Albert Steck

Albert Steck (19 December 1843 – 28 November 1899) was a Swiss politician and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland.

In 1878, after the end of the national crisis which triggered the Swiss Kulturkampf[broken anchor], Steck was elected to the Grand Council of Canton Bern, which had been established by moderate conservatives.

Subsequently, he met Alexander Reichel, the founder of the General Workers' Association of Bern and Surrounds, who introduced Steck to socialist ideas.

Steck had supported the efforts of Hermann Greulich in Zürich as early as 1870, but it was only on 21 October 1888 in Bern that Steck and Reichel attempted to form a national social democratic party, the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP), out of the numerous Swiss regional workers' associations.

Steck was married first to Anna Margaretha Manni, and then to Leonie Brodbeck, who was active in the Swiss women's labour movement.