Sexual Revolution and Anarchism: Erich Mühsam

Abstract

Mühsam was a leading figure in the world of what may be termed post-terrorist anarchism, an anarchism that belonged more to the parlour than the barricades. Mühsam was an amateur artist and writer whose artistic output passed through the phases of naturalism, expressionism and social realism and avoided the de-politicisation of the aesthetic in favour of pronounced ideological biases.¹ His work was rooted in emotional rebellion and opposition to bourgeois society and the authoritarian establishment.² Before the war Mühsam spent his time in the bohemian cafes and cabarets of European cities, especially those of Munich and Berlin, and the libertarian subculture of Ascona. At the turn of the century he came into contact with a workers’ anarchism, which was anti-nationalist and anti-social democratic, and the alternative ‘real’ socialism of Gustav Landauer. Mühsam believed it his political duty to create an intellectual and material home for social outcasts and those belonging to the underclass. (His journal carried the name of his programme, Cain. A Journal for Humanity.) His activities within Landauer’s Socialist Federation were unsuccessful, as were his endeavours during the First World War to bring about an anti-militaristic front and to initiate a mass anti-war movement. He propagandised for the dissolution of the Wittelsbach monarchy, and like other German writers he took part in the revolutionary radicalisation in Bavaria.