12 : Personal Life and Relations with Colleagues: 1927-1930When Reich was reunited with his family after his stay in Davos, he was intent upon
saving his marriage. Yet new strains appeared in his complex relationship with Annie. For
one thing, after the incidents of July 15, 1927, direct contact with the poor and unemployed
heightened his sense of guilt about his own economically privileged position, a guilt he par-
tially assuaged by contributing money to the Communist Party, to the “left opposition” with-
in the Social Democratic Party, and to his sex-political efforts^1. In addition, he gave money
directly to fund-raising efforts for the unemployed.
These heavy financial commitments led to friction with Annie, who, while not hos-
tile, was by no means passionately devoted to his political causes. She participated by work-
ing as a psychoanalyst at his counseling centers, but without the genuine enthusiasm she
brought to her private practice. There were quarrels between the two of them about house-
hold expenses. From the beginning of their marriage, Reich was determined that each would
be economically independent. However, according to Annie, Reich was often insufficiently
aware of or concerned about the difficulties in the way of her contributing financially, espe-
cially when she was pregnant or had a small baby to care for.
Then, after the Vienna uprising, Reich’s relentless concern for raising money
clashed with Annie’s interest in continuing their comfortable life together. There were quar-
rels as to whether money should be spent for new curtains or pamphlets on sex informa-
tion. Annie’s father, Alfred Pink, seems to have helped out financially. Most of the time,
Annie herselfwas earning a good income so that,to some extent at least, both curtains and
pamphlets were feasible.
From his side, by 1927, Reich was determined more than ever to live that heroic
existence he had envisioned in the Army and feared would be undermined in the trivialities
of peacetime. Money and its disposition was always one of the chief battlegrounds on
which Reich fought out his war against the quotidian.
But, I believe, the financial arguments were symptoms of a deeper disturbance on
Reich’s part. So long as he was involved with more traditional aspects of psychoanalysis,
such as the impulsive character, the relationship with Annie seems to have been fairly stable.
However, the more his own direction became manifest, as in his clinical work on the func-
tion of the orgasm and in his sex-politics, the worse the relationship between them became.
Reich expected a full response to and affirmation of his work from his mates; he had done
so with Lia in the medical school days and would do so again later in other relationships.
When that support was lacking, he became angry and embittered.
142 Myron SharafFury On Earth