olutionary workingclass and by de Man’sclose attention toamass-based psy-
chologyofsocialism.
Brought forth by these traditions and discourses,the community inWe!
proudlydeclares the pursuit of happiness and the joy of work as equallyimpor-
tant and mutuallyconstitutive forces in the making of socialist commitments.For
de Man, the process of forming acommunity means engagingthe elementary
Gefühlsspannungen(emotional tensions) shared by all human beings, their
hopes and doubts, joys and sorrows.We!stages these emotional states through
aseries of confrontations between the great speakingchorus of workers and sev-
eral smaller choruses called Nature,Technology, and Religion. The playopens
withagroup of male workers declaring that“We can’t!”an admission of defeat
that identifies the obstacles, both external and internal,to aself-determined life.
In accordance with itsagitational purposes, the triumphant ending offersajoy-
ous celebration of unity,freedom, and democracy underanew kind of“rule of
work.”Once the workers recognize the exploitation of labor under capitalism as
the sourceoftheirunhappiness,they are ableto state their demands:“We want
joyful work!/Wewant healthyapartments!/Wewant cheerful wives!/Wewant
happy children!/Wewant freetime!/We want knowledge and beauty!/We
want human dignity!/Wewant unity of the world!”(23). The endingmakes
clear thatthe realization of these demands requirescollective action:“We!We!
We!/ Weall want to risetogether!/Weall want to join hands!Weall want to
sing together!”(30–31). The shared singing of“Brothers,tothe Sun, toFree-
dom!,”the well-known communist tune adapted from theRussian by Hermann
Scherchen, impliesthat onlythe socialistmovement could fulfill the promise of
individual happiness on earth.
Therousing finaleofWe!reads like astage adaption of de Man’sDerKampf
umdieArbeits freude(1927, TheStrugglefor theJoy ofWork), whichdiscusses the
emotionalrewardsgained from work as an essentialpartofmodernlifeand akey
requirementinthe achievementoflabor peace.¹²Theplayrehearses keyargu-
mentsabout socialismasthe promiseofhappiness firs tpresented inZurPsycho-
logi edes Sozialismus(1926, translatedasThe PsychologyofSocialism), aninfluen-
tialwork discussedbyGramsci andothers. In both books, de Manexaminesand
validatesthe workers’spiritualneeds,analyzesthe emotionalregimes specific to
capitalism,and reassesses thelatter’sdetrimental effecton working-classlives
fromtheperspecti ve of classpsychology. Againstthe economicdeterminism
Hendrik de Man,DerKampf um die Arbeitsfreude. Eine Untersuchung auf Grund derAussagen
von78 Industriearbeitern und Angestellten(Jena: EugenDiederichs, 1927). In light of de Man’s
collaborationist activitiesduringthe Nazi occupation of Belgium, it would be easyto compare
his proposals to the“Strength throughJoy”organization of the Reich Labor Service.
Social Democracy and the PerformanceofCommunity 229