The Birth of Tragedy out of Pedagogy: Brecht's "Learning Play" Die Massnahme

Author(s): G. E. Nelson
Source: The German Quarterly , Nov., 1973, Vol. 46, No. 4, Bertolt Brecht: 75th
Anniversary of His Birth (Nov., 1973), pp. 566-580
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of German

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 THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY OUT OF PEDAGOGY:
BRECHT'S "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME

G. E. NELSON

One of 'the most striking of the paradoxes that surround Brecht

and his work is the fact that while decrying tragedy as an art form
unsuited to a scientific age, he wrote a number of the most successful
modern tragedies.' There is little doubt, for example, that Mutter
Courage und ihre Kinder tends to affect its audience as a tragedy, and
that neither the changes made in the play after the Ziirich premiere
in 1943 nor the acting -techniques of the Berliner Ensemble were able
4o change this.2 Other plays with this unintended tragic effect are
Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthife (1929-1930), Die MaBnahme
(1930), Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1939), Leben des Galilei
(1939-1945), and Die Tage der Kommune (1949). Die MaBnahme,
the first of these plays 'to be finished,3 is a prototype of 'the rest of
them. An analysis of it reveals the special form taken by the tragic in
Brecht's works and shows how the tragic effect arises out of the very
measures taken to prevent it.
Brecht rejected tragedy as an art form in the scientific age
because he believed that the basis of tragedy is necessity and that
tragic necessity has no place in an age which can change men and
the world at will. The old tragedies, with catastrophes which cannot
be criticized, are the barbaric relics of a pre-scientific age.4 The
men of the new age, used to viewing the world critically in order
to change it for the better, need a new theater which speaks to their
"critical attitude" (KL.O. No. 22, XVI, 671) and presents the world as
it is in reality: subject to the influence of those who live in it
(KL.O. No. 21-22, XVI, 671).
The scientific age had not brought about the demise of tragedy
in the theater for the same reason that it had not brought about the
demise of exploitation: the bourgeoisie, which had begun the scienti-
fic age by 'applying scientific analysis to nature, but, out of fear of

the consequences, had refused ,to apply it to society (KI.O. No. 31,
XVI, 676) is not prepared to accept a rational portrayal of the world
in its -theater. For this declining class, the theater is a refuge from the
insoluble conflicts of its existence. Sitting in the darkened house
under the spell of the actors, the 'bourgeois can find a harmony which
no longer exists in :the real world and enjoy feelings which he could
not otherwise afford (KL.O. No. 26-28, XVI, 673-675).

566

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 567

In order to meet the desire of its spectators,

developed non-intellectual techniques to induce f
these is empathy: empathy is the method by w
actor portrayed a character and :the process by w
shares the feelings of the character. The actor t
character he portrays; if the transformation is succ
in turn identifies with the character on stage an
(KL.O. No. 47, XVI, 683).
The actor is supported in his efforts to ind
scenery and costumes which produce the illusio
No. 72, XVI, 697-698) and by plays which use su
audience from thinking about their content
694). Using these techniques, the theater has be
the bourgeoisie and even the few proletarian spec
sity of Oedipus', Othello's, or Wallenstein's fate. F
of view, such a theater was worse than anachron
still able to transform the "children of the scie
"intimidated, believing, 'charmed' multitude" (K
675), it inhibits them from regarding the world of
seriously, the world in which they live, with a cr
Brecht thus saw in 'tragedy a way of looking a
has no place in the scientific age. That it exists
to the methods developed by the bourgeois theat
lusion of necessity. It is the task of the theater of t
develop new methods which will prevent this illu
To replace 'the "Aristotelian" 'tragedy based on em
dramatic tension, Brecht proposes the non-Aristotel
epic theater, 'in which the epic structure of the play
tic tension, Verfremdung prevents empathy, and ill
by sets which never let the audience forget it is
these new techniques, Brecht believes, it will eve
the old 'tragedies in the theater of the scientific era
pathy, and illusion all eliminated, the old tragedi
historical and will lose their tragic effect.5

II

If Brecht's theory that the tragic effect is the consequence of

certain techniques of the bourgeois theater is correct, Die Mal3nahme
should not be a 'tragedy. It was written in 1930 as a "learning play"'
for Communist workers and is perhaps the most radical example of

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568 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

anti-illusionistic theater in Brecht's works.' It was intended to teach

the amateur actors and singers who performed the play and the
audience who saw its the basic 'tenet of Leninist political morality:
"Wir erkliren, daf unsere Sittlichkeit vollkommen den Interessen
des proletarischen Klassenkampfes untergeordnet ist. Unsere Sittlich-
keit leiten wir aus den Interessen des proletarisc'hen Klassenkampfes
ab."9 Logical as 'this tenet was, it posed difficult problems for people
who had become Communists because they could no longer tolerate
the immorality of bourgeois society. These people, who had rebelled
against the bourgeoisie because it lied, stole, and killed, were now some-
times expected to lie, steal, and kill in order to bring about a world
in which such crimes would be unnecessary. At 'the same time, these
rebels against bourgeois authority were expected to subject them-
selves utterly to the authority of the Communist party, because it
alone was in a position -to determine the "interests of the proletarian
class struggle." If such converts were ever to become useful members
of the Party, they had to overcome the very morality which had
made them Communists in the first place. Die MaBnahme was writ-
ten to help them in this task.

In order for the play to be an effective pedagogical instrument, it

had to deal with an extreme case of the dilemmas of Leninist mor-
ality. A play in which the "immorality" required by 'the Party is the
illegal distribution of leaflets or in which failure to follow Lenin's
dictum is the result of simple stupidity would have been of no help
to the people for whom it was intended. What was needed, and what
Brecht provided in Die MaBnahme, was a play in which compliance
with Lenin's dictum required the violation of deep moral feelings.
The play shows how a Young Comrade, who has joined the Com-
munist Party out of moral conviction, is hindered by his own morality
from acting in accordance with Leninist morality. At first he merely
errs, but eventually he rebels against the discipline of the party and
must 'be killed to save the other Party members and their work. The
plot is well suited to Brecht's pedagogic purpose: the mistakes of the
Young Comrade show both the difficulty and the necessity of applying
Leninist morality, while the other Party members, first by correcting
his errors and then by killing him, give examples of its practical
application.
The only problem was that the audience, raised in the Schil-
lerian tradition, might regard the Young Comrade as a tragic hero,
and that the play would 'therefore reinforce the attitudes it was try-

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 569

ing to change. To keep this from happening, Bre

ploys the devices of the epic theater and the non
to inhibit any illusion, empathy, or dramatic ten
presenting the story of the Young Comrade in t
possible in a theater. The four agitators who ha
Comrade with them to Mukden to help 'them spr
have returned to Moscow and are being prais
Chorus for their successful work. The 'agitators i
to report that 'they had to kill the Young Comra
the Control Chorus becomes a court of inquiry in
Young Comrade. To show the Control Chorus wh
to kill the Young Comrade, the Agitators demons
leading up to his death by acting them out. Aft
report what they told ,the Young Comrade 'at th
their analysis of 'the situation with the Control
to the theory of the epic theater, a play structured
should have no dramatic tension (KL.O. No. 6
audience knows the outcome from the very begin
are examples and are not causally connected with
for the sixth, seventh, 'and eighth situations, which
up 'to the killing of the Young Comrade), and an
tum is destroyed 'by the discussions between the

also not be possible for the audience ,to identify

of the play: Brecht has built the fundamental pr
the epic theater, the demonstration (das Zeigen)
the audience (KL.O. No. 48, XVI, 683), into the s
play. The audience doesn't see -the characters of e
selves; instead, they see :the Agitators first exp
Chorus what the situation was, then demonstrate
cuss it.

Illusion and empathy were also inhibited by the m

the play was performed. Both practical and theor
precluded the use of the devices of 'the bourgeoi
had to be performable by amateurs in order to 'be a
ing tool, and it had to be performable with a mi
paratus. Precisely because they are unskilled, am
empathy more difficult; since 'there can be no sce
danger of illusion. Theory and practical needs ha
duce a play which could be performed by workers' c
a platform, a slide projector, four masks, and a few

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570 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

Brecht also took great pains to make su

learned what he wanted it to. He did this by
ing into -the play itself. The Young Comrade
uations he encounters; in each of them, he r
morality would demand and thereby interfer
Party. After each mistake, the Young Comra
cepts the criticism of the Agitators, but his g
of Leninist morality does not keep him from re
new situations. His last mistake, however, is
situation can only be saved by killing him. A
the Young Comrade accepts -the necessity of
the situation and seals his acceptance by agr
(II, 662). Not only the Young Comrade learn
the play, the Control Chorus shares many of
(II, 644, 648, 651). The Agitators correct the
during the discussions following the situation
Chorus realizes its ignorance, it transforms i
students (II, 652). At the end of the play it,
implications of Leninist morality -and agrees
the Young Comrade (II, 663). Die MaBnahm
gives the participants -and the audience an ex
of Leninist morality, prevents them from react
the bourgeois tragedy, and shows them what th
In spite of the care Brecht takes in Die M
normal -theatrical reactions and ensure 'that the audience learns from
the Young Comrade instead of taking him as a tragic hero, the play
is a failure as 'a learning play and a success as a tragedy. The play's
tragic effect is documented by the reaction of audience and critics to
the premiere in 1930, by the changes Brecht made in the play, by his
later attitude to it, and finally by later scholarly discussion." An
analysis of the play to find out why it is a tragedy reveals that
Brecht's theory of tragedy was inadequate, that the tragic effect of
Die MaBnahme is inherent in the play's plot and characters, and
that the methods Brecht used to destroy the tragic effect of the play
in fact increased it.

As we have seen, Brecht accepted the traditional connection

between tragedy 'and necessity; !the only difference between him and
the "bourgeois" theorists was his conviction that necessity no longer
had any meaning in the scientific age. Paradoxically, however, the
tragic necessity of Die MaBnahme is 'a product precisely of Brecht's

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 571

pedagogical intent: if the participants and a

from the Young Comrade, his difficulties have
have their roots in his moral character; if Lenin's
is to be fully understood, it has to be given a rigo
and such a demonstration requires an equally ri
of the necessity for the death of the Young Co
is correct, it is correct when it calls for murd
hand, only the most pressing necessity can just
Leninist terms. Die MaBnahme is in fact a trage
ity. The tragic effect of the play has its roots
among motives, means, and ends inherent in th
munist morality is derived from the needs of !t
doctrine that, for a Communist, the end justifi
dicts the traditional bourgeois ethic as embodied
Imperative, but does so for the highest possibl
creation of a society in which the moral impe
society can be realized. A person who 'accepts
is morally outraged at Capitalist society and wa
moral world can thus find himself in situations w
violate his own morals. The resulting dilemm
tion. If he remains morally pure, the world r
he changes -the world, he violates himself.
Both the Young Comrade and the Agitato
person. The Young Comrade clearly states the o
in the first situation:

Mein Herz schliigt fiir die Revolution. Der Anblick des Unrechts
trieb mich in die Reihen der Kkimpfer. Der Mensch mu13 dem
Menschen helfen. Ich bin fiir die Freiheit. Ich glaube an die
Menschheit. Und ich bin fiir die Maf3nahmen der Kommunis-
tischen Partei, welche gegen Ausbeutung und Unkenntnis fiir
die klassenlose Gesellsehaft kiimpft. (I, 634)
The Agitators are no different. They base their decision to kill the
Young Comrade solely on the need to change the world:
Noch ist es uns, sagten wir
Nicht verg6nnt, nicht zu tbten. Einzig mit dem
Unbeugbaren Willen, die Welt zu veraindern, begriindeten wir
Die Mal3nahme. (II, 661)
The crucial difference between them is that the Agitators have some-
how learned to turn their intellectual acceptance of Leninist morality
into practice, while the Young Comrade, though aware of the need to
do so, simply cannot. This inability to turn an intellectual acceptance

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572 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

of Leninist morality into action is one of the roots

effect, while at the same time it puts the whol
the play in doubt, for no one successfully makes
non-Leninist to Leninist behavior. The Agitators
and no explanation is given as to 'how they got
*the Young Comrade and the Control Chorus nev
the intellectual commitment to Leninist moralit
the beginning of the play. The similarities and
the Agitators and the Comrade are illustrated by t
as their words: the difficulty experienced by th
carrying out his tasks testifies to an admirable
bility; the refusal of :the Agitators 'to let his pe
terfere with their work testifies to -an equally adm
sensibility. Because the comrade and ,the Agitators
understands the moral position of the other. Th
standing of the Comrade shows itself in the m
they correct him and in their knowledge that the
while changing -the world are immoral from an
view.12 The Comrade's understanding of the Ag
first in his acceptance of their criticism and finall
of his death. Indeed, since the Young Comra
cepts the need for Leninist morality, the conflict
repeated in himself: he knows what he should
in concrete situations. This inner conflict brings th
of 'the contradictions inherent in Leninist morality
which bring the Comrade to the Party in the first
him a "courageous fighter" (II, 652) and whi
following among the unemployed (II, 652), mak
it in situations which demand that he violate his moral convictions.
Even the Young Comrade's acceptance of his death does not really
resolve the contradiction. The Young Comrade is able to die well,
not because he has learned his lesson, 'but because the Party has
finally asked him :to do something which does not conflict with his
morality. For an idealist like 'the Young Comrade, nothing is easier
than dying for the Party; what is difficult is defiling oneself for it.
In his pedagogical zeal, Brecht has created a !tragedy of the
same type as that of the "most excellent 'and satisfying"13 Greek
tragedy, Sophocles' Antigone: in both plays, each side is right, each
side is wrong, each side understands the position of the other, and
neither sees a solution. Leninist morality, the character of the Young
Comrade, and the situation in which they find themselves leave the

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 573

Agitators no alternative to killing him. Their

firmed by the success of their mission, which justif
Lenin's point of view, by testimony of the Contr
of all by the last words of the Young Comrade
Comrade also has no alternative. The very mo
him a Communist makes it impossible for him
practice.
Because there is no solution to the tragic conflict in Die
MaBnahme, 4 all measures Brecht takes to prevent illusion, empathy,
and thereby catharsis, strengthen the tragic effect instead of weaken-
ing it. In order to force the audience to think about what is going
on instead of simply experiencing it, he interrupts the action for dis-
cussion and analysis; the result is that the conviction of necessity pro-
duced by the analysis strengthens the feeling of necessity produced
by the scenes. To prevent the audience from seeing -the Young Com-
rade as a martyr, Brecht has the Control Chorus accept the judgment
of the Agitators; this only emphasizes that both sides are right. To
break the momentum of the last scenes, he inserts a long analysis and
discussion ahead of the death scene (II, 660-661): in the context,
the analysis and discussion function as a retardierendes Motiv of the
kind recommended by Schiller and Goethe and used to such ad-
vantage by Schiller in his own tragedies to increase the pathos of the
catastrophe.'5 Even Brecht's utmost attempt to destroy empathy by
giving the Agitators identical masks and costumes probably works
against him by counteracting the effect of having the Agitators take
turns playing the Young Comrade: since the Agitators all wear the
same masks and costumes, and all speak the same way, they become
interchangeable, and from the point of view of the spectator, it makes
no difference who is playing the Young Comrade."'

III

As we have seen, the techniques of 'the non-Aristotelian dra

and the epic theater only amplify the tragic effect of Die MaBnahm
This effect originates in the conflict between the idealism which dr
che Young Comrade into the Communist Party and the real acti
which it demands of him. Such a conflict was not possible for
materialist Brecht until his conversion to Marxism, and so it is
the first play he completed after his conversion is his first tragedy
the prototype of all the later ones. As different as Mutter Cour
und ihre Kinder or Leben des Galilei are from Die MaBnahme,
tragic mechanism in them is the same.

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574 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

Tragedy was not possible for Brecht before

cause his materialist view of the world preclu

In ,the plays of .the Twenties, morality is p

bourgeois habits that are both ridiculous an
world of these plays, the Schillerian hero app
Fairchild of Mann ist Mann. Nonetheless, ,t
Brecht's attacks on morality in the early plays
like to be a moralist if he could find some basi
real world. The materialist Brecht should a
Trommeln in der Nacht when he makes the "r
abandons the hopeless revolution for his pregn
moralist Brecht despises him for it. In the later
characters who make the "right" decision beco
temptible; in Dreigroschenoper, even the band
ferable to the coldly rational Peachum. Brecht
contradiction between his materialism and his
coming a Marxist and thus making his materi
morality materialist. In the Marxist view, the c
the demands of morality and the demands of reali
but simply the consequence of the capitalistic s
the system, one can arrive at a world where g
dangerous. Good people are now victims instea
possibility of change brings with it the possibility
action.

The plays immediately show the consequences of the conver-

sion: from Die MaBnahme on there are two new heroic types in
Brecht's work. The first of these is the good person who knows that
goodness is impossible in the world as it is and has become a revolu-
tionary -to change it. This "conscious" good person, of whom the
Agitators in Die MaBnahme are prototypes, has completely accepted
Leninist morality. Since he has completely subjected his personal
morality to the demands of the class struggle, he can be a martyr
but not a tragic hero. He has no room for personal desires, doubt, or
hesitation. Whatever deliberation he does allow himself is tactical
instead of moral. The second type is the "good" person who does not
accept or cannot follow Leninist morality and tries instead simply
to do and be good in an evil world. This type has tragic potential.
Setting out to be good in spite of everything, the "unconsciously"
good person finds that all his efforts have only brought forth evil,
and that the evil, in an evil world, is a necessary function of the
good. The only way to keep good from turning into evil is to work for

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 575

the revolution-that is, to turn evil into good. Yet

of 'the "unconsciously" good person makes -this solut
The "unconsciously" good person is the uniquely
of the tragic hero."8 Though the nature of the g
to bring about varies, the relationship between vi
ways the same. In each case, the virtues and vice
functions of each other. As we have seen with th
the very virtues which made him a Communist
for him to function as one; Johanna Dark is in th
Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthiife. In the later
and vices are not directly political (though they
sequences), but the relationship remains the sam
Shen-Ti and Mutter Courage, the virtue is mothe
Mensch von Sezuan it brings forth Shui-ta and i
und ihre Kinder it brings forth the commercial i
stroy the children. Galilei's love of science is a reflex
which in turn causes him to 'betray science to the Ch
In his last tragedy, Die Tage der Kommune, Brec
central problem of Die MaBnahme: born of a love
Commune perishes because it is unwilling to resort
to save itself. All of these plays have (the same co
acter and circumstances which results in tragedy
A "good" person 'finds that he can achieve his "g
evil means which finally destroy the ends they w
The techniques of the epic theater and the
drama have the same results in ithese plays as in
by making the audience clearly -aware of 'the tra
necessity, they increase the tragic effect of the p
lationship between vice and virtue in Brecht's tra
erally so complicated that only his new dramatic a
niques can make it clear enough to produce a tra
Without Verfremdung and the other devices of th
plays would tend to appear simple melodramas. M
ihre Kinder, for example, would become "The Tr
or "The Wickedness of Commerce," depending w
character was emphasized. Only the epic theat
audience see 'both sides of her character 'and the
between 'them.

The same Marxism which allowed Brecht to

playwright allowed him to avoid the tragic implic

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576 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

for many years and then to explain them as a

What the non-Marxist sees as tragedies, the Ma
strations of 'the evil of ithe capitalist world o
of the revolution. In the first case, the traged
stead of catharsis, an intensified will to fight f
the second, the success of the revolution will s
In either case, the tragedy is historical and no
revolution there will no longer be the kind of con
and morality shown in Brecht's plays, for real
moral. The question that must be asked here is
world-view is really immanent in the structu
Brecht, the answer is simple: his plays are exact
of the real world, and the Marxist world-view
exactly as it is immanent in the world. Anyon
by bourgeois class interest or deliberately kept
it in his plays, and if he sees it in the plays, he
world. All that is necessary is to make the way
in the plays absolutely clear and to make sure
look at them critically. Both ends are achieved by
epic theater.

The non-Marxist would agree that Brecht's p

of the real world, but is as unable to find proof o
Marx in them as he is in the real world. For th
the techniques of the epic theater merely stre
of the necessity of the tragedy. As we have se
there is no way out of the tragic implications unl
the success of the Agitators outweighs the deat
rade. Typically enough, Brecht does not show t
believes in it !as a Marxist and expects his a
The other 'tragedies work the same way: unle
Communist, there is no solution to the difficul
Ti, Galilei, Johanna Dark, or the Paris Commune.

Towards the end of 'his life, Brecht began

something 'besides a vestige of bourgeois socie
even his own productions of his plays 'brought
in socialist audiences. When one of his assoc
young spectator 'had had pity for Mother
couldn't learn and defended his pity as a "noble
(XVI, 904), Brecht replied, "Genug. Es ist na
Publikum, das uns gestattet und das es uns zur

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 5,77

solche Wirkungen anzustreben, die auf einer natiirlichen Einheit

von Gedanke und Gefiihl beruhen . . ." (XVI, 905). The words
"tragedy" and "catharsis" do not fall here, but the pity the spectato
feels for Courage is a tragic effect and is no differenit from the pity
we feel for ithe Young Comrade, who also cannot learn. After mor
than thirty years of damning tragedies in his theory and creatin
them in practice, Brecht Ihas finally seen -that more is involved in the
tragic effect than theatrical sleight of hand and -is at long last willing
to give it a place in his theater.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1 For Brecht as a writer of tragedy see Keith A. Dickson, "Brecht

an Aristotelian malgre lui," Modern Drama, 11 (1968-1969); John
Fuegi, The Essential Brecht (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls,
1972), pp. 91-95, 139; Walter H. Sokel, "Brecht's Split Characters
and his Sense of the Tragic," in Brecht, a Collection of Critical
Essays, ed. Peter Demetz (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall
1962), pp. 127-37; George Steiner, The Death of Tragedy (New
York: A. A. Knopf, 1968) pp. 345-49.
2 Martin Esslin, Brecht: Das Paradox des politischen Dichters
(Frankfurt/M., Bonn: Athenaium Verlag 1962), pp. 312-14.
3 Work on Die Heilige Johanna der Schlachth6Ife began in the fall
of 1929, and work on Die MaBnahme in the early spring of 1930,
but Die MaBnahme was finished that spring and performed in
December 1930, whereas work on Die Heilige Johanna der
Schlachtho6fe continued into the summer. See Klaus V6ilker, Brecht-
Chronik (Miinchen: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1971), pp. 48-50.
4 Das kleine Organon, Nr. 33, Bertolt Brecht, Gesammelte Werke in
20 Bdnden, Werkausgabe, edition Suhrkamp (Frankfurt / M.: Suhr-
kamp, 1967), XVI, 676-77. Further quotations from this edition
are indicated in the text by volume and page number.
5 Brecht still speaks of das Tragische, tragisch, and Trag6die, but
his discussions of Hamlet (Kleines Organon Nr. 68, XVI, 695-96)
and of Coriolanus (Anmerkungen zu "Coriolan" von Shakespeare,
XVII, 1252-53) make it clear that he is talking about the intellec-
tual perception of a aituation, not about the Aristotelian tragic
effect. The spectator is to understand why Hamlet and Coriolanus
act as they do, not feel fear and pity.
8 "Learning play" is Brecht's own translation of Lehrstiick. See
Reiner Steinweg, Bertolt Brecht, Die MaBnahme, Kritische Ausgabe
mit einer Spielanleitung (Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1972),
p. 283.
7 According to Manfred Wekwerth, when Brecht was asked in 1956
to name a play which he held to be the form of the theater of the

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578 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

future, he replied "Die MaBnahme." See Steinwe

p. 265.
8 Reiner Steinweg, who sees in the Lehrstiick the socialist theater
of the future, maintains in Die MaBnahme, p. 476 and Das Lehr-
stiick, Brechts Theorie einer politisch-aisthetischen Erziehung (Stutt-
gart: J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1972), p. 87, that the
Lehr8ticke were primarily meant to be performed as exercises for
the participants, not to teach an audience. This only confirms that
Brecht meant what he said in his note of 1956 concerning the
Lehrstiicke: "Diese Bezeichnung gilt nur fiir Stiicke, die fiir die
Darstellenden lehrhaft sind. Sie bena6tigen so kein Publikum"
(XVII, 1035). The note plainly says that audiences are not required
but just as plainly does not exclude them. In regard to Die
MaBnahme, there can be no doubt that Brecht had public perfor-
mances in mind when he wrote the play. The questionnaire which
he passed out at the premiere asks specifically, "Glauben Sie, da13
eine solche Veranstaltung politischen Lehrwert fiir den Zuschauer
hat?" (XVII, 1034).
9 Lenin, Rede auf dem 3. allrussischen KongreB des kommunisti8chen
Jugendverbandes am 2. Oktober 1920, quoted from Steinweg, Die
MaBnahme, p. 302.
10 It should perhaps be mentioned here that the first performance of
Die MaBnahme was anything but simple. This performance, termed
by Brecht in the program, "mehr eine Art Ausstellung," (Steinweg,
Die MaBnahme, p. 237), took place in the Philharmonie and in-
volved three proletarian choruses and a wind orchestra. The Agi-
tators were played by a professional singer and three professional
actors (Steinweg, Die MaBnahme, p. 323). In the program notes,
Brecht goes on to say, "Aber dieser Part [der Spieler] kann
nattirlich in ganz einfacher und primitiver Weise ausgefiihrt wer-
den, und gerade das ist sein Hauptzweck," (Steinweg, Die
MaBnahme, p. 237). Given the existence of large proletarian
choruses, their involvement in the play increased its pedagogic
effect, but they are not necessary to perform the play. I have seen
it adequately done with four unskilled actors, a "chorus" of four,
and a piano.
11 Some idea of the audience reaction is given by the discussion of
the play which was held a week after the premiere. Steinweg, Die
MaBnahme, pp. 341, 398-99, gives contemporary accounts of this
discussion. Among the reviewers, only those with a non-political,
"esthetic" attitude completely accepted the play, and they described
it in the kind of language generally used for tragedies. See spe-
cifically Steinweg, pp. 324, 326, 330, 362.
The various versions of the crucial sixth scene, "Der Verrat,"
give an excellent sample of the kind of changes Brecht made and
the problems that resulted. In the version of the scene in the 1930
Versuche text of the play (entitled there "Empirung gegen die
Lehre," Steinweg, pp. 55-59), there is little to choose between the

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 "LEARNING PLAY" DIE MASSNAHME 579

arguments of the Agitators and the Young Comra

thority of the Agitators rests solely on party discip
with objections, and in the 1931 Versuche text of th
weg, pp. 86-90), the Agitators give an extended analysis of the
situation. Only after this analysis fails to persuade the Young
Comrade do they attempt to impose Party discipline. In this ver-
sion of the scene, the Agitators clearly have the rational argu-
ments on their side, but rationality alone cannot overcome the
moral and emotional weight of the Young Comrade's reaction.
Brecht made another attempt to solve the problem when he re-
vised the play for the 1938 Malik edition of his works by making
the "leader of the unemployed" who comes to the Young Comrade
an agent provocateur. The Agitators know who he is and know that
his plan to storm City Hall is a trap. When they tell this to the
Young Comrade, he still refuses to accept Party discipline and
must therefore be struck down (Steinweg, pp. 124-30). This change
makes it difficult to regard the Young Comrade as anything but a
fool, and does therefore doubtless reduce the play's tragic effect,
but by trivializing the crisis of the play it also damages it both
esthetically and pedagogically. At the end of his life, Brecht was
apparently still wavering between the esthetically interesting but
dangerous 1931 version of the scene and the safe but ineffective
1937-38 version of the scene. When he was asked which version
he wanted printed in the Stiicke, he said the 1931 version, but as
he was leafing through the finished volume he remarked that it
might be better to use the 1937-38 version in subsequent editions.
For this reason, Elisabeth Hauptmann returned to the 1937-38
version in the Gesammelte Werke (Steinweg, p. 271). It must also
have been the play's tragic effect which led Brecht to write in 1956:
"Die MaBnahme ist nicht fiir Zuschauer geschrieben worden, sondern
fiir die Belehrung der Auffiihrenden. Auffiihrungen vor Publikum
rufen erfahrungsgem~*i nichts als moralische Affekte fiir gewshnlich
minderer Art beim Publikum hervor" (Steinweg, p. 258).
The seminal article in scholarly discussion of Die MaBnahme
is Reinhold Grimm's "Ideologische Tragidie und Trag6die der
Ideologie, Versuch iber ein Lehrstiick von Brecht," ZDP, 78
(1959), 394-424. Sokel, too, declares in "Brecht's Split Characters"
that Die MaBnahme is "the one classic tragedy of Communism
which world literature possesses," p. 133). For challenges to the
tragic interpretations of the play, see Reiner Steinweg,

"Brechts
tive, 14, No.'Die Malnahme'--tbungstext,
78/79 (1971), 133-43, and Rolf Tarot, nicht Trag6die,"
"Ideologie und Alterna-
Drama, zur Typologie der untragischen Dramatik in Deutschland,"
in Typologia Litterarum, Festschrift fiir Max Wehrli (ZUrich and
Freiburg i.Br.: Atlantis-Verlag, 1969), pp. 351-66.
12 The moral situation of the Agitators is described in the song
"Andere die Welt: sie braucht es" (I, 651-52). The 1930 version of

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580 THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

the song makes the point most drastically:

Wer bist du?
Stinkend verschwinde aus
Dem gesiiuberten Raum! Wairest du
Doch der letzte Schmutz, den du
Entfernen muf3t! (Steinweg, Die MaBna~hme, p. 55)
13 Hegel, Aesthetik, ed. Fr. Bassenge (Stuttgart, Frankfurt/M:
Europiische Verlagsanstalt, 2nd printing, n.d.), II, 568 (quoted
from the discussion of the Greek tragedy in the section "Die
konkrete Entwicklung der dramatischen Poesie und ihrer Arten").
14 As Reinhold Grimm points out, the fact that there will be no such
tragic dilemmas in the future doesn't help the Young Comrade in
his attempts to deal with the one he is actually experiencing
(Grimm, Tragodie der Ideologie, 409).
15 See Schiller and Goethe's essay, "tUber epische und dramatische
Dichtung," Goethe, Werke, Hamburger Ausgabe (Hamburg:
Christian Wegner Verlag, 5th printing, 1963), XII, 249-51. A good
practical example of a retardierendes Motiv is the fourth act of
Maria Stuart.
18 Brecht himself criticizes the bourgeois theater for reducin
exactness with which it portrayed situations and characters in
order to increase identification, but apparently didn't see in 1930
that the extreme schematization of the Lehrstiicke could have the
same effect. See for example Das kleine Organon, Nos. 12-13, VII,
666-67.
17 Because of his own recent conversion to Marxism, Brecht is par-
ticularly concerned in 1929-31 with the transition from "uncon-
scious" to "conscious" goodness or from moral to revolutionary
activity. Both Johanna Dark and the Young Comrade die trying
to make the transition. Pelegea Wlassowa in Die Mutter succeeds,
partly because of her situation and perhaps partly because she is
guided by her concrete love for her son rather than by an ab-
stract love of justice and humanity.
18 For a similar analysis, see Sokel, pp. 128-33.

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