The 'Undramatic" English People -A final Note on The British Character
PRIESTLEY, J.D.
The 'Undramatic" English People -A final Note on The British Character J. B. Priestley Concludes His Letters to a Russian Named Ivan By J.D. PRIESTLEY AT the end of my last letter I promised to ^...
...f\NE reason why communal art* <.t, tfc drama, symphonic'music, and as font, haw up to this war lagged behind in Eagiaac i> tha so many sections of the English people art* really settle down to living a trahr urbar *& and so creating an urban civilization...
...a selective organ, primarily interested in maintaining the status quo...
...T have asked many of my former students who are now in the Army, "What do you think about the post-war world, what kind of a world do you want, what kind of a world are you striving for...
...When we heard the bembeea coming over, they would say "Here's OM Nasty again...
...We hsve no program in the American army comparable to the army education classes of Britain...
...Furthermore, they are taught to play and to watch these games in a spirit of "good sportsmanship,'* that is...
...our society with the courage an-j understanding and money that is necessary...
...Emancipation, says the rebel of today, comes with the rule of my party...
...For the benefit of the professional revolutionists — we have since learned...
...Bat thay do not really think that Hitler .and the Nazis are a joke...
...The American army provides for discussion of current events in some of its camps...
...They pretend to make a joke' out of everything, including Hitler and his Nazis...
...To the politician the victorious revolutionist is a gangster holding up the entire country and murdering his competitors...
...in fact has teSSjgSt aic changes...
...But the contours of the Weal are vague—hence its place is taken by the eratorial' ritual of phrases and catch words...
...The Father of Anarchism, in turn, was full of admiration for what, be called "the power and vitality of the Jesuit order" with its "absolute extinction of the individual in the will of the community...
...Invariably, their answers is, "We den;t think...
...The romantic revolutionist of the past used to ssy: "Better to be desd than a slave...
...We use the best radio snd movie talent to entertain oar boys but we do nothing about bringing the best teachers and thinkers of the country in contact with the soldiers...
...And the ultra-Leftist who opposes all existing regimes, finds every excuse for the judicial murders committed by Robespierre and by Trotsky...
...Nevertheless, tbe English people art set a insensitive to the arts as they are oftes may out to be...
...a leading magazine I printed a series of articles by American sol-diers on what they are fighting for...
...Labor Party up to now that lu tsaaji have appeared to be indifferent U tha X of life...
...And that eon ¦ try, my dear Ivan, is yours...
...And our history has helped too...
...Why...
...It selected prize-winning letters which it felt would support the status quo...
...old divinities...
...They have never eeased te at mj ested in literature...
...Congressmen who could not sea why .ay...
...Briteia's system of education in the army is superior to ours...
...Much of what they said sounded like the "chichi" of a Hollywood movie or a radio soap opera...
...Presumably, these men came from different walks of life and different sections of the country...
...Sometimes this attitude of mind encourages the Englishman to close his eyes to the grimmer realities...
...The liberal professor, who denounces the execution ef Saceo and Vanzetti, heartily endorses Stalin's parges and "trials...
...who had...
...Now tbe essence of good play in a team lies in the suppression of the desire for individual glory and in the cultivation of an unselfish and co-operative team spirit Our schoolboys—and schoolgirls too, in recent years—are strongly encouraged to "play for the side...
...I admit quits freely that there is too much so-called "humor** ia English fife, and that frequently this "humor" is used as s kind of dsfnnar against reality...
...Education, at its best is s slow process and labor leaden are compelled to look , for immediate returns...
...Finally, the influence of sports and games, for which all classes of the English have long had a passion, cannot be ignored...
...Says the convict to his pet bird in the cage: "Cheer up, Dicky, we are getting out next week...
...But if they did, the readers of this magazine would not know it because for years the common man has been shackled in his thinking by the glamour of things which the radio, the press and the movies have had to sell...
...that there is not enough honest dis-eassion of torrent events and political issues ia the armed forces...
...It is also possible that the long enmity and rivalry, lasting for many centuries, between England and her nearest neighbor, France, had some influence on our national manner...
...They do not make friends ** lightly, and they find K fiard to wrest th# feelings...
...Men who hsd to go out and govern huge wild regions, often backed by very small military forces, probably found themselves compelled to cultivate this particular manner, not unlike that of the old Romas tribunes and governors...
...It has long been a notorious fault in the English that they are far more interested in . these sports and games than they «rt b J arte...
...the common man, he will use his political as well as economic power in terms of his interests snd his interests in the poet-war world will be international as well as local...
...Add ss the master of that ritual is the politico...
...The Eternal Recurrence "FToea focce to injustice there is only one step," iaya Condercet...
...separate white collar wfflbtre from Industrial workers on the tisjM thai they have no common interests, to separate faraters from all workers with the same set af arguments...
...These words by the German-Italian sociologist Roberto Michels should adorn the Pantheon of successful rebels snd empire builders...
...A parable on the revolutionary would-be dictator and the mass is contained in the caption of s non-political cartoon that was merely intended to be funny...
...If you are faced with something huge, menacing, terrible, and must strain every nerve to meet its challenge, then you can make the situation endurable in one of two different ways...
...should worry about milk for the Hottentots must know that there are thousands of workers in munition plants and factories who think of each holt and screw that they tarn oat as their personal contribution to the war against Hitler and Hirohito and fascism...
...ess not find houses in the country, they, vis u asst prefer to live in suburbs where ahsy ran too gardens, golf and tennis clubs, and im s sac of- imitation country-life Moat af t&t pees* belong to the middle classes, sn^*shrt*t feS that this departure of theirs frost tht Bwjiira towns produced some bad rssnltl...
...You can say, "Yea, this enemy is huge and terrible, but I aa huge and I can be terrible, too, and I shall win...
...Our educational system has failed to translate this latent internationalism into mon* constructive and articulate terms...
...This holds for individuals as well as nations...
...If they know how this can be done they will accomplish it The same cannot be said of the leadership which formulstes our policies both st home snd sbroad...
...Once these problems are clarified and dramatized for...
...Some boys may have written letters to the effect that they were fighting for the rights of racial and religious, minortiee, or for an economic society which assured economic security snd industrial democracy...
...And the enthusiasm for both apparently meant that they wanted enough freedom for themselves to make another Russia out of their own country...
...Labor leaders spend so much time appearing before war labor boards and governmental agencies1 and parrying Ota attacks of the National Association of Manufacturers that they have paid little attention to the necessity of more extensive workers' education among the new workers who have flooded the labor market...
...The skeptic suspects that both are right...
...In the Western World political ideals are gradually displacing the...
...Salvation, says the priest of all times, comes with the submission to my creed...
...We are not, yoa see, s dramatic people, as I know to-my cost, for I am a dramatist and, as you can easily imagine, it is very difficult making drama out of people who do not want to be dramatic, who hate—as they .always say—"to make a scene...
...Mussolini owed much of his wisdom to Lenin...
...Tha workers have a humor of their own, which is largely ironical...
...So Hitler eaoosnes "Old Nasty," ss I've beard Bnghsb simple folk often say...
...The skeptic of today—though no longer sentimental about "mankind"—bows to the rebels of the oast who suffered for their dream, but be abhors their luckier successors for what they become when they survive their triumph...
...The founder of Bolshevism borrowed his .roeta-ods from Bakunin...
...IT is probably true that the non-rigid English * class struct ore has helped to establish among us a calm,-, unemotional manner...
...In those dsys the French were regarded as excitable and noisy and hysterical people, and the English were probably determined to be a unlike them as possible...
...And this is tbe way that best suits a direct and rather dramatic people...
...Today Communism is associated with the idea of the "emancipation of the working class," even though the workers in Russia are now literally attached*to their plants and factories, just ss under feudalism the serfs were attached to the soil...
...the house in which they were bom, the old parents on tbe form, the girl down the street the car they had back home, the good times they had, the need to do an unpleasant job quickly and get it over, in order to return to the job they left behind...
...but the tradition of manner and speech in tile Royal Navy has taught its officers and men\ to be cool, imperturbable, quiet laconic—a tradition, by the way, that baa had its influence on other navies...
...Yes, thj Kajn* people, who greet every reference w Ran I with cheers at any public meeting, realij •*1 to know all about the Russian peer* St teas the great mass of our people is roncarssi I can assure you that the foundatio' a*1 a ready been laid for an enduring st-urtart *' friendship...
...In political matters civilized man's sense of right and wrong has never gone beyond that of the proverbial priraitnfe savage...
...Two thousand years later the workers and the educated deelantit of Russia joined hands under the leadership of Lenin...
...Do not forget that the eighteenth century, the period of England's greatest colonial expansion, was the time whan ancient Reese was rediscovered aad became the fashion...
...And there is in Enriaati surprising amount of good amateur acts* playing of instruments and singing, anc pais> • ing...
...The philosophy of the "progressive" Bolsheviks under their neo-Tsarist regime is: one party, one leader, one question...
...with the resuje, that it is common too in the fighting services i Amongthe air dan of the R.A.F . for exam pie, an...
...The respectable conservative who balked at the mass executions which disgraced the Russian Revolution, fully approved of aH the atrocities committed in peace time by the various fascist regime...
...To be sure, even the organized worker is confronted with the problem of a labor leadership which is so concerned with settling everyday, mundane problems, that it has not taken time out to think of what labor will want and need in tomorrow's world...
...Or they are compelled by the' military discipline to sublimate what they know...
...Is the fact that veterans of World War Q will be s powerful political force the explanation of the failure of the Army tu provide a stimulating, progressive education that will translate the vague principles of the Atlantic Charter into living, r. concrete terms which have significance for the common soldier...
...New, believe me whan I say that the average Englishman is just as serious at heart as tbe average Russian...
...Reactionary forces in tats country are cognizant of this pattern aad'taey are try...
...In their brief experience in organized education they have never been taught to think, to ask why, or to articulate their thoughts, if any...
...They know that without an organization they cannot be represented before the existing government war agenda...
...Tbe typical English manner is very much the sailor's manner...
...And this is tbe indirect aad undramatic way, which suits the English...
...This, of course, applies more especially to the more comfortable classes...
...The philosophy of the reactionary "Slavophiles" under the Tsarist regime was: one law, one church, one language...
...Is it because we are afraid they might start thinking and that would be bad for the status quo...
...They were preparing for the muck and grime and pain of war with their "make-up" on and apparently they anticipated coming ' back to their old home with their "make-up" still on...
...t t /CHRISTIANITY has been credited with the ^* emancipation of the ancient slaves, even though Saint Paul himself, and all the Fathers after him, exhorted them to obey their masters...
...The common people have the cettrage...
...folk of this unconquered islsnd-^-a aefi ware having...
...They follow a prepared outline, even as they follow the army manual...
...Bat once they have grass their re* snd exchanged the handclasp of tras- *"r*^ ship, their trust snd affection and ftdehtj ** shine through the darkest boors...
...f"HE recent race riots in Detroit and Harlem, * the racial persecutions in Boston, Hillbum, and points west, the existence of racial prejudice ¦a MtvW *•»»*¦ — -»-ty»»- it-fJAl** «vo "vi j*t-Ait*n Mnn t Vi o t- tsta have failed to tackle the problems of prejudice which exist ir...
...What they do—though .not what they say—proves that And after all, it is what people do that gives us the genuine clue to their fundamental beliefs...
...And during this war the demaoc for raj books and plays, music snd pictures, lai ptiti enormously, and various organizations Mn* * them supported by the government hivt cast into existence to try to meet this nt * dtatsi Again, the younger people have new demote: a taste for ballet...
...The de-~ocrH'-:o» of today maintain thrir status'quo by giving the potential leaders of the -peer man s revolt a chance of becoming anion organizers and labor politicians...
...Spartan philosophy of power demanded the physical extermination of the strongest and...
...They were fighting for tangible things...
...English politicians -sr«ij a>J any eathusiasai for or knowledge^ the uk and it has, to my mind, been a grave veateai of the...
...These young men do net thinh of themselves as "heroes" and aze nearly always, shy and uneasy when they are' brotfght before the public...
...And, believe me, tbe /riend*m» i the English people—the sturdy, honest ,t0...
...reisiauyby any man to his own skill snd prowess ismgrerery condemned...
...Officers in charge of current events discussion know little about the concepts of adult education and by and large they have no idea of the ; way in which to promote discussion among adults...
...They do not hare to understand the principles of economic theory to know the problems thst arise out of the gap between wages in their pockets and what they can purchase with their wages...
...AROMANTIC French rebel wrote the following lines shortlv b'fore Ms exe<»uti"n: "I love mankind for what it ought to be, but I despise it for what it is...
...In theory an apostle of boundless freedom, Michael Bakunin was in practice an advocate of iron discipline and dictatorial rule...
...Long live freedom and Russia...
...And as the priest is the master of the ritual, the inference is obvious...
...They are concerned with making democracy a reality...
...ing with all their might to precipitate an , eater lag wedge tete the Jajwnr aarvesaaat te...
...to.{Bps* - it towns But the war has cha'nge?|J tint - - t # The war...
...I will try again...
...Does the familiar and cynical answer, "I'll settle for a piece of apple pie," represent the typical viewpoint or are oar soldiers conscious oi a need for s world federation of free democratic nations •cooperating to ensure peaceful progress...
...And the younger people esaedaTh »** s* longer iacOriom and complacent ?"»»> »"» far Store interested ia the werkt And, perhaps for the first tun- i« taf history", our workers are eagerly eu-iou* sw* the people of another country...
...I wondered about this world of make-believe and then I realised that this magazine, like most American magazines, was...
...These were tactics which were so successfully ased by the fascists in Europe...
...Theresa Wolf son says we have failed to , present ear war aims to the Army aad Nsvy in terms that will arouse enthusiasm...
...But more important than this waa the influence of the sea...
...All roads lead to Rome...
...in a chivalrous spirit And this particular spirit is very strong among all classes of the English people, and, it must be confessed, in the early stages of a war, with conning, unscrupulous, ruthless enemies like the Germans, the influence of the spirit places the Fagiteh at a disadvantage...
...What the Boys Don't Think WHAT are American bays, from farm and factory aad office, fighting for...
...But what if the great injustices can be eliminated only by force...
...They build themselves up to meat the challenge...
...On the other hand, it does tend to heighten the level of his daily conduct, teaches hirn^ to be scrupulously fair-minded, to cooperate unselfishly, to keep his word, not to lie and cheat, and not to be too elated by victory or too cast down by defeat Incidentally, there is far more of this spirit among the ordinary English people than can be discovered in many of our popular newspapers, which often tend to overstre.w everything...
...Alss, all too many of as recognize fascism abroad bat fail to see its operations at home The prejudices with which large sections of our country are nurtured is the deliberate and conscious policy of some members ef the Church, tbe press, the radio, and the schools...
...If you are personally confronted with destroying three thousand miles away, it should not be impossible to integrate that feeling along more constructive emotional and intellectual Unas and positively to posh tha pattern of international responsibility...
...But finally the Gfrmsh exploitation of it so angers the ordinary English soldier that he fights all the better...
...I must brmf ts*a letters to a close...
...We English are particularly fond of games played by teams —football, cricket hockey, etc—and ^ehea we have stopped playing them ourselves, "we like to watch others playing them...
...I hope they have ikrewt *t*a light on the character and outfoolr of t»| English people but if there is still vaet *ho* us that you do not understand, if there arti your mind important questions these **» have left unanswered, then if veV«iT?>* ¦» know...
...In Hindu theology even the Gods are subject to the power of the ritual...
...And si T v-ftt thsf words, the sound of your great victor** to be ringing in my ears, and I know •»< * admiration of my people for years still P*** May the final victory come soon aad our two brave peoples ready to oVe" for**** together, in the great cearrmon task of snaf* health and security, freedom and happDieav w men and women everywhere on earth The Grass-Roots Man and War ,ly THERESA WOLFSOM CEVERAL weeks^go...
...To the revolutionist the politician is a confidence man swindling his constituents snd oat-smarting his rivsls...
...shouted the Communist students of Yugoslavia after the Nazis invaded their country...
...Give as so organization of professional revolutionists," said Lenin, "and we shall turn Russia upside down...
...i. Theresa Wolf son is Professor of Economies st Brooklyn College snd sn authority oa the labor movement From a Skeptic's Scraphook by MAX NOMAD n EVOLUTIONS are surgical operations per-**¦ formed without anesthetics which sometimes benefit the grandchildren of the patient * » • Spartacus failed, and so did Catline, because the slaves and the impecunious citizens of Rome could find no common ground...
...The Father of Anarchism as a forerunner of to-' talitarian communism and fascism—such is, in a nutshell, the eternal conflict between man's lofty thoughts and his base passions...
...It seems to me that though the American soldier may be a good fighter it is essential that he know our war aims and there, I feel, we have failed...
...Now life it not a game, and often it is a marked English weakness to suppose that it is...
...The Royal Navy has always fought with a onanara air, and its gjsTat admirals like Blake and Nelson were famous for their superb audacity...
...If we divert part of the money, time, and brains from the "chichi" of war into the field of adult education and discussion of international and domestic problems, if oar educational system were not so predominantly under the control of status quo forces, if our radio aad press ware not so hysterical in their support of "free enterprise" without a realisation that "free enterprise" in America has been a myth in the past, we might get s more politically and socially mature group of people...
...It has two roots...
...He thinks, too much—such men sre dangerous," seems to be the attitude of the bureaucrats in chsrge of army educstionsl programs...
...most courageous among their Helots...
...H is ha personal power that eventually takes the place of the deal...
...These discussion groups sre boring and perfunctory...
...ORGANIZED workers who have suffered the ^ travail of building up their onion know the value of collective bargaining...
...I imagine that it is these characteristics of ours that, puzzle you inset, especially in wartime when we ere fighting for our very lives...
...PRIESTLEY AT the end of my last letter I promised to ^ expiate our«%abit of making little jokes about everything, our apparent frivolity, and oar trick of staking under-statements...
...So the anvils keep on being hammered...
...One is a genuina^fsatike of self-glorification, part of that concern for good quiet "manners" I discussed in an earlier letter...
...Thus it is that thousands of women workers, Negro workers, and workers who have never before been a part of the' labor army will remain a part of the labor supply' in the post-war world, without having either suffered the experience of building up a trade union organization or really knowing what the trade union has accomplished for them...
...H pis-vented many of these towns tana drvek>pm properly and also tended to cut o^SSew penult imfr tbe wo-fcers...
...TVt a not want to live in cities, and art* if tee...
...Ape at* cat*, do they work ssaeh harder bat I think ifeauj ia spite of all the wartisse restrict)***, uw make better ase of sack limited oppv-.sa> _ ties as they hsve for enjoying tfcesue...
...The chief difference is one of manner...
...Is practically none of the articles was there an indication of the four corners of the world into which they were sent or an interest in the economic and social problems at home which they are most likely to find when they return...
...Even those who have learned some facts in the higher institutions of learning haven't the ability to use those facts...
...And this, I imagine, is your way in Russia-Bat there "is the other way, and that is to regard the enemy through a sort of comic diminishing glass, scaring down the menace, and saying in effect: "He's not so huge snd terrible as be thinks he is, tbe fool, and 111 deal with him...
...MANY of the diaries written from the South Pacific and even from the European theatre of war deplore the fact that our soldiers are more interested in the baseball scores and the radio programs than they are in what they are fighting for and what the world will be like when they return...
...Before the war the popular Tory m scorned to -me deliberately te eaeoarsai 2 interest te sports and games aad te Ihi , j the people from paying much stteatien te 1*3 tare, the drama, music snd the* nsaai aa Official England too has never giver tat ana tile kind of recognition he receives u pJ other countries...
...They won, but alas, the result was Stalin...
...Under-statement, carefully making things seem smaller and less important than they actually are, is of course a favorite trick of ours, and it is one that has pozsied and occasionally seriously misled slfaur slues...
...Making a distinction between freedom and Russia showed good judgment...
...And now, my dear Ivan...
...His cynical counterpart of today says: "It is better to be a hammer than an anvil...
...a "It is hard to remain honest when one is surrounded by crooks, and it is doubly hard when one feels within oneself the strength to be crooked...
...Oar education of soldiers is formal, stultified, snd conservative—because the brass hats fear to encourage thinking...
...The other is the nabit, -partly defensive, of giving a rather ironical and humorous twist to almost every statement It Is very common among our young men...
...It has jerked most of par stoat* eat af their established reattesa It sat thrown together members ef sisVt*' Tissues, and fasdeed has entirely arete* e**r sosse class barriers, although theft art toll toe ssany left Oar people retain mu< sf' their old habits hat stoat of than art a**i far mare free aad spsataaessa ass <*< spoken thaa they ased te be...
Vol. 26 • December 1943 • No. 52
