ersFranz to further establish clear boundaries–that is, to acquireadistinct
communist habitus.The passageinwhich he finallyconfronts his mother and
fiancée deservestobequoted in full:
“Yo uwill notgetawayfrommeanymore,”she [Theres] said and reached with heavy hands
for the apron ties.“Ic an’tsit at home anymore,”he replied,“wehave the city,but the battle
has notyetended, we must keepgoing!”Theresgrumbled:“Aren’tyou tiredofityet?You
follow them around likesome idiot!”Franz lookedather angrily.“Ican’tstand backwhen
thousandsofothers aregettinginvolved! Iwould be ashamed ofmyself ifIstayedhome
whenIwas needed out there!”“Nobody’sforcingyou?”“Nothingisforcingme, but
yet”–he turned to mother–“if onlyyou could understand just this once–none of us
aregoingintothe fire for nothing!Wecursed when they beat us,when we had to run in
front of police’sbullets!And nowwe have weapons!We have the city,the police arepulling
out because of the armed workers!Youshould see how happy theguysare!It’sasifastorm
blew into the fire!”Frau Kreusat turnedaway tired.“Yo uaren’tgoing anywhere, boy–I
believeyou, that it is likethat,but you’re stayinghere,aren’tyou?”Franz felt as if he
was hittingarubber wall thatkept bouncinghim back.“Mother!Don’tyou understand?
Ican’tleave the battle just foryour sake!Itdoesn’twork that way!”Frau Kreusat stared
at him. Then she burst intotears again.“Don’tyou see?”said Theres,“don’tyou see
whatyou’re doing?”“Shut up!”he screamed at her.“Stayout of it!Ihavetodoit, don’t
youunderstand?Ihave to!”(SR, 90 – 91)AngrilyTheres leavesthe room, neverto appear again.To compensateFranz for
this loss, Marchwitza brieflyintroduces the possibility of loveinthe figure of a
red nursewho hitchesaride with the armed workers. Her description follows
the samevoyeuristicpattern found inTheBurning Ruhr,includingthe moral
judgment behindthe distinction of shameful male lust and proper heterosexual
lovethat always equatesthe desiringgaze with others:
The female medic was pretty.Brazenlyand lustilythe men’seyescaressed her body. Her
full breasts pointedoutwardtauntingthem while she was laughing.Coarse hands twitched
from the desiretotouch them. Several alreadystartedgrabbing.“Stop that!”the girl shout-
ed indignantly. She leaned out of the car and admonishedFranz Kreusat:“What kind of a
pigsty doyouhavehere?Iamgoingto getout of hereifthis doesn’tstop.”(SR 110 – 111)Tellingly called Rosa, theyoung woman offers to accompanyhim to the front but
he objects:“‘Ifear foryour life!’saidFranz Kreusat.‘This is not for women’”(SR,
120). Significantly, these highlysexualized scenes are missing from the 1952ver-
sion ofStorm over the Ruhr.RewrittenbyMarchwitza toreflect what his East Ger-
man publishercalls“not onlyhis greater literary maturitytoday, but alsothe
Revolutionary Fantasy and Proletarian Masculinity 191