the title. Mirroringthe wavesoflabor migration within central Europe, Göhre’s
worker-writers came from diverse regions:Carl Fischer (1841–1906) wasarail-
road worker and steel miner from Silesia, Moritz TheodorWilliam Bromme
(1873–1926)ametal worker from Thuringia,Wenzel Holek (1864–1935)acon-
struction worker and glass blower fromBohemia,and Franz Rehbein (1867–
1909)afarmhand fromPomerania who worked on an estate in Holstein. Fischer,
Bromme, Holek, and Rehbein all turned to writing after becomingincapacitated
due to serious workplace injuries and,with the exception of Fischer,developed
their literaryvoices afterjoining the workers’movement and its organizations.
Like the SPD party leaders, several worker-writers completed theirmanuscripts
duringextended stays in prisons or sanatoriums.Andlike manysocialist work-
ers-turned-journalists,involvementwith the workers’movement allowed some
of these men to turn their new skills as worker-writers into professional careers.²⁸
The documented exchanges between worker-writers and theireditors attest
to an acuteawareness of the constructedness of class identitiesthatextends
to the emotional attachments forgedinthe act of reading. The degree to which
the problem of readingwas always on the minds of editors is confirmed by
the introduction of Friedrich Naumann (1860–1919) to Arbeiterschicksale
(1906,Workers’Fates) byFranz Louis Fischer,acoal miner-turned-dairyman.
An influential liberalvoice in the debate on social reform, the well-known soci-
ologist believed in the need for better communication across the class divide.Yet
Naumann also defended the middle classagainst accusations of“an egotistical
heartlessness that,inreality,ismostlylack of knowledge.Itisinfact difficult for
the non-workerto form an accurate impression of the living conditions of those
who, without financial resources,fight for their survival. [...]Quiteafew educat-
ed men and women experience their separation from the people asvery painful
and understand thatthereisadeepholeintheir spiritual and social educa-
tion.”²⁹As if respondingtoNaumann’sexplanation of middle-class oblivious-
ness, Bruno Hans Bürgel(1875–1948) offered his ownreasons for writing
down theremarkable success story ofVomArbeiterzumAstronomen(1919,
FromWorker to Astronomer)inthe following way:“Iwant to show the upper
classes how the world looksto someone who is forced to view it from inside a
damp basement apartment in aHinterhaus(interior houseinatenement). I
The biographical information is takenfromArbeiter über ihr Leben.Vonden Anfängen der
Arbeiterbewegung biszumEnde derWeimarerRepublik,ed. and intr.Ursula Münchow (Berlin:
Dietz, 1976), 461–481.
Friedrich Naumann, IntroductiontoFranz Louis Fischer,Arbeiterschicksale(Berlin: Buchver-
lagder“Hilfe,”1906), n. p.
Re/WritingWorkers’Emotions 151