The Days of the Commune

by Bertolt Brecht, Clive Barker (Translator), Arno Reinfrank (Translator)

Das Stück zeigt den Aufstieg und Fall der kleinen Familie Cabet aus dem Arbeiterviertel in den dreiundsiebzig Tagen der Pariser Commune zwischen März und Mai 1871. Die Fabel konzentriert sich auf die Familie. Im Gegensatz zur bürgerlichen Tragödie, in der das Volk gerade gut genug war, die historischen Ereignisse zu ermöglichen, werden hier die historischen Ereignisse den Bedürfnissen des Volkes unterworfen: die kleinen Anliegen der Cabets werden der politischen Öffentlichkeit nicht mehr geopfert; sie sind es gerade, die diese Öffentlichkeit voll und ganz beanspruchen. Der Aufstand scheiterte, nicht weil ihm die Kraft fehlte, sondern die Organisation dieser Kraft.

Genres: Plays, German Literature, Theatre, Fiction, Drama, Germany

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.

From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."

As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."

There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.

During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.

Reviews

[flo🌀 · Rating 4 out of 5]

„In Erwägung unsrer Schwäche machtet
Ihr Gesetze, die uns knechten solln.
Die Gesetze seien künftig nicht beachtet
In Erwägung, daß wir nicht mehr Knecht sein wolln.“

[Rosaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

في عمر الكومونة القصير جداً حاول قادتها بناء مجتمع جمهوري جديد يقوم على الفدرالية بين المقاطعات يعتمد على انتخاب المسؤولين والموظفين. يوفر الحرية الشخصية وحرية العمل وإشراك المواطنين مباشرة في إدارة الكومونة، وانتخاب قادة الحرس الوطني. فقد جاء في بيان الكومونة ما يأتي: «رسالتنا تتمثل في إتمام الثورة العصرية الأكثر اتساعاً والأكثر إثماراً من كل الثورات التي أنارت تاريخ البشرية»
يصعب في الواقع حصر كل الاهتمامات الاجتماعية والديمقراطية التي دافعت عنها الكومونة، ولكن من المؤكد أن الكومونة على قصر عمرها كانت نقطة بارزة في تاريخ نضال الطبقة العاملة والفئات الشعبية المسحوقة؛ مما قد يكون في رأي بعضهم السبب في المعاملة الوحشية التي عاملت بها البورجوازية الفرنسية قادة الكومونة ومن سار في ركابهم. حتى إن كتب التاريخ تضمنت كثيراً من أوصاف هذه الوحشية مثل: تحول نهر السين إلى نهر من الدماء، وظهور مقابر جماعية، والتعذيب حتى الموت

[وائل المنعم · Rating 1 out of 5]

المسرحية محملة بعبء كبير من الخطابات والافكار السياسية التي طغت على الجانب الأدبي - الحوار وبناء الشخصيات والحيكة - لذا فقدت المسرحية قدرتها على اثارة القارئ او وتشجعيه على استكمالها.

[Reyhaneh]

روز های کمون
نویسنده : برتولت برشت
مترجم : ف.ک کاووس

روزهای کمون ظهور و سقوط کمون پاریس در هفتاد و سه روز بین مارس و می 1871 را به تصویر می کشد. این نمایشنامه اقتباسی از نمایشنامه شکست اثر نوردال گریگ شاعر و نمایشنامه نویس نروژی است.
روزهای کمون از حد پرداختن به قهرمانان فردی فراتر رفته و بر خود رخداد کمون پاریس متمرکز شده است. صحنه‌های نمایشنامه زندگی مردم عادی (در کافه‌ای در مون‌مارتر)، کمیته‌ مرکزی کمون و اتاق‌های اداری دشمنان کمون (تیر و بیسمارک) را در بر می‌گیرد؛ دشمنانی که فروپاشی نهایی کمون را مهندسی می‌کنند.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

in akharin ketabie ke az brecht ,2 saal pish khoondam.nemidoonam motevajjehe manzooram msihin ya an.ye nevisandehayi ahstan ke vaghti adam avalin bar bahashoon ashna mishe,engar bargh migiratesh.brecht baraye man injoor bood.hich. namayeshname nevisi injoor room asar nazashte....

[Ehsan · Rating 4 out of 5]

و کمونارها بر عرش یورش می‌بردند.

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if one of Brecht’s great attributes, his clarity, is also a limitation. I hadn’t really heard of The Days of the Commune and it isn’t one of Brecht’s major works, but it is an interesting one. Written in the late 1940s as a response to Nordahl Grieg’s The Defeat (not a play or writer I know), it wasn’t staged until after Brecht’s death. A narrative of the Paris Commune of 1871, it is a political play with explicit sympathies – if you think the Commune was a moment of working class barbarism then this will not be the play for you. But being explicit in its sympathies does not mean The Days of the Commune is simplistic. But there is always the question with politically engaged fiction: how to have a clear political purpose without being narrow or bullying or self-righteous? Is it possible not to just preach to the converted and make them self satisfied for being on the right side. I don’t think The Days of the Commune fully manages to evade these temptations, but it’s an interesting attempt at a serious political theatre. There is a large cast and a broad range of characters: there are scenes in the Paris streets with the Communards, in the Hotel de Ville with the Deputies and a couple of scenes outside Paris with Thiers or Bismarck. There isn’t a central character, but Langevin has a privileged position, being both a worker and a delegate to the Commune: we see him as part of the community in the streets and as a Deputy. The play takes it for granted that we are behind the Commune, but the Commune is not a united force: much of the drama in the work is around the conflict of views on the streets and within the Hotel de Ville. The Days of the Commune is not a work of realism, at least in as far as the characters are not ‘rounded’ and don’t develop; it is also not a melodrama, the characters don’t have symbolic functions - the play is built around discussion and political argument: there are differences of opinion and the arguments develop. The central question is whether the revolution should be carried out more rigorously, whether they should march on Versailles to confront Thiers' forces when they have the advantage and whether they should suppress their internal enemies. This is argued both on the streets and in the Assembly. There are differences of opinion, but the play, of course, has a ‘correct’ answer to the question: we see the Commune fail because they lose advantage and vacillate. It is not difficult to find the ‘moral’ of the play: the Revolution must use all the means necessary for success. Brecht builds his dramatic argument with great skill, the arguments building within each scene: such is the genius of his clarity, but finally we are bullied to agree. Brecht demands we follow the arguments of his play, not look out to the world around us. This is a clarity which leaves no room for disagreement. And we can wonder about the audience who watched the play in early 1960s East Berlin: the argument of the play would be in agreement with Party and State. Or we can wonder about the audience who watched the production of Clive Barker and Arno Reinfrank’s translation in 1970s London: this could have been a more open experience, but the audience would have had to place themselves in opposition to Brecht to experience a more open text...although this might have led them back to agree with Brecht.

[Ⰰⱃⰿⰰⱀⰴ Ⱆⰾⰴⰵⱃⰻⰽⱁ Ⱅⰵⱄⰾⰰ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Centar za kulturnu djelatnost
Zagreb, 1981.
Preveo Zvonimir Mrkonjić
Izdanje je naslovljeno "Dramski tekstovi 1".
Pohvalio bih sjajni minimalistički dizajn u vidu boje i same grafije naslovnice.
Jezik je dinamičan, koncentriran na ono što bi sovjetski formalisti nazvali skazom, afektan i životan. U biti nositelj jezika su sami dijalozi. Sve navedeno je pozitivno. Meni se u vezi konstrukcije teksta, pa i djela, nisu svidjele zgusnute i precizno određene didaskalije. Zgusnutost i sitničavost didaskalija podsjeća na prozni opis, a navedeno nije ni svjesni ni nesvjesni odraz manirizma jer ne posjeduje kreativnost manirističkog isprepletanja književnih rodova i vrsta, niti je Brecht to želio ostvariti. Ono što ovime želim reći jest to da kada se čita ova drama dobiva se dojam kao da čitate roman. Ja volim takva maniristička tkanja, no ovo nije bilo svjesno tkanje, prije svega ovo je brechtovska drama namijenjena izvođenju, te je loše odrađena jer je bitna samo politička poruka. Nema individualizacije likova, niti prave igre jezika. Samo izvanumjetnička poruka.
Zgusnutost i sitničavost didaskalija je, također, odraz društvene funkcije ove drame, što ju umjetnički srozava. Brecht ne ostavlja slobodan prostor drugim redateljima da nešto izmijene, bitna je samo društvena kritika. Kako dosadno. Nietzsche nije volio Euripida jer se Euripid odvojio od mitskog u tragediji. Euripidovo stvaranje konkretnih likova, njegova "sekularizacija tragedije" (moj izraz, ha!), odnosno kako bi Nietzsche rekao, Euripidovo stvaranje estetskog sokratizma bi savršeno odgovaralo opisu ove , a vjerojatno i svake, Brechtove drame. Što je "sekularizacija tragedije"? Što je estetski sokratizam? To je u biti promoviranje nužne društvene, utilitarne, uloge umjetnosti. Euripid i Sokrat, po Nietzscheu, su se nadopunjavali u tome da ljude treba obrazovati. Umjetnost treba biti odgojna jer je znanje put prema moralu. Sva izlizana sokratovština danas bivstvuje putem ludila social justice warriorsa i političke korektnosti. Brecht, kao i Euripid i Sokrat, želi također odgojnu, utilitarnu ulogu umjetnosti. A, Nietzsche je lijepo rekao kako bez mita nema umjetnosti. Ili bar bez larpurlartizma nema umjetnosti (ovo ja kažem). Pogledajte samo, šišmiši moji, Matoševe bezvezne realističarske novele, a pogledajte njegove larpurlartističke bizarne novele, "Camao" prije svega. Umjetnost ne može biti ostvarena, a da posjeduje političku poruku ili neku svjesnu društvenu poruku. Dos Passos je jedina iznimka kojeg se sad mogu sjetiti. A, evo još jedne; Majakovski. No, Brecht zasigurno ne stvara umjetnost. Komunistička propaganda para zadnje pore umjetničkog. Ali bar nije feministička ili rasistička propaganda.
No, svejedno mi je bilo drago pročitati ovu dramu. Da sam ju pročitao u prvom srednje bila bi mi genijalna. Život je odavno razvodnio sve moguće ideale ili djetinasta stremljenja da se svijet promijeni.
U vezi samog povijesnog događaja; samo budale ginu za ideale.
Hvala Zvonimiru Mrkonjiću što je iznjedrio jedini prijevod ove drame na našem jeziku. Za sve one koji vole spregu umjetnosti i politike evo jedna grupa koja je jedina postala bolja od grupe Clash; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSGO8....
Hasta luego!

[Alessandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

RISOLUZIONE

I.
Avete vista
la nostra debolezza e avete fatto
leggi che ci potessero asservire.
Noi
non vogliamo restare ancora schiavi:
nessuno più obbedisca, in avvenire.
Visti
i fucili e i cannoni minacciosi
oggi abbiamo deciso di reagire:
[...]

2.
Avete visto
che ci teniamo in corpo anche la fame
e tolleriamo i furti che ci fate.
Noi
oggi abbiamo deciso di spezzare
le vetrine che stanno fra noi e il pane.
[...]

3.
Abbiamo visto
le case che si possono abitare
mentre noi stiamo in dieci in un canile.
Oggi
siamo tutti decisi: traslochiamo,
siamo stufi di tane e di covili.
[...]

4.
Abbiamo visto
che c'è molto carbone da spartire
mentre noi stiamo al freddo più inumano.
Oggi
siamo tutti decisi: lo prendiamo
e staremo ben caldi, in avvenire.
[...]

5.
Abbiamo visto
che non ci date retta, se chiediamo
di aumentarci la paga, per campare.
Oggi
siamo tutti decisi: vi togliamo
le fabbriche che noi facciamo andare.
[...]

6.
Abbiamo visto
che del governo ci si può fidare
come si fida in un bugiardo nato.
Oggi
siamo tutti decisi: governiamo
da soli, se vogliamo migliorare.
Abbiamo visto
che ascoltate la voce del cannone:
un'altra lingua, voi non la capite.
E allora non ci resta -
a male estremo, estrema soluzione -
che puntarvi il cannone sulla testa.

[Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η απάντηση στο ερώτημα "γιατί απέτυχε η Παρισινή Κομμούνα;" υπάρχει και δεν είναι δύσκολο να τη βρει κανείς - αυτό είναι το βασικό συμπέρασμα στο οποίο με οδήγησε η ανάγνωση αυτού του θεατρικού.
Είναι, άλλωστε, δύσκολο να μην βγάλει κανείς το ίδιο συμπέρασμα διαβάζωντας τον διάλογο του διοικητή της Τραπέζης της Γαλλίας Ντε Πλοέκ με τον χοντρό αρχιεπίσκοπο, στο τέλος του οποίου ο διοικητής αποτίνεται πως η κατάκτηση της Τραπέζης της Γαλλίας από τους επαναστάτες θα σήμανε την οριστική ήττα των Βερσαλιών. Ή διαβάζοντας τα λόγια του Ζαν, του ένθερμου υποστηρικτή της Κομμούνας, όταν ανήμπορος να σταματήσει τους εθνοφρουρούς από το να μεταφέρουν τα κιβώτια γεμάτα χρήμα από το Παρίσι στις Βερσαλίες, τα ίδια χρήματα που αργότερα εξαγόρασαν την συνεργασία του Βίσμαρκ για την εξόντωση της Κομμούνας, φωνάζει πως η Κομμούνα "το 'χει χάσει το παιχνίδι". Μεταξύ άλλων, το κείμενο φωνάζει στον αναγνώστη/θεατή, πως η Τράπεζα που δεν κατακτήθηκε κατέκτησε.

Η απάντηση λοιπόν δίνεται, άσχετα από το τι μπορεί να πιστεύει ο κύριος Δρομάζος (αν είναι δικός του ο πρόλογος της ελληνικής έκδοσης του έργου δηλαδή) και με αυτήν ο Μπρεχτ αποδεικνύει, άλλη μία φορά, πόσο βαθειά και εμπεριστατωμένη είναι η κατανόηση του για το Ευρωπαϊκό επαναστικό κίνημα.

[Legens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raw in its description of a failing revolution. The play maybe doesn't give the best answers, but it poses the right questions: How much organization, elitism, and professionalism does a popular movement need - and how much will take its soul away? If the state has been seized, can it be used for different goals than before - or does the law of the instrument apply?
Beyond that, the grim naturalism captures the spirit of enthusiastic people who know they do not have a lot of time perfectly. And the Resolution of the Communards is an excellent poem/song.

[Niloufar Mazinani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this book has a heartbreaking ending just like the way it happened in the French history, the terrors and bloody encounters between the poor and the military, Brecht implies that a failed revolution is not the end but a beginning for future movements and that people must learn the lessons from the past; crucial lessons such as collective responsibility, unity, cooperation, management and hope.

[Shayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

برای هنرمندی چون برشت سیاست عین هنر، و هنر عین سیاست است. نگاه هنرمندانه، و نقادانه برشت به امر سیاسی باعث خلق چنین شاهکاری می‌شود. اثری که تنها یک نمایشنامه ساده نیست؛ یک واقعه‌نگاری منحصر به فرد هم هست، و شاید حتی یک مقاله تحلیلی درباره‌ی ظهور و افول کمون‌پاریس هم نتواند حرفی بیشتر از برشت بزند.

[Aislinn Evans]

not as exciting as peter watkins' film. need to see a staging of it to get a good impression

[Katerina Pavlakou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7✨

[✿⁠ · Rating 4 out of 5]

«تصمیم گرفته‌ایم از این پس از زندگی بد، بیشتر بترسیم تا از مرگ.»
درامی از ظهور تا افول کمون پاریس 1871.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Days of the Commune. It dramatises the rise and fall of the Paris Commune in 1871. The play is an adaptation of the 1937 play The Defeat by the Norwegian poet and dramatist Nordahl Grieg.

[Andy]

There are some reasons why this isn't one of Brecht's better-known dramas.