Notes for Bertolt Brecht "Die Massnahme" (The Measures Taken)

(Pagination keyed to "The Measures Taken and Other Lehrstuecke,"
eds. Willett & Manheim, translation by Carl Mueller.)



Marx's Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach: "The philosophers have only interpreted
the world, in various ways; the point is to change it."

Terminology:

"Control" Chorus: German sense of "control" is "oversight,"
"surveillance" -- this is a chorus not int he Greek sense, but in the
Leninist sense.

The Classics: The MArxist classics, namely, "Capital," "Theses on
Feuerbach,", "Grundrisse," "The 18th Brumaire of Napoleon III," "The
German Ideology," etc.

agitators/agistation: Not a pejorative term in Marxist jargon; e.g.,
the Agitations- und Propagandamittelladen.

Propaganda: Likewise, not a pejorative term. "Propaganda" means
literally "that which ought to be spread," hence not brainwashing, but
analogous to "Gospel"! Marxism-Leninism is founded on the notion of
class consciousness; education, the didactic, is essential. The
Lehrstueck is an outgrowth of this emphasis.

agitprop: Brecht's Lehrstuecke are prime examples. The plays are
education for actors and audience, but mainly the actors, according to
Brecht. The plays are conceived as workshop pieces, fully
participatory. The fluid changes in role keep the articiality of the
proceedings in view, whicle still creating powerful emotional
effects. The structure imitates the process of rational reflection on
life experience, which is the goal of the play. Agitprop drama is a
cross between actors' workshop and vaudeville, deliberately ad hoc and
stylized. The genre died out as Stalinism hardened into mass murder in
the Thirties, as Socialist Realist doctrine was propounded, and
finally as the Second World War broke out.

comrade: The mode of address between Party members; it is meant to be
differentiated from traditional class-bound forms of address, such as
"sir" or "lord."

Marxism: Doctrines based on the writings of Karl Marx and Freidrich
Engels.

Marxism-Leninism: The revolutionary application of Marxism formulated
by V.I. Lenin; based on the concept of Party discipline -- a highly
centralist doctrine, in contrast to Rosa Luxemburg's emphasis on
spontaneous mass action and the general strike.

Stalinism: One of the two schismatic branches in Leninist thought
following Lenin's death in 1924. Stalin advocated piecemiel, local
revolution rather than waiting for world revolution. (In practice,
this meant simply focusing on the USSR.) Also emphasized the
"historical" or "objective" perspective over the individual
viewpoint. This show up in "Die Massnahme" in the stressplaced on the
effacement of the individual and the danger of giving in to the
individual viewpoint. Only the Party can have the many eyes needed to
understand the overall strategy of revolution. Absolute primacy of
ends over means.

Trotskyism: The other schismatic branch following Lenin's death,
emphasizing the necessity of world revolution. Trotsky was attractive
to leftist intellectuals uneasy with Stalin's authoritarian
brutishness, and also because of his internationalist perspective.

coolies: Chinese workers

The Party: The Communist Party. In its Leninist form, the Party
consisted of the most conscious members of the proletariate, along
with progressive elements from the bourgeoisie. Party membership was
restricted, an earned privilege. Rank in theParty reflected an
achieved understanding of class conflict in its theoretical and
practical aspects; thus Party discipline is crucial.

-----------------------------------------------

Structure of the play

[Preface]

1. The Teachings of the Classics       |
                                       |--- Definition of the problem
2. The Effacement                      |

3. The Stone                           |
	Discussion                     |
                                       |
4. Justice                             |--- Lessons
	Discussion                     |
                                       |
5. What is Man?                        |
	Discussion                     |

6. The Betrayal                        |
                                       |
7. Limits of Persecution and Analysis  |--- Resolution
                                       |
8. The Burial                          |



Significance of the lessons:

     a. The Stone

	Material improvement of conditions -- the first impulse of the
	Young Comrade -- is a naive and self-defeating goal.

     b. Justice

	Immediate remediation of unjust acts is pointless, even
	self-defeating, unless a proper context governs it. Plato knew
	this. Justice in Man == Justice in Society. Man out of a
	social context is vague, undefined. Class consciousness is the
	understanding of this context. Oppression is made possible by
	obscuring the contingent, contextual, man-made nature of
	social relations, falsely depicting them as natural and
	inevitable. 

     c. What is Man?

	Contrast between the Young Comrade's naive but emotionally
	compelling view of Natural Man, and the enlightened view of
	Man as both an emotional and a rational creature, motivated by
	both faculties, but able to change the world through reason
	through reason alone ("reality").


The Poetry:

     "In praise of the USSR" (11)
     
     "In praise of illegal work" (13)

     The coolies' work song (16-17)

     "The song of commodity" (23-24)

     "Change the world: it needs it" (25)

     "In praise of the Party" (29)

     ["We are now the scum of the earth"] (31-32)