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Masses and Man, a Fragment of the Social Revolution of the Twentieth Century
Paperback
General World HistoryPlaysSocial Movements
ISBN13: 9781025825052
Publisher: Tradd Street Press
Published: Feb 14 2026
Pages: 74
Weight: 0.26
Height: 0.15 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Masses and Man is a powerful expressionist play that explores the turbulent social and political upheavals of the early twentieth century. Written by Ernst Toller during his imprisonment following the Bavarian Soviet Republic uprising, this work serves as a profound meditation on the conflict between individual conscience and the collective will of the revolutionary masses.
The narrative follows a woman from the upper class who aligns herself with the workers' movement, only to find herself caught between her humanitarian ideals and the violent demands of the proletariat she seeks to liberate. Through a series of stark, dreamlike scenes-alternating between reality and dream pictures-Toller examines the moral dilemmas inherent in armed struggle, the dehumanizing effects of industrialization, and the tragic consequences of state-sanctioned violence.
As a seminal work of German Expressionist theater, Masses and Man is renowned for its rhythmic prose and its raw exploration of the soul's struggle within a mechanistic world. It remains a significant historical and literary document of the radical social shifts following the First World War, offering a timeless critique of the tension between ideological purity and human compassion.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you may see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
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