The Weavers

a drama about a group of poor (the weavers) and their abortive revolt
in 1844,derived by personal,political and religious motivations.

an epic in which masses of people are used as a collective hero.

old people dying of starvation,children forced to work long hours from the day they learn to walk, they cries of hunger,and are hopeless with this miserable and desperate situation.


"DREISSIGER: It was nothing serious. The boy is all right again. But all the same it's a disgrace. The child's so weak that a puff of wind would blow him over. How people, how any parents can be so thoughtless is what passes my comprehension. Loading him with two heavy pieces of fustian to carry six good miles! No one would believe it that hadn't seen it. It simply show more means that I shall have to make a rule that no goods brought by children will be taken over. I sincerely trust that such things will not occur again. Who gets all the blame for it? Why, of course the manufacturer. It's entirely our fault. If some poor little fellow sticks in the snow in winter and goes to sleep, a special correspondent arrives post-haste, and in two days we have a blood-curdling story served up in all the papers. Is any blame laid on the father, the parents, that send such a child? Not a bit of it. How should they be to blame? It's all the manufacturer's fault -- he's made the scapegoat. They flatter the weaver, and give the manufacturer nothing but abuse -- he's a cruel man, with a heart like a stone, a dangerous fellow, at whose calves every cur of a journalist may take a bite. He lives on the fat of the land, and pays the poor weavers starvation wages. In the flow of his eloquence the writer forgets to mention that such a man has his cares too and his sleepless nights; that he runs risks of which the workman never dreams; that he is often driven distracted by all the calculations he has to make, and all the different things he has to take into account; that he has to struggle for his very life against competition; and that no day passes without some annoyance or some loss. And think of the manufacturer's responsibilities, think of the numbers that depend on him, that look to him for their daily bread. No, No! none of you need wish yourselves in my shoes -- you would soon have enough of it. You all saw how that fellow, that scoundrel Becker, behaved. Now he'll go and spread about all sorts of tales of my hardheartedness, of how my weavers are turned off for a mere trifle, without a moment's notice. Is that true? Am I so very unmerciful?"



The spirit of revolt sweeps their souls. It gives them courage and strength to attack the rotten structure, to drive the thieves out of the temple,and to even attack the soldiers . The women, too participated and become an avenging force.

Old Hilse,a victim of religious brainwashing,
who attempts to stem the tide with his blind belief was swept over as every obstacle, every hindrance, once labor awakens to the consciousness of its solidaric power.

his view of life and how he see himself as being subjected to fate that is too powerful to be resisted at the price of prolonged and intense suffering.

"
LUISE: You an' your piety an' religion -- did they serve to keep the life in my poor children? In rags an' dirt they lay, all the four -- it didn't as much as keep 'em dry. Yes! I sets up to be a mother, that's what I do -- an' if you'd like to know it, that's why I'd send all the manufacturers to hell -- because I am a mother! Not one of the four could I keep in life! It was cryin' more than breathin' with me from the time each poor little thing came into the world till death took pity on it. The devil a bit you cared! You sat there prayin' and singin', and let me run about till my feet bled, tryin' to get one little drop o' skim milk. How many hundred nights has I lain an' racked my head to think what I could do to cheat the churchyard of my little one? What harm has a baby like that done that it must come to such a miserable end -- eh? An' over there at Dittrich's they're bathed in wine an' washed in milk. No! you may talk as you like, but if they begins here, ten horses won't hold me back. An' what's more -- if there's a rush on Dittrich's, you will see me in the forefront of it -- an' pity the man as tries to prevent me -- I've stood it long enough, so now you know it."


this revolutionary significance,refer to any pseudo-civilization built on the misery of Labor. show less

German