Twentieth-Century Socialist Movements
Hermynia Zur Mühlen (1883-1951)
Hermynia Zur Mühlen is best known as an Austrian writer and translator. During her career, Mühlen has translated over seventy books in German, French, Austrian, and English. Publishing six of her own works, Hermynia Zur Mühlen is known as one of the most prolific writers of the Weimar Republic. As a socialist, Mühlen contributed to the socialist party regime through her writing, with one of her works being Fairy Tales for Workers Children (Gossman).
Fairy Tales for Worker's Children
Fairy Tales for Workers Children is a composition of classic socialist fairy tales. The published and released copy has been translated by Ida Dailes. Published in Chicago of 1925, the book was released in between two of the most catastrophic global war periods. After the events of World War I (also known as the Great War), socialism hit an era of repression, which was even furthered as the Communist regime seized power in Russsia.
Although morale seemed to be low for what was left for the socialist party, it did not disband; instead those still following banded together to continue the spread of socialist propaganda to revive the party (Dionne and Galston).
WHY?
Within the binding of the red book ends, Fairy Tales for Workers Children is littered with children’s folk tales and whimsical illustrations. There are four overarching themes within the book, splitting the fairy tales into categories. One of these categories is labeled “WHY?.’” Within it are stories of oppression and promises of equality. The story of Paul, an orphan who lived within the town’s poor house, is a story of questioning one's existence and the “fairness” of life. Paul’s story demonstrates the ideals of socialism as he asks questions concerning the story's logic that “only the rich can eat eggs” (Mühlen 1925). Paul continues to question why it is that he is poor and why there are others who seem to get so much more than those like him who live in poverty.
Through Paul, Mühlen stirs the mind of her audience begging them to look at life the way that the boy does. Paul is constantly told by older figures in the story that his questions are out of ignorance, forcibly silencing him from asking further questions about the world around him. These older oppressors represent the forcible shift from Socialism to Communism after the Great War that left many socialist communities “poor and questioning.” The ending of the story solidifies the narrative of socialism by promising a better future for those who ask questions and beg for equality. During this time of regrouping for the socialist party a call to action was needed, which Mühlen calls for throughout her compilation of fairy tales, yet it is Paul’s story “Why” that expresses the oppressive nature of communism and a promise to return to the forgiving ways of socialism.
- Macayla Wells