Reasons of State
A Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti

Erich Mühsam wrote Reasons of State: A Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti on the first anniversary of their execution. CR Edmonston has sent us his recent English translation of the play and we are happy to have the opportunity to make it available to you.

Erich Mühsam (6 April 1878 in Berlin, Germany - 10 July 1934 Oranienburg Concentration Camp) (also spelled Muehsam or Muhsam) was a German-Jewish anarchist, writer, poet, dramatist and cabaret performer.

Both a prolific poet, dramatist and a Bohemian intellectual, Mühsam emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic. However, Mühsam achieved international prominence during the years of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) for works which satirized Adolf Hitler and condemned Nazism before Hitler came to power in 1933. (Wikipedia).

To read the full play in pdf format please click here.