We’ll not only discuss, we’ll enjoy time together in various other ways as well! From the start to the very end.

Guided city tours, Friday, 15:00

We are offering two guided city tours on the labour and social movement history of Berlin. Both will start on Friday, 3 pm, but at different starting points. Both will be held in English.

Sites of the Labor Movement in Berlin

with Günter Regneri, historian

This tour will  start from the center of town at Potsdamer Platz and pass along various important places of the Berlin and German labour movement touching on topics such as Where the communists denied their founder a monument – Where in 1848 murdered revolutionaries won the day- Where the union learned about New Objectivity – Where the union owned a real gem until the fluctuating groundwater took it away – Where the union smashed a military coup in 1920 – Where squatters used songs to defeat the GDR border police . Where in 1844 the calico printers instigated the first strike in Berlin – Where the Labourstart conference takes place – the tour will end at verdi headquarters.

This tour will use public transport quite a lot. Please make sure to buy a day pass for public transport to attend (6,70€, AB area).

The meeting point for this tour is the “Ampelturm” at Potsdamer Platz (U-Bahn No. 2, S-Bahn Nos. 1,2,25, Buses Nos. 200, M41, M48, M85).
The Ampelturm is near the S-Bahnstation at the crossing of Potsdamer Str., Ebertstr. and Stresemannstr.  Watch out for the LabourStart flag!

“When Kreuzberg was the ‘Red South-East’…1848 -1933″

with Win Windisch, tour guide about “A Peoples History of Berlin”

This tour will start at the verdi-headquarter and go through the district of Kreuzberg. We will look at its history as the “craddle” of the workers movement in Berlin and the time until 1933 when the Nazis got in power: the first trade union house of berlin 1900, its occupation by the Nazis May 2nd 1933 and the destruction of the unions after/ the beginnings of the trade union movement 1848/ the clandestine work of the forbidden Social Democratic Party and the beginnings of the proletarian womens movement during the Bismarck Era (until 1890)/ the tragic split of the workers movement in the 1920s between communists and social-democrats and the street fights against Nazis/ a cleaning woman active in the anti-fascist resistance/ as well as the role of beer, culture and sports for the workers movement.

The meeting point for this tour is in front of ver.di (federal, not regional!) headquarters at Paula-Thiede-Ufer 10.

Informal get-together, Saturday, after the opening event

This opening event will give us some food for thought – and discussion! We’ll therefore hang around the verdi atrium and gallery for some time after the conference. Some drinks will be provided, but don’t come hungry!

With lounge music by DJ Lucha Amada

Get ready to dance!

This will be THE event – the LabourStart conference 2014 congress party!

With a live concernt by the Neofarius v. Occasionally Flyer K.Orchestra (Klezmber, Polka, Balkan), and DJ’s Lucha Amada (Berlin)  and Aural Guerilla (Leipzig).

At Jockel’s Biergarten, one of Berlins hip party locations (address: Ratiborstr. 14c) .

With lots of Berliners, and all of the congress participants!

And in solidarity with antifascists in Germany and Greece.

Don’t miss it!

Films on labour and trade unions

We’ll show labour films during the workshop programme. Film line-up to be announced.