Ernst Toller's Ideological Skepticism

Abstract

OF ALL the successful and widely-translated German dramatists of the period between the wars Ernst Toller was probably the most misunderstood. His enemies of the left considered him a counterrevolutionary, while those of the right branded him a Communist. Some critics called him a pessimist, others saw optimism beneath the gloomy atmosphere of his plays. The main difficulty has been that his work as a whole, viewed against the changing aspects of his life and times, lacked ideological interpretation. This has been attempted in an unpublished monograph' by the writer of these lines. The following paragraphs constitute a brief summary. With two minor exceptions every play by Toller has autobiographical and ideological significance. The very first one, Die Wandlung, reflects several stages of his youth and young manhood: his break with Jewish traditions and his desire to be fully accepted as a German citizen; the intense Wilhelminian patriotism under the influence of which he became a brave soldier; his pacifistic reaction to all the physical and moral horrors incidental to modern warfare; and finally his expressionistic, ecstatic vision of a spiritually-reborn, self-redeemed humanity. Then came the world-famous Masse-Mensch, a creative condensation of those political experiences which resulted in Toller's long period of fortress imprisonment. Here began the process of brave disillusionment which steadfastly said no to temptations of weary pessimism and hopeless resignation. Critical at every step of his career, he questioned the more important tenets of Marxist doctrine, although he continued to call himself a socialist for many years. Mensch was to him a spiritual concept which the materialistic social ideology did not seem to recognize. A feeling of honesty prompted him to renounce all party allegiance but he went on writing and speaking on behalf of the socialist cause. In principle he was opposed to all forms of revolutionary violence. In the early nineteen-thirties he still wrote socialist