We began with Marx. Chris led the discussion with contributions from Stephen. One aspect that was mentioned was that Marx based his analysis of the dialectical issue of human history on Hegel's work (which we haven't read); and that communism and a revolution by the proletariat will eliminate this constant conflict between something and its antithesis because the proletariat includes everyone and will not have an antithetical entity. Marx would go on to define a dialectic that was different from Hegel's, Marx even referred to his dialectic as the opposite of Hegel's. This dialectic became defined as 'dialectical materialism' or the primacy of the material way of life over all forms of social consciousness.
Marx felt that all inequality was due to property ownership, which was also the control of the means of production. At the time that he was envisioning a workers' revolution, his worker's paradise, Marx did not contemplate power issues occurring in a communist system, issues such as we have seen in countries such as China and Russia and to some lesser degree Cuba, in the century following the publication of the Manifesto.
Marx and Engels went back to try and look into the origins of class structure and see whether in other societies such as aboriginal societies, tribal societies etc they functioned differently from 'civilized' societies. They concluded that the problems stemmed from ownership of property (which became ownership of the means of production especially during the industrial revolution).
Chris showed us a brief video of an early Soviet 'cartoon' which would have been shown in various villages after the revolution, to try and convince the peasants of the value of collectivization. In jerky animation it showed the evils of capitalism and the benefits of working together for the good of all. It reminded me of the old posters we would still see which had been popular in the 1920s - 1940s.
These posters would show strong austere workers working hard or with fists upraised in support of the revolution.
I remember seeing idealistic students, decorating their university dorm rooms with these old posters from Russia.
I don't remember seeing many from China but they have the same flavour:
Even western posters had the same look at the time.
When I see images from North Korea today I see the exact same style and imagery: urban scenes in the background (man's achievements) and in the foreground men and women lined up at attention in 'heroic' poses.
ANTIGONE
Bertold Brecht 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956
Brecht wrote this play just after the end of the second World War, in 1947/1948. Brecht had spent the war outside of Germany, moving around the Scandinavian countries and then to the USA until he was blacklisted and called to appear before the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee). He then returned to Europe, to Switzerland where he lived until moving to East Germany after the war.
The discussion of Brecht's play Antigone was interesting. Jonas led the discussion which I always find interesting since when he is not leading the discussion he tends to be very quiet in class. He had sent us out a list of questions, I've attached a few of them and our discussion here:
1. Who is the real hero of the play, Kreon or Antigone?
Kreon was a dynamic character, & Antigone was more static. Antigone is more heroic here. I felt Kreon was more static in this version than in Sophocles whereas Antigone seemed more heroic here compared to Sophocles' version where she just seems to have a martyr-complex and to value her dead, flawed brother above her live, vulnerable sister. Creon in the Sophocles version was more appealing to me - when he was at his most rigid I could still understand why he was the way he was.
2. Given that the play opens in post-war Germany, are we to view Kreon as Hitler? Was Argos the Soviet Union that bounced back from a Nazi invasion to utterly shatter Germany?
We didn't discuss this much but I saw a lot of WWII symbolism in the play.
3. After reading the Communist Manifesto, do you see Kreon as a Bourgeois imperialist and autocrat? Do you see Antigone and Hamon as rebellious Proletarians?
There is a hint of this when Kreon refers to Hamon as being Antigone's "comrade" (p 43). Hamon retorts, "Not only hers, but of all that's just, wherever I see it." It was very interesting to read this at the same time as Marx. There is so much from the manifesto that even if not directly referenced, obviously influenced the thinking of the following century.
4. Brecht changes the Ode from Love to a Bacchanalian orgy. As Antigone was preparing for her death, the city was literally in the throes of a drunken hedonistic orgy. Why did Brecht do this?
We discussed how this is likely to show that people continue on with their lives despite horrors. We have an enormous capacity to "move on" from things, to tolerate, adjust, forget, forgive.
Again, we could have taken up the entire time available just to discuss any one of these. The influence of Marx and the rejection of prussianism and naziism were very apparent in this play, though unlike Anouillh, Brecht did not spend the war in either Germany or an occupied country. I find it somehow reassuring that artists return to old stories to try and say something about the world they live in. I don't know why this seems different than the endless plundering of previous movies that Hollywood does - maybe because when Hollywood remakes a movie they don't seem to bring anything new to the works, nor to have anything much to say.
