Bertolt Brecht, Die Maßnahme (1930/31)

BertoltBrecht, Die Maßnahme(1930/31) The Lehrstück

Cambridge Companion to Brecht (ed. Peter Thomson, Glendyr Saks, Cambridge, 2006 • Articles on ‘Brecht’s Germany’, ‘Brecht’s Lives’, the Lehrstück, Mutter Courage, ‘Brecht and Film’, ‘Key Words in Brecht’s Theory and Practice’

Epic Theatre as epistemological machine • From Greek episteme (knowledge, understanding) and logos (word): Theory of knowledge, Erkenntnistheorie • Erkenntnis, erkennen

Lehrstücke • Der Ozeanflug(also Der Lindberghflug, 1928) • Das BadenerLehrstückvomEinverständnis(1929) • Der Jasager/Der Neinsager(Schuloper, 1929/30) • Die Maßnahme(1930/31) • Parallel to: Dreigroschenoper (1928), Aufstieg und Fall der StadtMahagonny (1927-29), Die heilige Johanna Der Schlachthöfe (1929-31), Radiotheorie • Reiner Steinweg, Das Lehrstück, Tübingen, 1972 • Reiner Steinweg (ed.) Brechts Modell der Lehrstücke, Frankfurt/M., 1976

Lehrstücke and plays attack both bourgeois aesthetics and entertainment/ culture industry • In bourgeois aesthetics: • the work of art must not have any direct (political) function but allude to (eternal) values – idea of education on a very abstract level (‘Literature is good for you’) • Ideological value: ‘for the ruling class’: High ‘Culture’ as legitimator of status quo, mirror of ruling class • In both: strict separation work/pleasure: work & productivity free from pleasure, pleasure free from productivity • ‘Einbeutung’ – ‘Ausbeutung’ • In entertainment/ culture industry: • work must not have either a direct political function, nor must be intellectually challenging (‘elitism’): ideological value: stabiliser of social hierarchy, diversion for ‘masses’ & enabler of work by filling of free time. Culture as legitimator of apparent democratic state of present, mirror of ‘everyone’ • In both: no admission of political purpose or intention (like in school), i.e. ideology

Notes to ‘Magahonny’ • ‘Neuerungen’ (innovations) vs. ‘Erneuerungen’ (renovations) • Transforming apparatus vs. delivering to it/saving it • ‘Umfunktionierung’ of the apparatus • Purpose: change of direction of ownership • ‘getting hold’ of apparatus • Theatre/Film industry (= business): ‘expropriates’ author (= worker) from ownership of product: ‘Der Unternehmer, hierwieüberall, bekommt die Vorhandüber den Arbeiter, der Besitzer der Produktionsmittel [theatre, film studio] wirdeo ipso alsproduktivangenommen’ (GSA, 15, 136) • Under these conditions: all artistic products are commodities: ‘Kunstisteine Ware – ohneProduktionsmittelnichtherzustellen’ (GSA, 17. 1006)

An sichaberist die Einschränkung der freienErfindung des einzelneneinfortschrittlicherProzeβ. Der einzelnewirdmehr und mehr in groβe, die Welt veränderndeVorgängeeinbezogen. […] Der Fehleristnur, daβ die Produktionsmittelnicht den Produzierendengehören, und daβ so die ArbeitWarencharakterbekommt und den allgemeinenGesetzeneiner Ware unterliegt.’ (GSA, 17, 1006)

Re-functioning & rethinking function of work • Materialist aesthetics: HannsEisler, Erwin Piscator, John Heartfield, Walter Benjamin, George Grosz, Sergei Tretjakow, VsevolodMeyerhold (i.e. work within the relations of production) • Constitutive elements of material aesthetics: • Unity of social revolution and material revolution: idea is that even before the decisive transformation of society there are important qualitative changes in artistic material which result in radical changes of artistic practice. Artist needs to be aware of them. • Coming together of artistic producers and consumers is one of the main aspects of material aesthetics. • Change in the reception of artworks. I.e. no longer empathy and identification (feeling and entertainment) but instruction and change – i.e. artwork no longer is separate from ‘life’ but becomes part of process of change

John Heartfield, George Grosz John Heartfield, Der ArbeiterimZeichen des Hakenkreuzes Stützen der Gesellschaft, 1926

The Lehrstück • Not a Thesenstück • Not a ‘didactic play’ (Martin Esslin, Brecht: The man and his Work) • ‘genuine utopian project’ (RoswithaMuelller in Cambridge Companion to Brecht)

Lehrstück vs. Schaustück • ‘Das Lehrstück, gegebendurcheinigeTheorienmusikalischer, dramatischer und politischer Art, die auf einekollektiveKunstübunghinzielen, istzurSelbstverständigung der Autoren und derjenigen, die sichdabeitätigbeteiligen, gemacht, und nichtdazu, irgendwelchenLeuteneinErlebniszusein.’ • From the programme ‘Deutsche Kammermusik Baden-Baden 1929’, in: Reiner Steinweg (ed.), Brechts Modell der Lehrstücke. Zeugnisse, Diskussion, Erfahrungen, Frankfurt/M., 1976, p. 32

‘Das Lehrstücklehrtdadurch, dassesgespieltwird, nichtdarurch, dassesgesehenwird. […] EsliegtdemLehrstück die Erwartungzugrunde, dass der Spielendedurch die DurchführungbestimmterHandlungsweisen, EinnahmebestimmterHaltungen, WiedergabebestimmterReden und so weiter, gesellschaftlichbeeinflusstwerdenkann.’ • Bertolt Brecht-Archiv, in: Steinweg (1976), p. 164

Reactions to Die Maßnahmeby bourgeois (academic) critics • Martin Esslin: sees in play ‘Prussian soldier’s training’ and ‘praise of self-sacrifice’ (‘prominent and influential misreading – RoswithaMuelller in Cambridge Companion to Brecht) • Ruth Fischer: ‘summary of all terrorist aspects to a mirror image of the totalitarian party’ and ‘anticipation of Stalinist show-trials’ • Willy Haas: ‘first play of Brecht’s which found complete approval of Stalinist party’ • Equalisation of concept of discipline with obedience • all quotes in: Peter Horn, ‘Die Wahrheitistkonkret. BertoltBrechtsDie Maßnahmeund die Frage der Parteidisziplin’, in: Brecht Jahrbuch 1978, Frankfurt/M., 1978, 39-64, pp. 39/40.

Einverständnis • Nikolaus Müller-Schöll: "Wichtig zu lernen vor allem istEinverständnis“. Brecht zwischen Kafka und Carl Schmitt, MLN, 119/2004, 506-24.

Reactions to Die Maßnahmefrom within Communist party • Critical reception • Focuses on killing of the comrade: Argument: Exclusion from party, not killing is ‘the communist way’. • Play is correct where it focuses on teaching of revolutionary theory but incorrect regarding revolutionary practice (i.e. Brecht is ignorant of revolutionary practice of party)

Leninism in Die Maßnahme • See Lenin’s essay ‘Der linkeRadikalismus, die KinderkrankheitimKommunismus’: ‘EinenKampfaufzunehmen, wenn die Situation offenbarfür den Feind und nichtfürunsgünstigist, isteinVerbechen […].’ (cf. 6. Scene) • Lenin: ‘dass man einerevolutionäreTaktik auf der revolutionärenStimmungalleinnichtaufbauenkann. Die Taktik muss sich auf einenüchterne, streng objective EinschätzungallerKlassenkräfteeinensgegebenenStaates […] gründen.’ (Lenin, Werke, XXV, 249f).

Outdatedness of Brecht’s conception of ‘the party’ • Trotzki: ‘first the party organisation replaces the party as a whole, then the central committee replaces the party organisation, and finally a single dictator replaces the central committee’ • Quoted in Peter Horn, p. 50 • Wirsindsie [=die Partei], • Du und ich und ihr – wiralle • (Die Maßnahme, p. 67)

What does the Lehrstück teach? • Not content (doctrine/Lehre) • Critical Haltung • Learning not as ‘buying of knowledge’ but as ‘giving up’ (of ideas, illusions etc.) • ‘What is fatal in Brecht is always the failure to learn.’ (Fredric Jameson, Brecht and Method)

Die Maßnahme: ‘einVersuch, durcheinLehrstückeinbestimmteseingreifendesVerhalteneinzuüben.’ • qu. in Steinweg (1972), p. 36

In ihrereinfachsten Form istDialektikbei Brecht eineMethode, die Bestimmungenfür die Möglichkeiten des Subjektsliefert, in die Entwicklung der gesellschaftlichenWirklichkeit […] einzugreifen und siezuverädern […].’ • Dialektik ‘wirdalsDenktechnikzueinemBestandteil der Technik […] • Steinweg(1972), pp. 112-13.

The author as producer • Shift from poiesis (i.e. creation, the work as organic unity, expression of individual creativity, genius) • to techné (the work as made, assembled, produced, constructed – collectively made)

Concrete questions discussed in Die Maßnahme(content): • Qu. of time for revolutionary action • Qu. of inner-party democracy & discipline • Qu. of relationship between particular demands and the final goal, spontaneous rebellion and organised revolution which occupies Brecht all his life • Qu. of idealism (pity) vs strategy

‘One of the questions asked after the performance of The Measures Taken reads: ‘Which of the pedagogical tendencies in The Measures Taken do you object to for political reasons?’ These opinions, according to Brecht, were used in rewriting the play. (Roswitha Mueller, p. 112)

Die Maßnahme as revolutionary theatrical form • No audience • No unity of character/s and actor/s • ‘testing’ certain Aristotelian principles (sacrifice, pity, tragic individual) • Principles of epic theatre

Ideology-critical content of Die Maßnahme • Question of individuality vs. collective • Question of empathy & immediate action vs. political strategy • Question of teaching and learning & context in which teaching and learning takes place • Critique of (bourgeois) idealism

Copying and critique of patterns of behaviour • Verhaltensmuster (patterns) are not ‘learned’ (e.g. in a behaviourist way by reward/punishment, but artificially constructed for observation and copy • Copies presuppose a thinking subject • Copy refers to pre-bourgeois workshop (e.g. renaissance painters)

A different individuality • No psychology or ‘inside’ • Individual as amalgamation of unique character traits and contradictions of its epoch • In Lehrstück: players not interested in creation of a ‘figure’ or ‘personality’, but patterns of actions and speech • Lehrstückis not about extinguishing of individual or anonymisationof the personal, but situating individual on a different plane from bourgeois concept • ‘Wodurchwird die Eigenheit des Einzelnengarantiert? Durch seine ZugehörigkeitzueinemKollektiv’ (GSA 20, p. 62) – i.e. as part of a medium (i.e. social language) • Letting in the contradictions = Einverständnis

Good collective vs. bad collective • Model: Soviet • Individual responsibility • Discussion • Model: criminal gang/army • obedience • Every member relies on other • No responsibility for actions • In case of failure (gang): losers dropped

‘Das LehrstückisteineAnwendung der DialektikzurZerstörung von Ideologien’ (GSA 20. p. 157) • ‘alles, was heutegedachtwirdistnurdamit gut erscheint was allesgemachtwird. alles was heutegemachtwird, istfalsch. also istalles was heutegedachtwirdfalsch.’ • Bertolt Brecht-Archiv, in: Steinweg, p. 46.

Brecht questions ‘usefulness’ and ‘use’ and function of culture. Insists on usefulness and reflects on conditions of production. • In Brecht’s plays: open awareness of political nature and purpose; reflection on ideological purpose of education

The preliminary character of Brecht’s theatre • No fixed playtext, no ‘work’ • ‘Work’ as commodity & bourgeois fetish • From 1928 all work published under title ‘Versuche’ • Collective production vs. ‘great author’ image of bourgeoisie • Plays not supposed to be ‘heritage’ or ‘tradition’ (or even ‘Culture’) • Tension between radical preliminarity & critique of bourgeois concept of ‘Art’ and own desire for permanence • ‘Die Produktionist das Unvorhersehbare’ • ‘Ichbeobachte, dassichanfange, einKlassikerzuwerden’ (Brecht, 1922!!)

Aporia in Die Maβnahme • Aporia: unresolvable internal tension or contradiction • Revolt against tradition needs tradition as referent • Revolt against ‘art’ ends up invoking principles against which it revolts? • 4 agitators playing ‘tragedy’ in front of Kontrollchor? (see ‘Mitgefühl’ of K, p. 81

The aporetic function of Brecht’s ‘work’ • Bourgeois society only recognises the commodity character of ‘work’ (i.e. what lasts and can be sold, text, book, picture etc.), not its procedural character • Brecht’s production creates ‘works’ – in bourgeois culture those plays fare best that are ‘works’ that can be put on a commodity stage • Epic Theatre: tension between form and content?

Film and Montage • Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), Battleship Potemkin, 1925 • DzigaVertov (1896-1954), Man with a Movie Camera, (1928) • Walter Ruttmann, 1887-1941), Berlin – Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (1927) • Fritz Lang (1890-1976), Dr Mabuse der Spieler(1922), Metropolis(1927)

Montage • From French – assembly • Editing pieces of film together to form a sequence • For both Eisenstein and Brecht (and Benjamin): Montage principle is the adequate aesthetic principle of the age of industrialisation (in contrast to ‘creativity’ – genius = godlike, creates out of nothing) • Montage aesthetics is in analogy to assembly line, i.e. pieces are assembled • No individual ‘creator’ (‘Schöpfer’) but teamwork (Brecht and his co-workers), no ‘author’ but ‘producer’

‘Montage breaks with the ‘normal’ (linear, natural) film narration at the formal level; whilst at the same time, at the level of content, the spectator sees the juxtaposition of different ideologies and realities.’ • Gal Kirn, ‘KuhleWampe – Politics of Montage, De-Montage of Politics?’, Film-Philosophy 11/1, 2007, 33-48)

Relationship between theory and praxis • In development from Leninism to Stalinism in course of mid-1920s to mid 1930s: relationship between theory and praxis petrifies: a dogmatic theory, watched over by a party elite faces a dogmatic praxis: • Pure theory detects truth and pure praxis applies it • Theory becomes the dogmatic narrative legitimation of party state. • In Brecht: both theory of theatre and theatrical praxis in constant flux, informing one another. No primacy of theory over praxis or vice versa.

Bertolt Brecht, Die Maßnahme (1930/31)