Die Mutter

/ The Mother

Die Mutter. Leben der Revolutionärin Pelagea Wlassowa aus Twer (1932)

The Mother. Life of the Revolutionary Pelagea Vlasova from Tver

Co-authors: Slatan Dudow, Hanns Eisler, Elisabeth Hauptmann, Günther Weisenborn

The Mother is arguably Brecht’s most political play. It is about political activism in a context of violent political repression.

The context in this case is Tsarist Russia in 1905. Brecht’s play is an adaptation of a Russian novel, Mother, written by Maxim Gorky in 1906 in response to the failed Russian Revolution of 1905. A Soviet film of the novel was made in 1926. In Berlin, Günther Weisenborn and Günther Stark adapted it for the stage. They approached Brecht and he soon took over the project.

The Mother premièred on 17 January 1932 at the Komödienhaus am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin. It was directed by Emil Burri and the scenic design was by Caspar Neher. Helene Weigel played the Mother and Ernst Busch played Pavel.

Years later, Brecht directed the play with the Berliner Ensemble in Berlin. The production opened on 15 January 1951, the anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg’s death. For a detailed history of stage productions, see Laura Bradley, Brecht and Political Theatre: The Mother on Stage (Oxford University Press, 2006).

The main theme of the play is political activism – in particular, making the workers realise that they are being exploited by the capitalists - in other words, explaining the class struggle (Klassenkampf).

The main protagonist, Pelagea Wlassowa / Vlasova, is an illiterate working-class woman who becomes a determined and effective political activist. She learns to build solidarity between different social classes, including factory workers, peasants, agricultural workers, soldiers and teachers.

In scene 1, people are starving and the situation is getting worse. Is there any way out (Ausweg)?

In scene 2, the police search the apartment looking for evidence of political activism.

In scene 3, Pelagea Wlassowa (Vlasova) smuggles political leaflets into the factory and distributes them. The workers sing ‘Lied vom Flicken und vom Rock’ (‘Song of the Patches and the Coat’) - the music was composed by Hanns Eisler.

In scene 4, she gets a lesson about exploitation.

Scene 5 is about the May Day demonstration in 1905.

Scene 6 is about political education, as Pelagea Wlassowa (Vlasova) educates the teacher, Nikolai Iwanowitch. She describes her ideal political activist:

Wo immer geschwiegen wird

Dort wird er sprechen

Und wo Unterdrückung herrscht und von Schicksal die Rede ist

Wird er die Namen nennen.

Where no one has raised a voice

You’ll find him speaking

And where there is oppression and people talk of ‘fate’

He will name names.

(translation by John Willett, modified by E.S.)

In scene 7, Pelagea Vlasova visits her son Pavel in prison.

In scene 8, Pelagea Vlasova tries to win some peasants over to the movement.

In scene 9, Pelagea Vlasova gets a visit from her son Pavel.

In scene 10, Pelagea Vlasova is visited by her the Bible-bashing landlady who starts preaching to her. This scene contains a critique of religion’s role in supporting the political status quo. Pelagea Vlasova speaks two of her most memorable lines:

‘Sie brauchen nicht mehr zu Gott zu beten, wenn die Gewitter am Himmel stehen, aber Sie müssen versichert sein.’ (Brecht, Die Mutter, Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, p. 64)

‘You don’t need to pray to God any more when there are storms in the sky, but you do have to be insured.’

‘Fürchtet doch nicht so den Tod und mehr das unzulängliche Leben!’ (p. 66)

‘Don’t be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.’

In scene 11, after many years of political reaction and repression, Pelagea hears that World War One has just broken out.

The end of scene 12 sums up the message of the play when Pelagea screams at her fellow workers:

‘bedenkt, daß die ganze Welt in einer ungeheuren Finsternis lebt, und ihr allein wart es bisjetzt, die noch für die Vernunft erreichbar waren. Bedenkt, wenn ihr versagt!’ (p. 71)

‘remember that the whole world is covered by an immense darkness, and up to now you have been the only people who could be reached by reason. Think what it will mean if you give up!’

(translation by John Willett).

Scene 13 is set in 1916 and contains a critique of militarism/World War One.

Scene 14 concludes with a street demonstration of striking workers in that historic year, 1917.

English Translation

Bertolt Brecht, Collected Plays, volume 3: Lindbergh’s Flight; The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent; He Said Yes/He Said No; The Decision; The Mother; The Exception & the Rule; The Horatians & the Curiatians; St Joan of the Stockyards, ed. and translated by John Willett (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama)