First published in 1988, this books argues with received accounts to reclaim Brechtโs emphasis on his self-described โdialectical theatreโ, re-examining firstly the concepts of Gestus and Verfremdung and their realisation in Brechtโs poetry in terms of his attempt to consciously apply the methods of dialectical materialism to art and cultural practice. The author also takes issue with the customary view of Brechtโs career and politics which sees him as compromising either with Communist party dogma or bourgeois aesthetics, to find developing parallels between Brechtโs political and artistic though and the critical dialectics of Marx, Lenin and Mao. This development is examined in later chapters in relation to the early and late plays, The Measures Taken and Days of the Commune as well as in relation to Brechtโs changed circumstances in the years of war-time exile and in post-war East Germany.