The Proletarian Dream Socialism, Culture, and Emotion in Germany 1863-1933

was not supposedtolook like council-communist-turned-anarchistRühle (see
figure 13.1), portrayed with bulging,bloodshot eyes by ConradFelixmüllerin
Der Agitator/Otto Rühle spricht(1920,The Agitator,O.R.Speaks).At the same
time, the communist scene of agitation was not to be confused with George
Grosz’scaricature ofarightwing agitator inDer Agitator(1928,The Agitator).
On the contrary, the examples presented on the following pages suggest that
communist agitprop sought to move beyond the pathos and ecstasy of the
earlypostwaryearsand align theBolshevikconcept of vanguardismmore close-
ly with what Ernst Bloch once called the cold stream within Marxism–that is, an
unemotional approach that promised self-control and control of others.

Fig..ConradFelixmüller,Der Agitator.Otto
Rühle spricht/TheAgitator.Otto Rühle Speaks
(), oil on canvas. Nationalgalerie Berlin,
reproduction.CopyrightArtists
Rights Society (ARS), NewYork/VGBild-Kunst
Bonn.

Fig..Curt Querner,Agitator(), oil on

canvas, Nationalgalerie Berlin.Copyright

ArtistsRights Society (ARS), NewYork/VGBild-

Kunst Bonn.

And indeed, the most compellingpersonification of communist cool can be
found inalarge-scale oil painting,titledAgitator(1931), by the Dresden-based
Curt Querner (1904–1976), ametalworker-turned-artist who worked in the New
Objectivity style of his teacher Otto Dix (see figure13.2).The work in question de-
pictsaslender man in his thirties standing alone onastreet corner in what looks
likeaworking-class neighborhood. The cobblestone street and the gray walls,
drainpipe, and housesinthe back conjureamoodofdeprivation and desolation.

244 Chapter13

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