Prometheus figure made possible theappropriation of the bourgeois narrative of
the self-liberation of man through labor by,and for,the historical struggles of the
workingclass. As this chapter argues, this process involved not onlythe refunc-
tionalization of established aesthetic modalities–in this case, allegory and
mythology–for explicitlysocialist purposes.It also depended on the kind of
emotional labor that,through aesthetic means, could transform painand suffer-
ing into feelingsofclass pride and thus put aestheticemotions in the service of
political emotions.
Numerous works inspired by the Prometheus figure circulatedthroughout
the socialist lifeworld, announcing the seemingly inevitable return of therebel
Titan in the revolutionary workingclass. In all cases, the rewritingofthe
Greekmyth asaperformance of socialist praxisrelied on image-text combina-
tions closelydependent on allegory,which involved specificreading strategies
that treated images as representations of ideas. Most importantly,this process
of transformationrequired the alignment of old and new aestheticmodalities
through which the proletariat could be imagined as an emotional community
and, ultimately, arevolutionary class. In the case of Prometheus,thisrealign-
ment concernedthe expression of pain and suffering in established formal reg-
isters–rather predictably,pathos–and the explanation of Prometheus’srebel-
lion againstauthority (i.e., Zeus) in explicitlyMarxist terms.Notwithstanding
the fact that Prometheus’srebellion was thevery reason for his wretched
state, his original act of defiance in the name of humankindnow served as a
compellingreminder of the continued existenceofoppression and inequality
and the need foravery different revolution against power structures.
Whereas poetry,through itstemporal structure, can replicatethe conversion
of suffering into struggling,images requireadditional formal elements in order
to capturethe underlying causes and effects (see figure 5.1). The resultant
need for textual anchoringcan be seen inasatirical drawingtitled“Prometheus
Bound”fromDerWahreJacob136 (1891) that looksvery much likeanillustration
of theFuchs poem (rather than the modified Goethe lines accompanyingit).
Naked save for ared cloth draped around his loins, Prometheusappears pinned
againstarock, with his muscular masculinity on full display. According to the
captions,the chainedTitan personifies the proletariat,with his expressive
gaze conveying both terror andrage.The vulture (instead of the eagle) drawing
blood represents the forces of capitalism, and the small civil servant applying a
bandagetohis wounds embodies the futility of social reform.
Prometheus figureduring the Comintern has been discussed at some length inJohn Lehmann,
Prometheus and the Bolsheviks(NewYork: A. Knopf,1938).
The Proletarian Prometheus and Socialist Allegory 101