[1][2] Her own experience as a child factory worker led to her lifelong advocacy for insurance protection and shorter working hours.

[26] During the first winter, the large salesroom was unheated, and Knecht became severely ill.[26] Henneberg sent a letter threatening to fire her unless she returned to work within three days.

[27] Conrad was the printer and publisher of Sozialdemokrat, the weekly newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany,[28][4] which was "in exile" while the Anti-Socialist Laws introduced by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were in effect.

[28][31] Verena Conzett joined the Social Democratic Party (SP) of Switzerland, as well as the Zürich women workers' association (Arbeiterinnenverein).

[32] Through Conrad's connections, Verena Conzett met numerous luminaries in the Swiss and international labor movement, many of whom visited their home.

[12] Shortly after they were married, they visited the elderly Johann Philipp Becker, a close associate of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in Neuenburg.

[35] His idea was to start a book printing business, as well as a new "family" newspaper that would be less explicitly tied to Social Democratic Party politics.

[35] Verena Conzett thus oversaw day-to-day management of their two newspaper publications – Zürcher Anzeiger and Arbeiterstimme – and learned to run them independently.

[37] In 1890, Conrad sold the book printing business to the Grütli Union and handed over Arbeiterstimme to a new editor, Robert Seidel.

[39] The Swiss Women Workers' Union united five associations which had formed previously in Basel, Bern, St. Gallen, Winterthur and Zürich.

[1] Under Conzett's leadership, the SAV was initially focused on insurance protection for women as workers and as mothers, and for their young children.

[1] In 1892, the canton of Zürich was considering a worker protection law that would apply to approximately 2,000 young girls and apprentices working across 150 small businesses.

[3][48] In 1894, Conrad Conzett had resigned from the central committee of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (SGB), due to his frustration with infighting.

[49] Starting that year, the Zürcher Anzeiger also faced increasing competition from Tagesanzeiger, a daily newspaper which was unaffiliated politically and was initially distributed for free.

[49][45][50] To attract new subscribers – and help protect workers and their families – Verena proposed selling subscriptions to Zürcher Anzeiger bundled together with accident insurance.

[55] Although there had been an uptake in subscriptions to Zürcher Anzeiger, Conzett had neglected to raise the price to help cover the cost of adding accident insurance.

[56] Ironically, Conzett narrowly escaped bankruptcy after receiving a large printing order from the Debt Collectors Office [de].

[59] By late 1907, Conzett had received so many print orders for newspapers and other recurring items, she no longer had enough capacity to support the incoming business.

[51] The unexpected loss of the Zürcher Anzeiger presented a significant challenge to Conzett's business, so soon after she had taken the risk of investing in Linotype.

[62] Conzett decided to start a new magazine that would provide a steady stream of income, and persuaded Dr. Emil Huber to join her as her business associate.

[7][63] Her son Hans Conzett, who had been apprenticing with printers around the world, returned from Italy to run the print shop, so that she could focus on editing the new magazine.

[7] In freien Stunden was illustrated and featured "high quality" literature – including romances and serial novels – targeting working class families.

[7] This time, the growth in the number of subscribers allowed the publication to improve the level of insurance coverage, as well as the terms and conditions.

[62] To ensure that readers received a high level of customer service, Conzett hired an employee dedicated to answering letters from subscribers.

[66] In response to numerous requests from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Conzett & Huber started a similar French language magazine called Lectures du foyer.

[39] In 1906, the party newspaper Volksrecht transitioned from a private entity to a cooperative, raising questions as to whether Conzett & Huber should follow suit as well.

[39] In 1911, once Conzett & Huber was in a stronger position financially, it became the first privately owned printing business in Switzerland to offer Saturday afternoons off for all employees.

[67] In her book, Conzett acknowledged that it was sometimes difficult to be both a Social Democratic party member and a business owner at the same time,[62] leading biographers to call her "The Red Entrepreneur".

[70] Her niece Berti Blattman succeeded her as editor of In freien Stunden, while Emil Huber took over management of the printing shop, in addition to publishing the magazines.

[81][71] The autobiography was also intended to educate future generations of Social Democrats about the "selflessness and self-sacrifice" of the early leaders in the movement.