and elusive enoughto operate on multiple and contradictory levels: asapolitical
program,asocialmyth, aculturalconstruction, and an ideological fantasy;it
remained an object of intense emotional attachments and investments. The con-
ventional description of Marxist thought asarupture of theveil of illusions (i.e.,
ideology) was achieved preciselythrough the creation ofanew set of illusions
called the proletarian dream. On the level of Marxist theories and SPD and
KPD party programs, its remarkable productivity throughout the late nineteenth
and earlytwentieth century can be explainedthrough its overdetermined status
within the collective imaginaries thatsustained working-class cultureinImperial
Germanyand that distinguished the Social Democratic and Communist lifeworld
in theWeimarRepublic. As the next chapter on emotional socialism shows, emo-
tions in politics playedakeyrole in defining the proletarian dream and sustain-
ing the individual commitment to socialism.
Proletarian Dreams: From Marx to Marxism 63