| 501 years since the Great Peasants´ War
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The spears of the dwarves and other weapons.
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The brutal suppression of the peoples rebellion marked the beginning of centuries of ruthless violence by the authorities: from the authoritarian feudal states of the early modern period to the Nazi dictatorship.
In 1525, the path to a society of subjects began. The unbridled violence of the rulers against their subjects and against early demands for democratic participation sowed the seeds for a tradition of bondage and oppression.
The uprising in 1525 hoped to pave the way for a more just and free society. In Twelve Articles, members of the lower classes formulated what they expected from their rulers. The response was bloody. Massacres, punitive expeditions, and campaigns of revenge by the nobility ended any hope of changing social conditions and literally wiped out the rebels and their families.
It should be added that, whether it was the Peasants' Wars, the bourgeois revolutions, or the great socialist October Revolution, capitalism eventually succeeded in defeating its opponents in all cases.
Ultimately, uprisings were only successful where the peasantry was able to form a viable alliance with the proletariat. A lesson that should still guide us today. This is because the exploitation of man by man, even though it may have taken on other forms, is more widespread than ever before due to today's technological possibilities.
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OPENING: Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 7:00 PM |
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Preface: Gue Schmidt (projectroomMAG3)
Lecture on the Peasants' War: Dr. Wolfgang MADERTHANER (historian)
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The peasant revolts mobilise chiliastic, apocalyptic expectations, visions of a just world of equals and free people, beyond all hierarchies of class and birth. The unconditional, all-encompassing will to paradise on earth (Ernst Bloch) manifests itself in concrete turmoil and universal refusal to show loyalty. The eternal dream of humanity of a godly earthly existence in freedom and peace is mobilised with tremendous force, freed forever and ever from all feudal burdens and serfdom, from all subservience of the person, from all forms of hated servitude. Two outstanding manifestos, unique in terms of quality and perspective Michael Gaismaier's Tyrolean Provincial Ordinance and the anonymously written Twenty-Four Articles of the Common Region of Salzburg explore the limits of what was conceivable at that time. Both an analysis and a guide to action, they not only postulate a timeless right to resistance, but also call into question the uncompromising dissolution of the feudal system itself, citing the pure gospel, directed against the landowning, exploitative, parasitic nobility as well as against a corrupt Roman official church that was depraved in its very essence. (Wolfgang Maderthaner, 2026)
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DURATION: March 24 - April 22, 2026 | Tue-Fri, 5:00-8:00 PM
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projektroomMAG3
Schiffamtsgasse 17, A 1020 Vienna/ Austria/ Europe
(Accsessible by U2 Taborstrasse and/ or U4 Schottenring/ Exit U2 Herminengasse)
Phone: +43 676 3409218, Email: mag3@mur.at |