Erich Muhsam was born in Berlin in 1878 into a fairly well-to-do Jewish family. Soon after his family moved to Luebeck in north Germany where his father worked as a pharmacist (in fact the pharmacy is still there).
He hated the school where he was sent, which was known for its authoritarian discipline and its unsparing use of corporal punishment. Erich was often a victim of "the unspeakable flailings which were supposed to beat out of me all my innate feelings" because his rebellious nature often clashed with the school regime. In 1896 he wrote an anonymous piece for the socialist paper Luebecker Volsboten denouncing one of the school's most brutal teachers. This caused a scandal and Erich was expelled for taking part in socialist activities.
Erich had wanted to be a writer and poet from an early age and he left Luebeck to pursue this aim in Berlin in 1900. He got involved in a group called Neue Gemeinschaft (New Society) which combined socialist ideology with experiments in communal living. Here he met Gustav Landauer who introduced him to anarchist communist ideas. Muehsam contributed to Kampf, the anarchist paper of his friend Senna Hoy, who later died in terrible conditions in a Russian prison.
In 1904 Erich went to Ascona in Italian Switzerland to live in the artists' colony of Monte Verita (the writer Herman Hesse, the dance theorist Laban, the psychotherapist Otto Gross and many Daddaists and Expressionists lived there at one time or other).
He began writing plays there, the first of which, The Con Men, mixed new political theory with traditional dramatic forms. He also continued contributing to many anarchist papers, which drew the attention of the German authorities. He was considered one of the most dangerous anarchist agitators.
He moved to Munich in 1908 and took part in the cabaret movement. He did not care much for writing cabaret songs, but he achieved much notice because of them.
In 1911 he founded the paper Kain which advocated anarchist communism. He castigated and ridiculed the German state, fighting capital punishment and theatre censorship, and prophetically analysing international affairs. The World War that he had predicted led to the suspension of Kain.
At first Erich publicly supported the war, but by the end of 1914 was persuaded that he had been wrong, saying that, "I will probably have to bear the sin of betraying my ideals for the rest of my life". He threw himself into anti-war activity taking part in various actions. He supported the strikes that were beginning to break out. As these became more widespread and began to take on a revolutionary nature, Erich was among those arrested and imprisoned in April 1918, and then freed in November.
With the fall of the Kaiser and King Ludwig of Bavaria, Munich burst into revolt. Muehsam and Landauer as well as Ret Marut (later known as the novelist B. Traven) were among those agitating for the setting up of Workers Councils which led on to the founding of the Bavarian Council Republic. This lasted only a week. The Social Democrats, terrified by the thought of revolution, allied with the right. The Freikorps, a reactionary militia organised by the socialist minister Noske and composed of right wing military and students, crushed the Council Republic. Landauer died under the blows of rifle butts and boots.
Muehsam escaped but was later captured and sent to prison for 15 years. In prison, Erich continued with his writing, composing many poems and the play Judas. Released in the amnesty of 1924, he returned to a Munich in the grip of apathy. He joined the Anarchist Communist Federation of Germany (FKAD). He restarted Kain but this failed after a few issues. He then brought out Fanal (The Torch) where he attacked both the Communists and the far right. His openly revolutionary tone and his attempts to stop the rise of the right made him a hate figure among conservatives and Nazis.
He used satire to ridicule the Nazis with short stories and poems. This came to the personal attention of Hitler and Goebbels, arousing their anger. He agitated for the freeing of the revolutionary Max Hoelz and wrote a play, Staatsraeson (For reasons of State) in defence of Sacco and Vanzetti), in 1928.
In 1930 he completed his last play Alle Wetter (All Hang) which called for mass revolution as the only way to stop the seizure of power by the radical Right.
A few hours after Van der Lubbe had set fire to the Reichstag in February 1933, Muehsam was arrested and then spent the last 17 months of his life in the concentration camps of Sonnenburg, Brandenburg and Oranienburg. His teeth were smashed in with rifle butts, his scalp was branded with a swastika from a red-hot iron and he was hospitalised. He was forced to dig his own grave for a mock execution, and his body became a mass of bruises and wounds. His tormentors tried to force him to sing the Nazi song the Horst Wessel Lied. He refused to give in and sang the International. " Thanks to his will power he resisted all attempts to humiliate him" (Augustin Souchy).
Despite these tortures Erich remained intransigent to the end. Finally he was tortured and murdered on the night of 9th July 1934. After beatings, a Stormtrooper leader administered a lethal injection and then a suicide by hanging was faked.
Never in my life have I learnt
To submit to anyone
Here I am locked up,
Far from my home,
My wife, my workshop.
And even if they kill me,
If I must die,
To give up is to lie!
...
But if the chains broke
Then I would breathe in sunshine
At the top of my lungs- Tyranny!
And I would cry to the people: be free!
Forget to submit yourselves!
To give up is to lie!
From Muhsam's poem The Prisoner
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Anarchist Federation Biography of German Anarchist Erich Muhsam from AF publication Organise in 2006
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Mühsam, Erich: His life, his work, his martyrdom - Augustin Souchy
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Penny in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet:
Her ace Pokemon is a Sylveon, which has been adopted by the trans community as an icon because of its trans pride color palette
When she terastallizes her Sylveon, she says "Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!"
She is also the leader and "founder" of Team Star, a group of kids who got united after being bullied at school. Though this could also fit a non-conforming cis girl, it would fit a trans girl especially well.
I'm still not convinced on whether it's a crazy series of coincidences or not. If I had to guess, the developers knew exactly what they were doing and created a trans character that the intended audience would recognize as such, but bigots and Nintendo executives wouldn't. The line "become who you really want to be" is just too specific, no other character says anything like that when they terastallize their Pokemon.
Pokemon has never really had openly LGBT characters so I have to imagine that if it was intentional, it was snuck by executives. Penny does not meet the mainstream media's idea of a stereotypical trans woman, but she does meet a lot of stereotypes within the trans community itself that most cis people wouldn't be aware of. Like I said, I'm honestly still not 100% certain that it's not a coincidence, but I do think she's effectively a dogwhistle character. Also her theme goes way too hard.
What do you guys think?
she trans![bridget-smug bridget-smug](https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/42dc521b-3735-4d92-a96b-da61a1e691e4.png)
Sidenote: In terms of characters and story Scarlet and Violet are so far ahead of other mainline Pokemon games, it really is not close. Team Star are a group of real characters with real, relatable motivations and goals, not a group of cartoonish goons who want to dry the oceans for some nauseating reason. Arven's story with his Mabosstiff is so grounded but so effective as well. The climax of the game is actually climactic and emotionally impactful, it's not just "the legendary pokemon from the cover appears". The Elite 4 are real characters who live in the region and interact with you and each other instead of just being overdesigned randos who you fight at the end and never think about again. The story twist with the professor is pretty much unprecedented in Pokemon games.
I don't wanna defend Nintendo's business practices because them rushing it out is the reason the game runs like ass, in terms of performance it's the worst one they ever made. But creatively, Scarlet and Violet are leagues above anything the main series has ever put out. No Pokemon game has ever changed up the formula to this extent and like I said, the story is better than all other games combined. That's why it kinda bothers me when people say they "aren't trying anymore" because the people actually making the game clearly were trying.
THIS![clodsire-pog clodsire-pog](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/594b8585-3259-4be4-9fb0-de4e569f26ea.png)
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I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
Nice, tovarshi...