New Book | Jedoch der Mut ist mein Genosse: Texte über Kampf und Revolution

Erich Mühsam | Edited by Peter Bürger | BoD, 2025. [in German]

From the Publisher:

[translated]

In the ongoing series Shelf: Pacifists & Anti-Militarists from Jewish Families, one volume has already been published—The Great Killing—featuring powerful statements against militarism and war by Erich Mühsam (1878–1934, murdered in a concentration camp):

“Opposition to the state in its essential manifestations—capitalism, imperialism, militarism, class rule, instrumentalized justice, and oppression in all its forms—was and is the driving force of my public engagement” (Personal testimony, 1919).

The anarchist writer’s initial closeness to Tolstoy’s position on the “question of violence” shifted over the course of the First World War, the Munich Revolution, and his contact with the Spartacus Program. Ultimately, Mühsam came to believe that the oppressed should turn their weapons against those who had forced the craft of war upon them. He composed new songs for armed resistance:

“Every system of struggle is sound / that does not fail before the rifles!”

To provide a more complete picture, the present collection includes additional texts on struggle and revolution that reflect Mühsam’s departure from pacifism: political poetry (selection from 1904–1928); battle songs, marching songs, and satirical songs (printed in 1925); From Eisner to Leviné (an account of the revolutionary events in Munich, written in 1920); My Opponent Kurt Eisner (1929); and Lies about Landauer (1929). Supplementing these is a documentary section featuring texts about Erich Mühsam and the revolutionary period of 1918/19 (from the journal Graswurzelrevolution and other sources).

The editors of the Schalom Library advocate disobedience and nonviolent resistance—the path on which lovers of life shed no human blood. Yet controversial positions must not be excluded from this source edition. It is precisely disagreement that fosters meaningful discourse and helps us move forward.

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BoD - Books on Demand, May 30, 2025.

ISBN: 9783819248689

312pp.

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