A Dramatic depiction of the German Peasants’ War of 1525

It was in 1925, one hundred years ago, that playwright Berta Lask (1878–1967) wrote Thomas Müntzer: A Dramatic Depiction of the German Peasants’ War of 1525 for the German Communist Party. In the play, she stages the resurrection of Thomas Müntzer, one of the revolt’s main leaders, who returns to address the present: striking proletarians, who populate the prologue, to whom Müntzer recounts his story.

In 2025, we imagine Müntzer’s second return by performing Lask’s play once again. Using a new translation and accompanying commentaries published by RabRab and edited by Sam Dolbear, we will kindle fresh fires of discontent and trace some transhistorical contours of capitalist oppression.

For the proletariat of 1925

For the casual workforce and the global struggle of 2025