy for insurance protection and shorter working hours. Following the death of her husband in 1897, Conzett took over his print shop, narrowly escaping bankruptcy. A decade later, she acquired a Linotype typesetting machine and expanded the business into the Conzett &amp; Huber publishing house. In 1908, Conzett launched the illustrated magazine "In freien Stunden", and established herself as a successful entrepreneur. Subscriptions to the magazine included accident insurance, which had not yet been mandated by law in Switzerland. Her autobiography, "Erstrebtes und Erlebtes," was first published in 1929. Now in its third edition, it has been called "the longest and most literate" of the autobiographies of late 19th-century working-class women written in German. Verena-Conzett-Strasse in Zürich is named after her.
Early life and education.
She was born Verena Knecht on 28 November 1861 in Zürich. Her parents were Johannes and Barbara Knecht (née Mathis). She was the third of four sisters. Her mother sewed men's shirts at home. Her father was a supervisor in a paper factory, but became unable to work due to the onset of blindness. At the age of thirteen, Verena found a job at a dye works, to help support the family. She had completed six years of primary school. While working, she attended part-time classes ("Ergänzungsunterricht") two mornings a week. One of her teachers encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to attend secondary school, but her father refused to accept charity.
Early career.
Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, Knecht worked in a succession of jobs in the textile industry. In the spring of 1874, she worked at the Meier dye works, where she assisted with reeling and dying wool. As one of the youngest workers, she was the first to be laid off in winter, when the supply of wool dropped.
She then pretended to be one year older to work at the large silk mill at Mühlesteg in Zürich. At first, she did piece work, but was so productive that the mill started to deduct her wages for allegedly defective work. One of her co-workers explained that if the children were paid more than the adults operating the machines, it would cause the adults to demand higher wages, which the factory owners would not pay. She was then reassigned to help with the machines, where the adults warned that one young girl had lost several fingers in an accident. One evening, as she was leaving the factory, she encountered Johanna Greulich, wife of Hermann Greulich, an early leader among Swiss socialists. Greulich and others were distributing pamphlets demanding safer working conditions and better wages. When she told her mother about the protest, her mother refused to allow her to return to machine work.
Knecht then worked in a small fashion studio that produced ties and other neckwear. As her family was struggling financially, she took extra piece work home and sewed ties until midnight. She then moved to a large tailor, where dozens of seamstresses were overcrowded in a hot attic. Wages were poor and regularly paid late. Eventually, the younger workers including Knecht were told to stop working until the fall.
At the age of sixteen, Knecht went to work at the Zürrer silk house, and followed her manager, Karl Gustav Henneberg, when he opened his own silk house. For over five years, she worked as a sales assistant, most nights until after the store had closed at nine-thirty. She then sewed silk ribbons and ties into the early morning hours, also with help from her mother. The Henneberg silk house moved into a new modern building with electric lighting. During the first winter, the large salesroom was unheated, and Knecht became severely ill. Henneberg sent a letter threatening to fire her unless she returned to work within three days. Although he allowed her to return, Knecht later resigned.
Marriage and political activism.
Verena and Conrad Conzett were married on 23 September 1883. Conrad was the printer and publisher of "Sozialdemokrat," the weekly newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which was "in exile" while the Anti-Socialist Laws introduced by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were in effect. The newspaper "Sozialdemokrat" was regularly smuggled from Zürich over the border into Germany, leading to intense interest from the police and informants. In addition, Conrad was the owner and editor of "Arbeiterstimme" (The Worker's Voice), and was active in reviving the workers' party in Switzerland.
Verena Conzett joined the Social Democratic Party (SP) of Switzerland, as well as the Zürich women workers' association ("Arbeiterinnenverein"). The first women workers' associations in Switzerland had been founded by international activist Gertrude Guillaume-Schack starting in 1885. Based on her own experiences, Conzett saw the need to help thousands of women who were working 11-hour days in factories, or 16-hour days in small businesses, to ensure their children would not starve. She was also concerned for the welfare of children from working families.
Through Conrad's connections, Verena Conzett met numerous luminaries in the Swiss and international labor movement, many of whom visited their home. Shortly after they were married, they visited the elderly Johann Philipp Becker, a close associate of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in Neuenburg. She got to know early leaders of the German Social Democratic Party including Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel, as well as Julie Bebel and their children. Other visitors included Swiss political leaders such as Hermann Greulich and Paul Pflüger.
"Zürcher Anzeiger".
Following the death of their infant daughter in 1885, Conrad proposed that Verena join him in a new business venture. His idea was to start a book printing business, as well as a new "family" newspaper that would be less explicitly tied to Social Democratic Party politics. A progressive newspaper that happened to be pro-Social Democrat would help to counteract the negativity toward them in the press.
After extensive planning together, the Conzetts published the first issue of "Zürcher Anzeiger" in January 1886. Within a relatively short period of time, they had several thousand subscribers. The newspaper was also successful in recruiting new members – both men and women – to the Social Democratic Party in Switzerland. From April 1886, their new printing house also took over printing of "Arbeiterstimme". There was limited space in their business premises, so Conrad moved his editorial office to their nearby apartment. Verena Conzett thus oversaw day-to-day management of their two newspaper publications – "Zürcher Anzeiger" and "Arbeiterstimme" – and learned to run them independently"." Other printing projects included the annual report of the Swiss Workers' Union. In 1890, Conrad sold the book printing business to the Grütli Union and handed over "Arbeiterstimme" to a new editor, Robert Seidel. The Conzetts continued to edit and publish "Zürcher Anzeiger", but outsourced printing of the newspaper to the new Grütli print house.
Advocacy for female workers.
In the early 1890s, the Conzetts became the "power couple" of the Swiss Left. Verena Conzett became the first president of the Swiss Women Workers' Union (SAV) ("Schweizerischer Arbeiterinnenverband") in 1890. Conrad Conzett became president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (SGB) in 1891.
The Swiss Women Workers' Union united five associations which had formed previously in Basel, Bern, St. Gallen, Winterthur and Zürich. Under Conzett's leadership, the SAV was initially focused on insurance protection for women as workers and as mothers, and for their young children.
In 1892, the canton of Zürich was considering a worker protection law that would apply to approximately 2,000 young girls and apprentices working across 150 small businesses. Conzett was tasked with gathering evidence on worker exploitation across different professions. She found that the worst complaints came from dressmakers, milliners, and straighteners. Many were working 13- to 16-hour days, including Sundays, and sleeping on dirty linen laid out on the floor. The female worker protection law was passed in the canton in 1894.
Verena Conzett was one of 101 Swiss delegates to the International Socialist Workers Congress, which took place in Zürich in August 1893. One of the main items discussed was protection for women workers, child workers, and pregnant workers, which varied significantly across countries. At the congress, Conzett received her very first public speaking invitation. Later that year, she delivered a speech in Basel which received a positive review in "Basler Vorwärts," and went on to become a notable public speaker.
In September 1896, Conzett attended the first Swiss Women's Congress in Geneva. She presented a report on unemployment, health and accident insurance, arguing that the only viable solution was to offer it through the federal government. That year, she was also elected to the federal board of the Swiss Workers' Association. In August 1897, Verena Conzett was a delegate to the International Congress for the Protection of Workers in Zürich, selected by the Zürich women's association.
Business challenges.
In 1894, Conrad Conzett had resigned from the central committee of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (SGB), due to his frustration with infighting. His resignation had a negative impact on their business, resulting in a decline in print orders. Starting that year, the "Zürcher Anzeiger" also faced increasing competition from "Tagesanzeiger," a daily newspaper which was unaffiliated politically and was initially distributed for free"." To attract new subscribers – and help protect workers and their families – Verena proposed selling subscriptions to "Zürcher Anzeiger" bundled together with accident insurance"." On 28 November 1897, Conrad finally agreed, and Verena arranged for the new program to start on 1 January 1898.
Business recovery and success.
Due to depression and financial problems, Conrad Conzett committed suicide on 8 December 1897. The editor of "Grütlianer," Hans Mettier, took over editing "Zürcher Anzeiger" until Verena was ready to find a new editor. Meanwhile, Verena Conzett took over the print shop in Aussersihl. She bid for the printing contract for the daily Social Democratic Party newspaper "Volksrecht", but lost. Her competitors argued that a print shop led by a woman was likely to go out of business. In less than a month, she was heavily in debt, with many creditors demanding payment or collateral. Although there had been an uptake in subscriptions to "Zürcher Anzeiger," Conzett had neglected to raise the price to help cover the cost of adding accident insurance. The cost of acquiring new subscribers had become unsustainable, and she needed new printing orders to keep the business afloat.
Ironically, Conzett narrowly escaped bankruptcy after receiving a large printing order from the Debt Collectors Office. She had received a notice from the Debt Collectors Office informing her that several hundred francs were due for payment. When she responded that there was no way she could comply with the notice, the debt collection officer offered to give her a large printing order instead. The print order was for 20,000 "payment due" notices.
Investment in linotype machine.
In 1906, Conzett bid for the printing contract for a new edition of the Swiss local directory. She won the contract after meeting at the Federal Palace of Switzerland in Bern with Ludwig Forrer, a member of the Federal Council. In 1907, she won a very large contract to print the tax register for the city of Zürich.
By late 1907, Conzett had received so many print orders for newspapers and other recurring items, she no longer had enough capacity to support the incoming business. In 1908, she invested in a linotype typesetting machine. Others in the industry questioned whether a business of her size would have enough print orders to justify the cost. Until then, only the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" (NZZ) had adopted Linotype. She would later credit her timely investment in linotype for saving her business.
Founding of Conzett &amp; Huber.
In 1908, the new owner of "Zürcher Anzeiger" decided to take the printing of the newspaper to a different publisher. The unexpected loss of the "Zürcher Anzeiger" presented a significant challenge to Conzett's business, so soon after she had taken the risk of investing in Linotype.
Conzett decided to start a new magazine that would provide a steady stream of income, and persuaded Dr. Emil Huber to join her as her business associate. Huber, a young lawyer who lived in the same house, had advised her previously on legal matters. He became a "silent shareholder" of the