Revolutionary Socialism in the Work of Ernst Toller

Ernst Toller's dramas are the product of reflection on his political experience. This study analyses his ideology of revolutionary Socialism and its articulation in his literary work. It adopts a chronological approach, placing great importance on primary sources. It also takes a synoptic view of his work, in which his public speaking, political journalism and documentary prose are shown to complement and clarify the better-known dramas. It demonstrates that the creative tension in Toller's work, often consciously transposed into the dialectic of dramatic conflict, is one of political ideas - of Anarchism and Marxism, idealism and materialism, voluntarism and determinism.