and,during the heydays of scientific socialism, sawworld history as an objective
process? How is the self-presentation of the SPD as the party of science and prog-
ress to be reconciledwith allegory’spropensity for idealization, sentimentality,
and kitsch?Are the referencesto antiquity,aschanneled through the lens of Ger-
man classicism,yetanother example of the SPD’scomplicatedrelationship to
the bourgeois heritage? Or do theyrepresentalong overduerecognition of the
abundanceofallegories, emblems, and symbols in folk cultureand religious
life? The related functions of Prometheus as an emotional templatefor proletar-
ian identificationsand ahighlygendered embodiment of rebellion shed light on
some of these interrelated questions.
The degree to whichgenderplayedaformative role in therewriting ofare-
bellious bodypolitic is confirmed by two otherPrometheus poems written by
Fuchs after the rescindingofthe Anti-Socialist Laws. His“Socialism-Prome-
theus”builds on the equation of masculinity and productivity throughamale
birth fantasy thathas the Titan promise the workers that“I, the enlightened
son/ born in the depth of misery/rise aboveand bringto mankind/ joy-making/
blessing-giving/divine life [...]that is howIturnyouintogods!”³Meanwhile,
Fuchs’s“TheYoung Titan”identifieswoman as the greatest threat to the heroic
narrativeofclass struggle. Hermost powerful weapons are the comforts of do-
mesticity thatshe advertiseswith the following instructions:“Remember Prom-
etheus./ He thoughtlike you. [...]Chose instead to follow me./Fetch fire from the
Aetna./ [...]and heatmy stove/ and cookmy gruel.”⁴In whatways thegendered
juxtaposition between male rebellion and femalecontentment becomesarecur-
ring theme in the proletarian imaginary is confirmed byapolemical poem on
“Bourgeois and Proletarian Art”thatpresents the latter in the bodyofastrong
and decidedlymale“young art of labor [...]born of the people, pure and true”
who, unlikeatired, worn-out bourgeois art,requires no“prostitute’smakeup.”⁵
Thegendered natureofthe Prometheusmyth–thatis, its depiction of class
struggle asaprocess of masculinization–is complicated by the fact that ideal-
EduardFuchs,“Sozialismus-Prometheus,”inStimmen der Freiheit. Blüthenlese der hervorra-
gendsten Schöpfungen unserer Arbeiter-und Volksdichter,ed. KonradBeißwanger, thirded. (Nur-
emberg: Litterarisches Bureau, 1902),275.
EduardFuchs,“Der junge Titan,”Süddeutscher Postillon24 (1893). Reprinted in Thomas
Huonker,Revolution,Moral&Kunst. EduardFuchs, Leben undWerk(Zurich: Limmat,1985),280.
EduardFuchs,“Bourgeoisie- und Proletarierkunst,”Süddeutscher Postillon15 (1893), reprinted
in Norbert Rothe, ed.,Frühe sozialistische satirischeLyrik aus den Zeitschriften“Der wahreJacob”
und“Süddeutscher Postillon”(Berlin: Akademie, 1977). 47 – 48. Some editions use thehyphenat-
ed spellingSüd-Deutscher Postillon.Anumber of completeissues have been reprinted inSüd-
deutscher Postillon. Ein Querschnitt inFaksimiles,ed. and intr.Udo Achten (Bonn: Dietz, 1979).
The Proletarian Prometheus and Socialist Allegory 103