‘Ich setze diese Zeitschrift wider diese Zeit’ - Die Gesellschaftskritik der Zeitschrift Aktion (1911-1919)

Abstract

Franz Pfemfert’s Aktion (1911-1932) was one of the most influential journals of the German expressionist movement. Between 1911 and 1919 it served as a sanctuary and career stepping stone for a number of young, still undiscovered modern writers, artists and critical thinkers. Under the strong influence and strict, often dogmatic, guidance of its sole owner, publisher and editor Franz Pfemfert (1879-1954) Aktion articulated a unique blend of modern art and oppositional left-wing revolutionary politics. Unlike other expressionist journalists of its time Aktion was entirely preoccupied with a comprehensive, in-depth and above all critical examination of Wilhelmine society within the socio-political and historical context of its time. Consequently the overall content of this journal alongside its editorial criteria reflected the inseparable link between major historical events and the changing socio-political and artistic stance of the journal itself. The aim of this dissertation is to provide a comprehensive literary-historical analysis and to examine the focal point of the journal’s continual critique of society, namely the intransigent denunciation of Wilhelmine authoritarianism and its numerous institutional and ideological manifestations as primary causes of oppression, social injustice and conflict. While the antiauthoritarian critique of society is illustrated as the main objective of the action, this study also identifies the ever-present symbiosis of intense ambivalence and inveterate idealism within the theoretical understanding and practical modus operandi of the journal as the main trigger in its seemingly unstoppable process of politicization, ideological radicalisation and subsequent isolation. This thesis draws upon a wide range of selected editorials, political-theoretical articles as well as literary-artistic contributions from within the Aktion, while historically initiated changes in Pfemfert’s editorial policy serve to divide the overall development of the journal into three distinctive timeframes (a) pre-war phase February 1911-August 1914; b) war phase August 1914-November 1918 and c) revolutionary phase November 1918-end of 1919).