(Asja)

That capitalism sucked, we didn't even have to discuss. He was against capitalism and had lost faith in the Tolstoyan idea of moral self-development. He was for a violent overthrow of the capitalist state. I met many intellectuals in Germany at that time who thought like this.

Often we would have the following dialogue. I would say:
"You are smart, you have a field of knowledge, you have an education, but you have no material foundation for existence!"

Walter was silent.

I would continue:

"You know, in Riga, I was poor too.
Why?
Because I was struggling against the bourgeois state and they brought all the forces of capital out to fight me.
But where do you stand, Meister of Culture?
Your brother is in the communist party, why not you?"