ABSTRACT
The success of the Neue Freie Volksbühne in reconstituting itself so as to be able to resume active life made a great impression on many of those former members of the Freie Volksbühne who had agreed in March 1896 to throw in the sponge. The wounds inflicted by the split had not even yet healed however, and the Freie Volksbühne men could not suggest that the work be continued with one joint organisation. So a committee set about quietly drafting a suitable constitution, though some of the former officers, including Mehring, made it clear that they would not be prepared to resume their posts in a re-founded Freie Volksbühne. On 7 March 1897, a year almost to the day after the formal dissolution of the ‘old’ Freie Volksbühne, an advertisement appeared in Vorwärts for a big public meeting on the subject: ‘What is the attitude of the Berlin working classes to founding a Freie Volksbühne association?’ The meeting took place on 12 March with Robert Schmidt in the chair. Paul Dupont, the advertised speaker and former vice-chairman, called for the re-establishment of the Freie Volksbühne, putting aside the idea of uniting with the Neue Freie Volksbühne. Adolf Lohr, bringing a forcefully worded message from Bruno Wille, fluently put the case for unity on behalf of the committee of the Neue Freie Volksbühne. After a lively debate the suggestion of a united Volksbühne was rejected, but it was rejected politely, with expressions of regret and the assurance that the reasons were objective, not personal. In spite of this, Wille took the decision badly.
