The Weavers (Die Weber)

Gerhart Hauptmann’s “The Weavers” made its public debut at the Deutsches Theater Berlin in 1894. Written in Silesian dialect, the play centres around the Weavers’ Revolt of 1844.  The arrival of mechanical looms and cheap, imported cotton had already resulted in falling incomes and rising unemployment. Now the manufacturer Dreissiger and his manager Pfeiffer plan to drive down wages even more, triggering a groundbreaking workers’ uprising. The Weavers’ Revolt is more an act of self-defence, almost a force of nature, than a revolutionary act. Hunger drives the workers to fight back; their despair makes them resort to violence. They plunder Dreissiger’s villa, drive out its residents and take to the streets in protest. Eventually the military is called in, shots are fired, and the uprising violently put down. In the play’s closing moments, Old Hilse -- a weaver who played no part in the revolt and condemned the rioting on religious grounds -- is killed by a stray bullet.