Where the News Ends
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN liolli Burn/ram, A/c/anov—In Review /"^NE of the oldest of the problems that hare 7^ perplexed the human mind, the issue of free Y0& versus...
...LJIS colleague at New York University, James * * Burnham, has also turned out an excellent piece of political thinking and analysis under the paradoxical title "The Maehiavejlians: Defenders of Freedom" (Day, $2.50...
...From that time on "this enterprise, set up so largely with public power and at public expense, will become an ordinary profit.making investment...
...The proposed pupal*Hon per acre flouts all experience aad the advice of all experts...
...In connection with this problem tht nan of Congressman Eugene Cox has testa* 1 public scandal This htgisleter is from "tmm It has been proved that he receive* tram Js> tion WALB, Albany, Ga„ a check for SUMS in connection with a plea presented to tht 1st era...
...But it is worth while reminding ourselves of some acts and mental changes connected with George Sokolsky himself...
...WabM **jf been identified with tht |t**^*f munist forces hi the Ts**** Union...
...OPA SOFTENING AT WRONG TIME A LL the propaganda about college profes-**sors versus business men cannot wipe out the feeling of concern in the minds of citizens at the news of comings and goings in the Office of Price Administration...
...The author finds a middle road between the untenable extremes of absolute free will and unmitigated predestination, ¦whether the latter is conceived in moral, economic, gprl*l or climatic terms...
...In a clear and pungent article, Oliver Ramsey went back to the faults in the Hampton amendments to the state housing law and f orresult from the carrying through of the Metropolitan Life plan for battling a Utf Snaessfefc city...
...Whether one* agrees with Professor Hook or with me about the prospects of the Russian Revolution, minus Lenin, his book makes very stimulating and thought-provoking reading...
...If managers of chains or atstkti are afraid to allow the mention of a e*sgns> man or of a public official the erasers m deprived of important Informauon tit Sa> fulness of that latest and most far-flanf sasai of communication is cut down...
...He has lent his name hsvo ^^P^^*^^^^* These g*a*l*s*aa sawa aw*«jr a*V mitted any error la giving such sap pat I and have never to my tatowksdg* denouutsd tits Coatmnnist Party for its fctivi*/ ** policies...
...it is a sign that, « except for the leader and his entourage, * everyone has lost his private life without f acquiring a public one...
...But there is abundant evidence to snow that France, through all her tragedies, has retained to the full of her ancient qualities...
...The "town" will be walled in, cut off from the flow of the adjacent streets, yet no provision within the wails has been made for schools and far too little for play and recreation...
...This was the time when Mr...
...in fact, the Mayor's actions later completed the rebuttal...
...Where the News Ends By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN liolli Burn/ram, A/c/anov—In Review /"^NE of the oldest of the problems that hare 7^ perplexed the human mind, the issue of free Y0& versus determinism, is brilliantly and sanely handled by Sidney Hook in his recent book, "The Hero in History" (Day, $2.50...
...Chief Broadcast Analyst of the Federal 'Communications Commission...
...Last week's issue of The New Leader carried a story from Philadelphia by Aodrjtw Khinoy giving an account of the two-day eee> vention of United Labor Committee...
...Burnham's work was violently denounced by Malcolm Cowley in "The New Republic...
...But the efforts of the democratic socialist intelligentsia to give a positive turn to this popular discontent, to create a democratic regime capable of maintaining itself against Bolshevik, dictatorship, on one side, and White reaction on the other ended in pitiful failure...
...W* base, aa well politicians making noble French speeches aad playing somewhat less noble tricks on each other...
...It-will be small comfort to these dispossessed citizens that they will be making room for mora than 24.000 who are able pay twice as much rent per room...
...the level of popular wellbeing, the opportunities of creative thought, respect for individual liberty or the general state of culture <ond humanity...
...George E. Sokolsky...
...Here is something to engage all the wisdom and power of the new Office of War Mobilization...
...As Professor Hook truly and eloquently writes: .4...
...No longer is it possible, in many countries, to follow the example of Montaigne and withdraw into secluded contemplation...
...The counsel of, prudent withdrawal v and disinterested curiosity from afar that 4 Montaigne offered to those who would escape * the political storms of their time would to-f day almost certainly arouse the suspicions of *J the secret police...
...At the same time it must be suspicious of the powers which are delegated to them...
...David Dubinsy's letter in the...
...This Committee represents more than 130,000 trade unionists, liberals and progressive* of the state of Pennsylvania...
...Thy are robbed, m parabasal, ef facts wtneh*a* enable them to sis* up til* virtu*, aa* ***> Cerurresemen Gen 'is gaflfcy si «sh*t& prestige of his office for privets gst...
...80 citizens boteahbg at tapir isstina) Sets are deprived of a part of the news...
...Other, references in letters refer to George losing fat by just walking through s steel mill...
...The **Mj| Division of the Department of J usual IS tion appears to be th* only avaiUhl/sesel to end hi* attempt to throttle ear reaw ft* bams...
...10374 in Part 26 of the LaFollette Report), Kenneth M. Lloyd, secretary of the Mahoning Valley Industrial Council, wrote: "The Youngstown Foremen's Club has arranged for a Civic Progress Meeting on Tuesday evening, October S, 193*, at Stambaugh Auditorium...
...Stkolsky has rasdt mm criticism of the osVrn *f P Board of Education t* • grounds of their lack of uiegr* Th* above quotation it tatf jaw of the evidence to show that F has little claim to be aa *stbsa% in this field...
...A democracy apuat wholeheartedly co-operate with its leaders...
...But it is also a confrontation of two types of decadence: the decadence of totalitarian careerism, in the backwash qf a revolution, on one side, and the decadence of the old French culture, witty and brilliant, but unsure of its destiny and deeply pessimistic, on the other...
...KEEP AIR WAVES Q4f -THERE has recently been sufficient esse*, a ship of radio news-casting to causa gam concern...
...t - Yet this is "public" housing...
...We judge tat *s% munis ts by their deeds, sad Bav*«naak**a*j decided that they are not to be trustee...
...Specifically, the constitution provides that "anyone who is connected- with any organisation that believes in the |hilnssghy st* a --------itiseaW cannot hold any position in the Unsnltg' Ccennattee...
...Only those on the inside could pretend to know all of the technical points connected with the conflict between Dr...
...J. K. Galbraith had finally been accepted...
...Negroes have been notified that it will be useless to apply for admission...
...Galbraith and Log R. Maxon...
...Notithe least of the crimes of the Tsarist regime against the Russian pyple was that, by its semi-totalitarian character, it made the transition to democracy after its own fall extremely difficult add paved the way for the success of such an adventurous coup as the Bolsheviks carried out in November, 1917...
...Galbraith was one of Leon Henderson's men, and that Henderson honestly tried to hold the price line...
...The speaker will be Mr...
...Protests Editorial Defense of Robert Lovett, Goodwin Watsen From HAROLD SIMON To the Editor: Permit me to express my pretest against year defense ef Robert Mores Lovett, Ssaratary ef the Watson...
...And the last fifty pages, where Mr...
...He is by.no means willing to admit that whatever has happened in the past was either right or inevitable...
...Welch bad heard him speak in Chicago...
...There has been much talk about the learning of lessons, about the possibility that Frenchmen would hereafter learn to compromise, to view issues calmly, to develop large aad tolerant political parties along' fundamental cleavages...
...The City Planning Commission ean reverse itself and- turn down or amend the plan...
...The author makes hot a,better case for'free will than the deter-minists, whether religious or non-religious, have been disposed to allow...
...It is unnecessary here to refer to tales ef Mr...
...It is a distinguished novel, apart front the efforts of the local Communist would-be thought controllers to make it the object of a book-burning...
...The love of France runs strong, but the love of each factional leader for his own way runs even stronger, in short, this is France reborn...
...Many of the workers were also sullen and apathetic under the grim tyrannies of war communism...
...Waxon's large and well-stocked Michigan home...
...Immediately afwT...
...The "town".is ts cover 18 blocks between 14th St...
...One of the profound tragedies which I sensed when I worked over source materials for a history of the Russian Revolution was the inability of Russia's democratic Socialists, the Mensheviki and the Socialist Revolutionaries, along with nonparty progressives, to find a bridge to the masses This was not because the latter were, in the majority, positively enthusiastic over Soviet rule* One finds an abundance of evidence, in Communist newspapers, books and pamphlets, of numerous peasant uprisings, of a vast amount of desertion from the Red Army...
...The company", perhaps in anticipation, is already acting aa if this great public plan were a mere capitalist business venture...
...The climax is nothing short of a stroke ef genius...
...Another work that has positive as well as negative recommendations is Mark Aldanov's "The Fifth Seal...
...JtjSo Professor Hook rejects the facile and un-founded optimism" that the movement of human fivilization Is always in a forward direction...
...But I .think the author is more optimistic about the^hypothetical possibility of a democratic transformation of Russian society in 1017 than the known facts warrant...
...It is well that all of this has com* into the open...
...consistently defended, *a* lg rata the individual a* b*2 knowingly lent hnaeetf * " machinations of the C**ne*jP» They have consciously **MKS held accountable...
...The London Daily Herald, UarifjA organ of the trade union liioiaisasii saiai the Labor Party, which has always «ate*_ for s close contact between Britain snd leg...
...R. M. Welch, of the Youngstown Sheet and Tub* Company, as Mr...
...It insists ea nv*a*> bag as a separate unit from witfcnV tht Lake Party...
...Management has been asked to lend its support to this meeting...
...Now there is time for such maneuvering for political position as is taking place...
...It is fear of attacks by each corns* sjj self-seeking officials whieh hat give* Bnp directors a bed ease of jitters...
...The impersonal progress of science has ^formidably increased the scope of tyranny...
...Sokolsky to appear before civic groups as/ aa independent expert, ssdjjf...
...The author draws a distinction between the "event-making man," who shapes the course of history and the merely "eventful man," who is the product, of forces and events...
...Fox this there are many to give thanks...
...This not only marks the g distance which Europe has come from the ? absolutisms of yesterday...
...the most poignant tragedies of t history axe those in which men have cried i; 'impossible' too soon...
...He ht an author of considerable note, and has had his works poolkhod in the Atlantic Monthly aad the New York Times...
...To this positive recommendation I add a negative one: Mr...
...It is now easy to understand why the Allied military leaders preferred not to have General Charles de Gaulle visit Africa before the end of the actual fighting...
...The newspapers made no mistake in selecting for special emphasis the decision that neither communists nor fascists can hold aay position in the new organisation...
...Burnham is' on his own, contain some of the boldest, keenest discussion of the nature of power, of the myths behind which will-v>-power hides and of the conditions for the maintenance of a tolerable minimum of human freedom that I have read for a long time...
...When he left and Prentiss Brown came hi, we felt in our bones that there would be a loosening up, that "practical" business men would have their way and the consumers would suffer...
...Sokolsky Mr...
...Parallel decisions reached by labor ssss m\ women in London and Philadelphia thee tag on two continents a common expeneaet ** led to common concha ions...
...The book opens on a note of warning, even of .tragedy that must strike an echo in the heart and mind of every civilised and sensitive human %'sing...
...ply verbal poison gas aad tsRjP facts, R was found eonveakS (ae* pp...
...The jfcsa.t;absolute rulers of the past could not exact JPP appalling thought conformity that is the hall'mark of the,modern totalitarian state, that is made possible by modern weapons and modern kieans of communication and methods of indoctrination...
...Sun" proved all Mr...
...Their control from Russia waa never exercised through the Comintern, and that control remains as effective as it ever was...
...V* fat e crime for which heSSw- ssssi kashflp prosecuted and pimished la this eass, bn> ever, the criminal baa keen maaiJssjp the chairmanship ef a committee of the nan* charged with the Investigation of the M| which has incurred his wrath...
...Since this conference reached the vital and far reaching decision to enter the held of polities as an independent force, the press Of the country has given it first-page publicity...
...There Is a good chance that the entire pl*n for Stuyvesant Town will be redrawn before a steam-shovel ¦tarts to week...
...Communism in Engiaat hj] a democratic movement...
...stated that "ae aelsgstss ean be saisesmsT and discriminated against beeaoW e/"2...
...One can, of course, argue indefinitely about historical might-have-beens without reaching a conclusion...
...More important, there will be aa officially recognized symbol about which the revivified nation may rally and surge back to its ancient spirit, its ancient place, its ancient character...
...On Monday we learned that the long-rumored resignation of Dr...
...Smce then the housing experts, the good gureraassnt nimftilttsos aad the imaipapsr* have taken up the cry...
...This is 'very probsbly true...
...This, as Professor Hook says, "is a difficult task but one which must be solved.if democracy is not to become, as often in the past, a school for tyrants...
...dissolution of the Comintern the Cotssa»ff Party of England again applied far •Jsshsake to the Labor Party...
...Aldanov is faithful to life even in such small details as the title of the article which the ex-Menshevik Ambassador wrote at the time of the Revolution, and whieh keeps him in a dither of fear lest some enemy drag it up as a prelude to a. purge...
...red all pT*-Comntaaist tits ** sympathies, could render v*a**f and loyal service te ear ment But where these hss **K be*a an admission of ***** J wkstre support of ^*5!l™h front*, long expo—d sS...
...Th* Fifth Seal" is s fins story, or rather a series of stories in its own right...
...Than we shall have a genuine French government among the United Nations, an authentic French administration to Sake control of liberated France and a French delegation to sit at the peace table...
...They **** a avert the wrath of such powerful foot § cutting frees scripts any iimitioii ef sag names...
...Tenants to the number of 11,000 now paying about 87.00 per room will be driven out to increase the crowding and squalor ef other alum areas...
...Professor Hook quite rightly regards Lenin as an event-making type and argues that the Russian Revolution would have proceeded along different lines if Lenin's personality had been eliminated...
...Russia, has .this to say in a recent sSfcnska "The Comintern is dead, hat the Oaeaasssl Party of England kaaot a weMam s3 and is not disturbed kg the dissobjticn g"3 Comintern...
...He has some wise and realistic things to say about the conditions for the functioning of democracy...
...Snobbish irresponsibility could go no further...
...Levett sas » + cation defended the Cost*** Party while Mr...
...As revealed in the bulletin subpoenaed by the LaFollette Sub-Committee (Exhibit 4437 and reprinted pp...
...Galbraith gnes, and the average citizen is justified in concluding that this softening-up and letting-dewn process wiM go one step further...
...Where an teatrlioal **tj* .his name to a Commune* ** mistakenly and has meeg**f his error, it is coesaevskj* wf sash s person having htflf...
...the well-advertised advertising man...
...Th* title is "Renegades, Gome to your Slushs," sal this is just the title that a revolutionary journal ist would have been likely to use at that time...
...Some may be dhnsppainsea...
...and this has a bracing psychological effect...
...Indeed it is difficult to understand how anyone ?>t s bemused moron could fail to recognize the tter but unmistakable truth that the Europe of 1043 has degenerated incomparably, by comparison with the Europe of 1913, whether one takes as a standard of comparison...
...May I suggest that you do everything in your power to help make it a success...
...LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mark Starr Attacks George Sokolsky, Gives Lie to 'Independent Expert' Boasf To the Editor: from MARK STARR In the recent press controversy about the appointment of an educational director, the columnist of the, "New York Sun" raised doubts upon the possibility of sincerely making changes in an attitude to social problerosi . So far as the accompanying allegations of political pie in the Adult-education job, Mr...
...For twenty-five years the owners will be the recipients of tax favors...
...Sokolsky ' was recommended by Mr...
...He sums up this viewpoint in the striking phrase: "Amon...
...In order te create at, the CRy is to give the MsaanjeSttsas Life Insurance Company the right of eminent domain...
...No matter what the law permits, we need not give the right of way to a municipal project until it squares with our notions of public service, COMMUNISTS HAVE NOT CHANGED SPOTS PRECISIONS reached here and in England , indicate that in the opinion of labor groups the dissolution of the Comintern changes nothing...
...Now Dr...
...And, although he needs the money badly and is not always a pure idealist, the author feels the best traditioas of free-thinking France rise up in revolt and hurls back the Ambassador'* suggestion with a word that is suitable, but unprintable, or printable only in French...
...T .| EDITORIAL COMMENT KI0W we have not onJy brav* FilSithmi *~ fighting and dying for the Allied cause...
...to February, IMS, from Hill and Knowlton, public relations experts, the stmt ef $28.-699.47 for expenses aad services rendered to their clients...
...The Soviet Ambassador proposes what is in effect a bribe, .payment in foreign currency for a Russian edition of his works, to an eld and needy, although distinguished French author, if the latter will only send a telegram endorsing the Moscow trials...
...And all of this has come to pass...
...So, although the specific Bolshevik form of dictatorship might never have come into existence or might have cracked up as a result of the absence of Lenin's directing hand, I am less optimistic than Professor Hook seems to be about the likelihood of a democratic sequel to the collapse of Tsarism...
...The Board of Estimate can turn it down...
...Under these conditions there is every prospect that the new Executive Committee ef tit* French Empire will, finally, be dory constituted and that it will be given formal recognition by the British and American governments...
...Tat reseat was turned down, aad now this soles nan Georgia ha* Us hatchet out for the mssnaa of the Commission...
...Communist parties are being notified in emphatic terms that they stand where they have always stood—and that is outside...
...The privileged dwellers in the new apartments will be crowded fas too densely for health...
...In the goings-on of de Gaulle and Girand in Algiers there is little promise of all this...
...Communication Commission...
...At no time during the past two years could such sews have'1 a more harmful influence...
...Widespread illiteracy and almost universal inexperience in the practice of self-government were heavy handicaps for any democratic regime...
...and 18th St on th* East Side...
...Thereafter, in accord**** wHfe the amended law, they may re-inrbarse tits city and be liberated from aay further ubHgalhSii to the public in return far aH tfss.pt trUeges enjoyed...
...I trust that you will help to make this meeting a hag* success, and remember that the auditorium seats approximately 2.500 people...
...19J20 UFoUsStt ft* port) for the Nation*- Aaat*-tion of Manufactureri t» sg 91,000 a month to hUa aw Knowlton who then hg*4*Hf $1,000 te Mr...
...In order* to allow Mr...
...I very much doubt if the writer of the editorial defending these men took the trouble to read sky of the evidence Robert Moras Lovett has been the most active fellow-traveler in the Communist legion of fellow-travelers...
...The author sees "fascism or survival and another chance for democracy to make good" as "the given alternative of our time...
...The Executive .Csstesa of the Party promptly denied this apptssths London correspondents of \mericsa nj_ papers agree in the report that prsssshsaat opinion in the ranks of British Lakes g g^ whereas the dissolution of the (h>Bkhssserw*» help to promote unity of feeling smasnwZ United Nations, the British weM net shsse their minds about the "united front" ww«vg3 munis ts...
...The characters, Russian and French, stand out well as individuals...
...STUYYfSANT TOWN TROUBLES QN May 8th The New Leader carried the first story qf Stuyvesant housing scandal...
...All asylums of the spirit have been de-*i stroyed...
...Difficulties with labor morale rise directly out of mounting prions...
...But this is not all...
...In the same reeeswuee «Z mas asssatia after a long debate, ft 4...
...They are still totalitarians...
...It ht frank notice to the world that Stuyvesant Town owes no duty to the citizens who made It possible...
...Sokolsky's accusations to have no basis...
...BUT the predominant note of this thoughtful book is not pessimistic...
...The cisvasej propaganda in the world falls go —ilasfff fore the cumulative understanding ettvssj from actions and event...
...The average citizen knows merely that Dr...
...Soke 1 sky received, in the period, June, 193...
...Here one finds a scholarly exposition of Dante's political theories, of Machiavelli and of modern "neo-Machiavellian" thinkers, such ss Pare to and Sorel...
...At the very moment when Congress and the President are presenting an iron front to labor's demands for wage increase* come* this news that OPA is preparing for greater elasticity on the price front...
...Th* objections to the project in it* present form are many aad basse...
...color or political belief.' 7* The stead taken by the organise*- bsbar piugl—iv* forces ef PennsyIrani*laiasseae with that ef shadier force* in stew and other countries...
Vol. 26 • June 1943 • No. 23
