to comply is to lie
Erich Mühsam was many things: A revolutionary, an utopian, a progressive freethinker, an anarchist, a member of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) and Rote Hilfe (Red Aid), an anti-war activist/pacifist, who slammed the prison system and the state, an anti-fascist and a syndicalist; an individualist always short of money, a bon vivant in bohemian writers’ circles, a co-founder of the Munich Soviet Republic in 1919, a well-regarded poet, playwright, editor and publisher of non-fiction books, political magazines and essays, as well as a comedian.
All of these dimensions and facets of Mühsam, which do not represent an exhaustive list, were part of his complex personality. But for us libertarian anti-fascists, three of these aspects appear crucial for the political commemoration of Mühsam’s life and work: his anarchist, anti-fascist and overall progressive legacy. Everything he embodied he saw as a paving stone of the road which would lead to a better life for all. As Mühsam put it: The “purpose of my art is the same as that of my life: Struggle! Revolution! Equality! Freedom!“ (...)
80 years after Erich Mühsam’s murder, we call on you to commemorate him at the site of his execution. Together, in Oranienburg, we want to remember the complete human being Erich Mühsam, who lived and whose life was taken.
Anti-fascist Memorial Demonstration: July 12, 2014 | 1 p.m. | suburban rail station Oranienburg (near Berlin) | www.erich-muehsam.tk
Erich Mühsam Festival: July 12, 2014 | 4 p.m. | “ZUKUNFT am Ostkreuz”, Laskerstraße 5 | www.erichmuehsamfest.de
