Sport as a class struggle
“Sport” as a one-size-fits-all concept has never existed; it is too heavily influenced by societal factors and social milieu. For example, there used to be a strong sports movement for workers.
Working class sport and “bourgeois” sport as a sign of social division
![Club flag of the Arbeiterradfahrer, the workers’ cycling association, of Klus-Balsthal.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/vereinsfahne-der-arbeiterradfahrer-von-klus-balsthal-sozarch-f-5016-oa-0001b-291x300.jpg)
![The big Easter ski camp organised by the Naturfreunde in Zermatt in 1941 caused quite a stir.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/osterskilager-1941-der-naturfreunde-sozarch-f-5043-fb-004-194x300.jpg)
![Gym shorts as a symbol of equality: gymnasts at the SATUS Wiedikon in the 1930s.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/turnerinnen-des-satus-wiedikon-300x188.jpg)
![Proud specimens of working-class masculinity: the men’s squad of the Wiedikon workers’ gymnastics club in 1923.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/mannerriege-des-arbeiterturnvereins-wiedikon-im-jahre-1923-sozarch-f-5091-fe-005-300x197.jpg)
Between proletarian internationalism and spiritual defence (Geistige Landesverteidigung)
![Swiss delegation to the 1931 Workers’ Olympiad in “Red Vienna”, the biggest international sporting event of its time.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/schweizer-delegation-an-der-arbeiterolympiade-1931sozarch-f-5046-fd-014-300x116.jpg)
![SATUS Basel gymnastics display in June 1944. As part of the policy of “spiritual defence”, the female gymnasts now wore skirts again instead of trousers.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/turnvorfuhrung-der-turnerinnen-des-satus-basel-im-juni-1944-gbe-555-lm-1460421-2-300x214.jpg)
Loss of relevance in the economic upturn
![When the Grasshoppers came from Basel and women paid less for admission: final of the Swiss Workers’ Football Championship in 1973.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/finalspiel-der-schweizer-arbeiterfussball-meisterschaft-1973-sozarch-f-pd-0887-216x300.jpg)
Swiss Sports History
![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/swisssportshistory-300x225.jpg)
This text was produced in collaboration with Swiss Sports History, the portal for the history of sports in Switzerland. The portal focuses on education in schools and information for the media, researchers and the general public. Find out more at sportshistory.ch