Fig..Max Slevogt,“Wir sinddie Kraft/We
Arethe Power,”Mai-Festzeitung,back
cover.Reprinted in Udo Achten, ed. and intr.,
Süddeutscher Postillon. Ein Querschnitt in
Faksimiles(Bonn: Dietz,),.
Fig..Walter Crane,“TheCapitalistVam-
pire,”Mai-Festzeitung,back cover.
Granger,New York. Allrights preserved.The emotional intensities of pathetic allegory and the overdetermined func-
tion of itsmythological references come into closer view once itsgendereddivi-
sions are considered in greater detail. Asapersonification of the proletariat,
Prometheus bringstogetherthree moments in the heroic narrative of working-
class emancipation,rebellion againstauthority,punishment for insubordination,
and eventual self-liberation.Literaryand visual treatments of themyth translate
the Greek ideal of physical beauty intoamuscular,classed body. Sometimes the
spectacle of industrial labor givesexpression toararelyacknowledgedmale erot-
icism. By contrast,Libertas, the femaleallegory of Social Democracy, offers an
almostserene picture of beauty,virtue,and happiness,animpossible ideal
onlyachievable in utopian settings–hence her frequent placement on flowering
meadows in front of open skies and shining suns. Whereas the proletarian Prom-
etheusisintroducedtoillustratekeyMarxist concepts, includingthe necessity of
class struggle, the socialist Libertasservesto celebrate the idea of freedom as a
universal value. Theinevitabletension between history andmyth is evident al-
readyintheir respective costumes,with Prometheus’sloincloth referencing the
professional attire of the quintessential proletarian, the blacksmith. Meanwhile,
114 Chapter 5