Georg Kaiser (1918).
Drama in five acts, second part of the trilogy Gas, inspired by the problems of urban industrial workers in Germany after World War I.
The Billionaire's son inherits his father's profitable gas factories. A utopian idealist, he has distributed the profits, including his own share, to his workers. During the celebration of his daughter's wedding, there is a terrific explosion and the factory is demolished. The workers, however, are eager to rebuild the plant despite the fact that the cause of the explosion has not been determined. Acting almost like machines, they compel themselves to continue their former existence.
But the son, recognising the perils of technology, wants to replace the factory with an agricultural settlement, which would offer possibilities for a new humanity. The Engineer, champion of technology, demands that the factory continue to exist because it brings not only money but power.
At a general strike meeting called to
support the gas workers, the Billionaire's son debates with the Engineer;
the latter wins, and there are cries for "Gas!" The government,
needing the gas for its war industry, issues an ultimatum, and the Billionaire's
son capitulates. He passes on his utopian dreams to his daughter.