This paper derives from my PhD thesis on sanatoria and the social question of tuberculosis in Athens
(1890-1940). Historians have already mentioned the interconnections between tuberculosis and the
world of labor. Though a transmittable disease, before WWII, TB was often regarded as an occupational
disease. In my text I highlight how the working classes in Greece adopted the mainstream medical discourse that hazardous working conditions favored tuberculosis in their rhetoric. Thus, my narration examines the early discourses on dirty working places and how these ideas where transformed into causes for public protest inside and outside Greek sanatoria. What were these demonstrators claiming for?
How did their protests reform union politics and Social Welfare Acts? It seems that protesting carriers
of the TB bacillus introduced the questions of social welfare and social insurance to their unions. The
topics discussed are the outcome of an extended doctoral research in pre-WWII sanatoria archives,
newspapers, medical and legal texts.