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Intellectuals and Class StruggleAuthor(s): Bertolt Brecht and David BathrickSource: New German Critique, No. 1 (Winter, 1973), pp. 19-21Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/487627Accessed: 05/07/2010 03:55

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Intellectuals and Class Struggle*

by Bertolt BrechtIntellectuals and Class Struggle appears untitled among a number of

fragments, notes, and shorter essays published by Werner Hecht in thecollected works (Gesammelte Werke, XX, 51-3) as Brecht's MarxistStudies. In some cases they represent the prolegomena to later works. Inother instances they are dialectical finger exercises in which Brecht isplaying critically and self-critically with ideas and possibilities. Thefollowing piece was probably written shortly after he began his study ofMarx in 1926 and is one

ofa number of these

earlyshort

essaysin which he

explores the role of intellectuals in making the revolution. The notion of thecommodity character of intellect clearly anticipates his own later work TheThree Penny Trial (1931) as well as Walter Benjamin's The Author asProducer. In 1934, Benjamin quoted Brecht's comment on writers of theupper bourgeoisie, among whom Benjamin numbered himself: For such awriter, there definitely exists a point of solidarity with the interests of theproletariat: it is the point at which he can develop his own means ofproduction.

-D.B.

German intellectuals are in a difficult situation.Although the war was a total failure (not through any fault of their own),

they are being attacked by people who placed their power in the service of ahopeless enterprise. We ought not to forget that to have lost this war in noway means not to have profited from it financially. It was precisely inwartime that the commodity character of the intellect revealed itselfunfavorably. On the other hand, the behavior of German intellectualsproved that when their feelings are involved in something, they are able toplace their own ideas at the service of the cause, or even the ideas ofothers-for example, of dead intellectuals; and if greater effort is needed,then they will serve the cause for just a modest increase in pay. They gaveample proof that ideas are by no means useless when it is impossible to actin accordance with them; on the contrary, they showed that ideas areextremely useful when they form the basis for action. It is also through thisprocess that harmony comes about. And it is precisely this harmony whichpays off.

* This essay is reprinted with the permission of Stefan Brecht. All rights reserved.

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20 / NEW GERMAN CRITIQUE

The aforementioned proof of intellectuals' ability to make themselves

useful in the class struggle (for whether their intellect was capable ofgrasping this fact or not, they made themselves useful in the nationalstruggle, in which they normally were not needed, by distinguishingthemselves in the class struggle) can certainly be taken seriously by theproletariat. In order to make full use of intellectuals, it is not necessary toengage the same intellectuals who have already produced for the war,although this, too, would be possible if one could involve their feelings inthe cause. (They will do anything for a few good feelings-feeling itself isadequate payment.) Intellectuals are composed simply of a single stable

group, which on the basis of the group's material conditions, is completelypredictable. Therefore, the proletariat can use all kinds of intellectuals;they will work for the same conditions and achieve the same results.

The function intellectuals would have to fulfill (which can be determinedhere simply by their behavior during the war) must not be confused with afunction, which as history shows, the proletariat has already delegated tointellectuals-an eminently important and completely indispensable one;namely that of leadership. (Just how important this function is can be seenfrom the fact that in historically given instances, it is actually extremelydifficult to decide whether those intellectuals like

Marx, Lenin, et al. weredelegated a function by the proletariat or themselves delegated to theproletariat a function. [Rosa] Luxemburg attributed to Lenin a number ofdeeds that appear to prove that Lenin, whose usefulness to the proletariatcertainly cannot be questioned, tended toward the latter position.) Theproletariat demonstrates a keen fighting instinct, in that it-keeping inmind a number of historically potential uses-treats intellectuals withextreme distrust. Intellectuals who obey because they cease to think andwho are available to the ruling class are in another sense available to the

proletariat,too-namely as intellectuals who think.

The legitimate mistrust of the proletariat puts intellectuals into a difficultsituation. They frequently attempt to merge with the proletariat, andprecisely this proves that there are not different kinds of intellectuals, twotypes as it were, proletarian ones and others who are bourgeois, but thatthere is only one type. For haven't they continually tried to merge with theruling class? Wasn't this the reason why intellect took on a commoditycharacter in the first place?

If intellectuals want to take part in the class struggle, it is necessary thatthey intellectually grasp their sociological composition as a whole, deter-mined by material conditions. Their frequent claim that it is necessary toimmerse oneself into the proletariat is counter-revolutionary. Only

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INTELLECTUALS AND CLASS STRUGGLE / 21

evolutionists believe in an overthrow of the social order by joining up.Those intellectuals who join up, for example, because they consider itoutrageous not to join up, play the role of the mass electorate in parliamen-tarian democracies, that is an evolutionary role. Real revolutions are not (asin the bourgeois writing of history) produced by feelings, but by interests.

The interest of the proletariat in class struggle is clear and unequivocal.The interest of intellectuals which can be established historically, is moredifficult to explain. The best explanation is that only through the revolutioncan intellectuals hope to bring to fruition their intellectual activity. Theirrole in the revolution is determined by this fact: it is an intellectual role.

The revolutionary intellect distinguishes itself from the reactionaryintellect in that it is a dynamic, politically speaking, liquidating intellect.In a non-revolutionary situation, it appears as radicalism. Its effect visa

the other parties, even radical parties, is anarchistic as long as it is notsuccessful in forming its own party, or as long as it is compelled to liquidateits own party. ...

Translated by David Bathrick.

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