The works of Bertolt Brecht? Especially The Decision.....

[RadioRaheem84]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decision_(play)

Fascinated by this play and the subsequent turmoil in its wake. It seems like it cost Brecht a trip to the HUAC chair.

What do most leftists think of this play? Is it really totalitarian apologizing?

[Delenda Carthago]

Brecht is a genious. I love him.

[RadioRaheem84]

I think I should post this in learning because it deals more with just the play.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Is it really totalitarian apologizing?

Based on that plot synopsis, I'd say it has more to do with the theme of "martyrdom", more than anything else...some dude realized he screwed up and jeopardized the movement so he hurled himself into a lime pit, the End.

[RadioRaheem84]

Based on that plot synopsis, I'd say it has more to do with the theme of "martyrdom", more than anything else...some dude realized he screwed up and jeopardized the movement so he hurled himself into a lime pit, the End.

It's more than that. Do not the men accompanying the comrade help him kill himself?

The point is their decision to kill the comrade in the first place and how the mission is more important than the individual. That's what has created the controversy over it being a totalitarian apologizing play.

[Os Cangaceiros]

It's more than that. Do not the men accompanying the comrade help him kill himself?

They did accompany him, but not to coerce him to do the act. It was a unanimous decision in terms of what was to be done. Seems pretty clear from his testimony...

[Jimmie Higgins]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decision_(play)

Fascinated by this play and the subsequent turmoil in its wake. It seems like it cost Brecht a trip to the HUAC chair.

What do most leftists think of this play? Is it really totalitarian apologizing?I haven't seen this play, but I think that's an interesting general question about Brecht.

Explicitly, or at least publically, he was totally in support of the East German government though he was openly critical at points and also had some conflicts in dealing with some government officials or agencies. I've read arguments that he was privitely much more critical and while there is some evidence of this, I think it's largely irrelevant or wishful thinking from non-ML revolutionary admirerers of his.

He wrote a poem that was "to the future" or something like that and it was esentally a poetic apology for 20th centrury communism that tried to explain that "they tried their best" under difficult circumstances and the future should judge them by the attempt, not the discrepancy between the goals and the paractice. It was an interesting poem to read as a "revolutionary of the future" but I think it also does show that while recognizing that the USSR-block countries wasn't the society that people had fought for, it was a better alternative than fascism or western capitalism - basic apologism, but beautifully written and heartfelt.

[RadioRaheem84]

Based on that plot synopsis, I'd say it has more to do with the theme of "martyrdom", more than anything else...some dude realized he screwed up and jeopardized the movement so he hurled himself into a lime pit, the End.

Well the point is thr decision that spring up that becomes the moral dilemma of the play. Should they sacrifice the comrade? Is the cause greater than the individual?