its highest point abovethem, one could see groups of workers marchingand exercising,
looseninguptheir bones made stiff from laboring.¹⁷In awell-known exchangewith BertoltBrecht from the early1930s, GeorgLukács
faultsthe literarygenre of reportage for focusingonthe appearance of physical
reality without grasping the totality of social reality.¹⁸His criticism could also be
applied to the cited passageand its deliberate refusal to center the narrativeon
individuals with personal names and, hence, biographies.Illustrating this point,
themany temporalconjunctions (e.g.,“when,”“then,”and“after”)and tempo-
raladverbs (e.g.,“finally,”“immediately”)suggest asurfeit of continuity but a
lack of causality.Inthis way, the writing style preempts anyeffortsbyauthor
or reader at forcingthe distinct parts intoameaningful whole. AllJung seems
to be doing is recountingaseries of actions and reactions inatelegram style
similar to that of expressionist prose but devoid of its emphatic, declamatory
style. Anyreferences to the emotional energies behind the uprising are limited
to basic emotions such as anger and fear that are observable fromadistance
as they assumeform through, and in, the body–“in the bones,”for example.
The ways in whichJung strategicallyenlists these structuring absences in his
representation of class struggle become even more apparent duringthe brutal
suppression of the uprising:
Revenge erupted. Like somethingthat explodes after havinggatheredmomentum.Farand
wide, every placewas controlled by soldiers.Everythingcalm. In the industrial centers,all
strikeattemptswere nipped in the bud. All efforts at organization werebroken up, split up,
burstapart.Then the arrests started. Arbitrarilyand massively.The henchmenfollowed cer-
tain lists put together beforehand. Theworkers had been usedto it for some time. They cow-
ered, submittingto their fate. Thus ended the uprisingout thereinthe lands where not even
an attemptcould gather anytraction. But in the miningarea, the bloodhounds applied
even harsher methods.House after house was searched. Men werearrested. Stood facing
the wall for hours, handsraised–until it was decided what punishmentthey should re-
ceive. Manyhundredswere sentto prison.Were interrogated and threatened for days.Every-
thingand anythingwas dugup. Evenawomanwho had givencoffeetoaworkerwas ar-
rested.Local officerswhohad sympathized with theworkers wererounded up separately.
Duringevacuationswere simplygunned down. Therewas no special order,whether for that
one or the other.The troops’commandingofficers actedontheir own; the soldierstoo. An
outpouringofrevenge,arabid hatredhad takenhold of these people.Theywould have
mowed down everything, women and children (CM,41).FranzJung,Die Eroberung der Maschinen,Werke4(Hamburg: Edition Nautilus,1989),14.
Henceforth quoted in thetext in parentheses(CM).
GeorgLukács,“Reportage or Portrayal,”inEssaysonRealism,ed. Rodney Livingstone, trans.
DavidFernbach(Cambridge,MA: MITPress, 1981), 47 – 75.
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