workingclassfoundalarge andreceptive readership, especiallyamong Social
Democrats; the book sawnumerous editions and translations. Like the male
worker-writers cited earlier,she experiencedadifficult childhood, marked by
poverty,hardship, and misery.Yet for Popp, joiningthe movement meant not
onlyunderstanding her experiencesinclassterms but alsorejecting the socially
prescribed life choicesavailableto women. Perhaps this explains whyshe chose
to present her life inastarklyrealistic style–without the stylistic flourishes
added by hermale colleagues as an integralpart of their performances of prole-
tarian masculinity.Popp’shighlydevelopedsense of solidarity found expression
in sympathetic portrayals of fellow workers and close attentionto the unique
struggles of workingwomen.It alsopropelled herto describe her mainreasons
for writing the book withaview towardits uplifting effectsonother women:
“What caused meto write down howIbecameasocialistwassolelythe desire
to cheer on thosefemaleworkers whoyearn forrecognition but who always hes-
itate because they lack the confidencetoaccomplish something.”³².
Popp’sself-effacing tone could not be more different from the eruptions of
male suffering andresentment that have been analyzed in this chapter.Karl
Kautsky in 1909 wroteavery positive review ofTheAutobiographyofaWorking
Woman,singling out the clarity,simplicity,and sheer optimism of thewriting.In
the book’spreface,August Bebel, too, confessedto having been deeplymoved by
theauthor’sethos of“unrelentingself-improvement”and belief in the transfor-
mative power of socialism. He was especiallyimpressed byPopp’snarrative
skills at conveying how social changetakes place on the individual level while
occurringwithinasocial context.Her unique ability–in Bebel’swords, to
show“this is howIwas, and this is howIamnow.WhatIdid, whatIhad to
do–all ofyoucan do something similar,you must onlywant it”³³–distinguish-
ed her contribution in twoequallyimportant ways:through its emphasis on class
unity andgender solidarity and through its full identification with Social Democ-
racy.Franz Mehring summarizedthe opinionsofmanyleadingSocial Democrats
when he recommended that,“workers who wishto publish their life story are
well-advised to follow the example ofAdelheid Popp and not the tutelage of
Göhre.”³⁴
Worker’slife writingscontinued to be published duringand afterWorldWar
Ibut failedto reachalarge readership.Withoutaclear social and sociological
Adelheid Popp,Die Jugendgeschichte einer Arbeiterin von ihr selbst erzählt(Munich: Ernst
Reinhardt,1909),93. On Popp, see Gerstenberger,Truth toTell,100–139.
August Bebel, Introduction to Popp,Die Jugendgeschichte einer Arbeiterin,v.AnEnglish
translation titledTheAutobiography ofaWorkingWomanwas published in 1912.
Franz Mehring, quoted in Gerstenberger,Truth toTell,105.
Re/WritingWorkers’Emotions 153