Stephan Born

Born in Lissa in the Prussian province of Posen in 1824, he was born Simon Buttermilch and later became known as Stephan, or Stephen, Born. Trained as a typesetter, he moved in radical democratic and socialist circles in Berlin and joined the Communist League, though his politics are often described as more reform-minded than those of some of his contemporaries.

During the revolutions of 1848–49, he became a key organizer of workers' associations. He called the first German workers' congress in Berlin and helped found the General German Workers' Brotherhood, remembered as the first national trade union organization in the German workers' movement. He was also active in revolutionary events in Dresden in 1849.

After the failure of the uprisings, Born settled in Switzerland. There he stepped away from front-line revolutionary politics, worked as a teacher and journalist, and later taught at the University of Basel. He died in Basel in 1898, leaving behind a life that links early socialism, labor organizing, and the democratic struggles of nineteenth-century Europe.