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

(Tuis.) #1

publishedunderthe pen name AlexWedding,writingfor children meant“to
write for our future”and,through fictional settingsand scenarios,tomodel
the attitudes and behaviors necessary for the project ofradical change.³¹Where-
as ErichKästner,inthe surprisingly similar story ofPünktchenand Anton(1931,
in English asAnnaluise andAnton), solvesthe problem of economic inequality
through the promise of social reconciliation,Weiskopf emphasizes the need for
class unity asaprerequisite of effective political action. By presentingthe
main character asafigure of doubt and hesitation, she is able to model the nec-
essary emotional transition from isolation to solidarity in ways reminiscent of the
young men in the novelsabout theRuhr Uprising discussed in chapter9.
Set inaBerlin working-class neighborhood, the story ofEde and Unkuis
constructed around two best friends: Ede Sperling,whose father loses his job
in afactory and brieflybecomesastrikebreaker,and Max Klabunde, the son
of aKPD member and Ede’smainguide into the world of proletarian thinking
and feeling.Addingatouch of exotic otherness,ayoung Sinti girl from the fair-
ground called Unkuisintroduced to mediate between these two male positions.
Toward the end of the novel,astill hesitant Ede can be foundwatchingthe other
children playagame of demonstration, with one group castasworkers and an-
other as riot police. Several of the children seem highlyskilled in the art of street
battlewith guns featuringprominentlyintheirgame plan:


One could see Max run back intothe truckingcompanyand come back withalong stick
uponwhich the children pinnedapieceofred cloth. Then Ede watched how they arranged
themselvesintwo rowsoffour.Max led the wayand wavedthe flagthroughthe air.And
they all sang,“Left, left,left,Red Wedding is on the March.”Ewald blew onasmall comb.
“It’sthe workers’wind orchestra,”Orje announced expertly. Ede would muchrather have
marched with the other boys. But Gustavheld him back and said that thingswere aboutto
start.Now the others marchedto an empty buildingsite; Max jumped ontoacrate,ranhis
hand through his hair,and shouted:“Comrades!”“Let’sgo!”cried Orje andranout of the
gate. And the boy with the balloon cap [i.e., Ede] thoughthe’dmuchrather beaworker,
and the next time he would no longer be so stupid.³²

Thescenecanbereadasanalmostparadigmaticscene ofproletarian identi-
fications,beginningwith itssubjectmatter,agroupof working-class children
playingclassstruggle.Onceagain,the spectacleofresist ance ispresentedfrom
theoutside, buthereitinvolves twooutside perspectives,that of t he characters


Quoted in Blumesbergerand Seibert,Alex Wedding (1905–1966),23.Grete Weiskopf was the
wife of the communist journalistFranz CarlWeiskopf.
AlexWedding (i.e., Grete Weiskopf),Ede und Unku. Ein RomanfürJungen undMädchen(Ber-
lin: Malik, 1931), 112–123.


286 Chapter 15


http://www.ebook3000.com

Free download pdf