Art for the workers : ideology and the visual arts in Weimar Germany

The rich network of popular cultural institutions created by the German labour movement after 1890 is unique in the history of the European working class.In this study the author discusses the role of visual art in the working-class environment, both as an influence in the home and in the political agitation and propaganda of the political parties.

Art was expected to 'create islands of beauty in a sea of ugliness' and to deepen the workers' aesthetic understanding.The political art of these years reflected both a utopian belief in the success of the struggle and the harsh images of a revolutionary ideology.

It also represents the range of political beliefs, from the pro-democratic stance of social democracy to the revolutionary rhetoric of the communist movement.The book is an original contribution to our understanding of the use of visual art and images in the process of education and of political communication in the German working class but it also looks beyond this to show the links between workers and progressive or pro-socialist artists, limited though such co-operation was.