»Es gibt noch Arbeiter in Deutschland«

Laborers have long since disappeared from the political stage – seemingly inevitably as a result of structural change. However, if one understands ‘laborers’ as a resource of social knowledge, actors such as trade unionists, filmmakers, and scholars come into view. In the 1970s and 1980s, they creatively used the potential of the ‘laborers’ only to give up this resource deliberately thereafter. What moved them to do so?