12. November 2025 18:30
Jakob Steffen
The labour movement is beyond doubt one of the most consequential
(and, indeed, beneficial) developments in social and economic history.
Viscerally linked to the Industrial Revolution, it has also been the final
liberation of the majority of the population from factual or at least
economic serfdom existing throughout the centuries before, fighting
against the vested interests of capital to this day.
By a quirk of history, the movement is indelibly linked to places our society
has personal links to as well: It was in Manchester where our chair met
his later wife, with the two of them living many years in Cottonopolis. And
it was in Trier where our deputy chair and lecturer was born, only to then
move on to Wuppertal. All three places, of course, are of paramount
importance to the labour movement, since Karl Marx was a citizen of
Trier, Friedrich Engels of Wuppertal, and it was in the textiles metropolis
of Manchester where Engels had many of his factories, instilling him with
the determination to change the lot of the labourers working and living in
squalid, inhuman circumstances.
Jakob Steffen is an economist and political scientist by training,
specialised in macroeconomics and political theory. He is also an
operative of the Social Democratic Party of Germany that of course has
direct roots in the labour movement of the 19th and 20th century. Thus, he
is well placed to introduce us into the socio-economic as well as historical
aspects of the subject matter, always willing to engage in lively debate.
12. November 2025 18:30
Jakob Steffen
Venue
Volkshochschule Essen, (Raum E 11/kleiner Saal)
Burgplatz 2
45127 Essen
The labour movement is beyond doubt one of the most consequential
(and, indeed, beneficial) developments in social and economic history.
Viscerally linked to the Industrial Revolution, it has also been the final
liberation of the majority of the population from factual or at least
economic serfdom existing throughout the centuries before, fighting
against the vested interests of capital to this day.
By a quirk of history, the movement is indelibly linked to places our society
has personal links to as well: It was in Manchester where our chair met
his later wife, with the two of them living many years in Cottonopolis. And
it was in Trier where our deputy chair and lecturer was born, only to then
move on to Wuppertal. All three places, of course, are of paramount
importance to the labour movement, since Karl Marx was a citizen of
Trier, Friedrich Engels of Wuppertal, and it was in the textiles metropolis
of Manchester where Engels had many of his factories, instilling him with
the determination to change the lot of the labourers working and living in
squalid, inhuman circumstances.
Jakob Steffen is an economist and political scientist by training,
specialised in macroeconomics and political theory. He is also an
operative of the Social Democratic Party of Germany that of course has
direct roots in the labour movement of the 19th and 20th century. Thus, he
is well placed to introduce us into the socio-economic as well as historical
aspects of the subject matter, always willing to engage in lively debate.