Letters
Letters Wishful Thinking in Politics From JOSEPH R. LEBO WISHFUL thinking is comforting. It affords an escape from ugli-nass and at th* same time helps to sustain tha ego. Many liberal* and...
...The only potential army of revolters are the million* of foreign workers, and they, too, are under the Gestapo heel...
...It bears us down into the gloom of a miserable family, and leaves our imagination—which its last-wordtuchal-lenge—to look ahead upon a prospect of equal gloom...
...Tell them what our peace terms are, the the war may end much sooner...
...When The Doily Nemo says, "Wait till the boys come home," it may not be wishful thinking at all since,thst paper may see in their return the addition of more conservatives to back their unprogressive viewpoint...
...But the French boys didn't seem to mind at all...
...dent Roosevelt not only from the mo-ment when the United States entered the war, but for throe years before the wsr began...
...Assuming that tba GOP Is dead, it would be supplementary wishful thinking to assume that something better had taken its place...
...Eddie Dowling and I.oui* J. Singer...
...For us Franklin D. Roosevelt (till lives...
...The farmer, even when impecunious, is a petty capitalist He will resist tha unionisation of farm handa—as former Governor La Follette of Wisconsin sadly learned...
...4—On paper, farmers and laborers hsve s community of interests...
...The daughter Is doubly shy through her infirmity...
...He did mora than any other man in this crisis, not only to strengthen their courage, but also to infuse their patriotic emotion with a humane and enlightened idealism, with a high resolve to serve their own country by serving mankind...
...The revolution waa just around the corner...
...And the blank wall rises to reveal the past—often veiled by a thin curtain, always dimly lighter, touched with the silence or the sentiment of his dream, as through the wanderer's aye* we See bis sordid home...
...7—During the depression of the thirties many people saw in the resistance of farmers to sheriff foreclosures of farms, the beginnings of agrarian revolt against capitalism...
...The German feels today that he has been wronged, not wronging...
...There is a certain uneasiness in the shifts from the son in the story to the commentator outside...
...WHO LIVI IN GLASS HOUSES— By JOSEPH T. SHIPLEY "THE GLASS MENAGERIE...
...The European movements simply don't understand the American split...
...1—The drat wishful thought is thst the Republican Party is dsad...
...Issue an appeal to the German people," they urge...
...By and large the Germans have become collectively callous...
...New York City...
...The Social Democrat* of the United States share tha nation's deep sense of loss In the untimely death of President Roosevelt Like President Lincoln eighty years ago, ha lived to see the military phase of a tragic and heroic struggle culminating in assured victory for the forces of liberty and progress...
...6— Not all farmers who belong to farm cooperatives believe in cooperation...
...No one knows now the exact composition of each camp...
...This implies that the American soldiers abroad have a well-organised, forward-looking program for the domestic economy, will know what to do for the welfare of their native land Actually, since the army is a cross-section of the people, its return will merely add to the number who feel one way or another...
...It affords release from repeated frustration...
...9—Another case of wishful thinking that has made the rounds of the discussion tables i* th* flat assumption that workers are more sensitive, kinder and more humane than people who possess greet wealth...
...Would that this were true) Actually, the "feeling class" to which anyone can belong transcends property, birth, or social status...
...somehow death's victory is snatched from its gaping or patted jaws...
...His father had been a telephone worker, but "fell in love with long distance...
...The mother is...
...To them th* consumer Is still the same victim in the dark alley ha knew before the cooperative earn* bis way...
...As our army advances into Germany, correspondents and military men are seeking this "wished for" underground...
...Many belong to such cooperatives because of the financial ad vantages given them— « stable, outlet, excellent marketing facilities, high price...
...Setting by Jo Mieltiner...
...We Social Democrats supported Prssi...
...Mich...
...The action begins in a St Louis alley...
...But it is a fact that such horror camps are also filled by persons who never lifted a finger against th* Naxis, men merely suspected of morality, and by those who never uttered an unfriendly word publicly against totali-tarianism—as well as persons who had a democratic background such a* Social-Democrat* and the like...
...Despite its thump, rather, its gradual droop without rebound, "The Glass Menagerie" remains tha beet performed play in several seasons, and on* that will waken and challenge earnest thought...
...10—The classical illustration of wishful thinking in modern times is thst uttered by the Norman Thomas Socialists...
...The New Leader it the best paper of it* kind in America...
...6—Consider the wishful thinking vslue of speech making and faith in th* power af passing resolutions...
...A "gentleman caller," brought home to dinner by the ton, tries to bolster her self-esteem...
...You'd think it would be a rather embarrassing situation...
...Beside a sort of fire-escape terrace and door stands a drifter who had joined the merchant marine...
...In the meantime, the son has left the electric light bill unpaid, to get his dues for the maritime union...
...like Lincoln, he has been called away on the eve of the happier task of restoring peace, healing the wounds of war, and doing away with the came* that might threaten to renew the conflict Franklin D. Roosevelt embodied th* beat qualities of the American people...
...Thi* simple story of misery is simply told, with flashes of humor playing over it at times, like heat-lightening through a sultry sky...
...Lauretta Taylor, as the mother, rises to new heights of genuine distinction...
...It Is a twisted, distorted family, the girl physically twisted too...
...And being part of tha life it endeavors to present the play bears its own damnation...
...Staged by Eddie Dowling and Margo J one...
...hence, we must share hi* memory...
...Some little touches are natural, and quaint How Earl Wilson must have turned in his grave demeanor, at beholding the prototype of "falsies" the hopeful mother thrust upon her most relu'tant child I The mother, nevertheless hopeful, still talks fn echoes of her earlier dreams of splendor, oddly mixing simple expressions with the grander speech of the society folk as she fancied them in her early days in the south (though we can see no reason why, as narrator, Eddie Dowling should mispronounce "narrator", "address", snd "archetype...
...Unfortunately, the Impression gained here by impartial observer* was of a benevolent, Santa Clausish Hillman come to pay a friendly visit, very conscious of his recant succeeees in London and much impressed with the power and wealth of his own organization, but without much knowledge of the problems and interest* of his French opposite numbers...
...Our Federation and its adherents pledge our loyalty to his spirit in both domestic and international affairs...
...thusiasts to believe that Europe or even Canada ia going socialist...
...he has run from his family but cannot forget...
...The son, writing poetry while toiling in a warehouse, supports a plaintive mother and a fair but limping sister...
...But a quiet though disturbing sense of reality mounts through the misty memories, lifted by performances of a competence and dignity paralleled by few casts of recent seasons...
...Yet the Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota turned out to be a mesalliance...
...It lacks both the universality and the exhilaration, even exaltation, we expect from the theatre at its best The great tragedies that go down in frustration or to defeat yet show us man rising to face hia doom with courage, or with a humor that takes the sting from the grave...
...X—{There may bo trends, but there Is little in fact to encourage Marxian en...
...Having said this much, one must go further...
...They were plainly delighted to have him hare, if only as a symbol of a closer understanding and coordination between French and American trade unionists...
...When a participant calls for definite, concrete implementation with carefully worked out plans—well, be usually must look for the nearest exit...
...Why, aren't the concentration camps filled...
...They have not been able to find it, not even among these German* who claim that Nazism waa forced upon them and that they never actually believed in the Fuehrer...
...The lights go out, the son goes out and: "Hera my memories end, and your imagination must begin," th* narrator s»ys, as we face once mora tha blank wall of the future...
...And just so, willy nilly, the new International will be set up...
...But here, too, there are two "tendencies," and those who favor "the democratic way," as opposed to other forms, but who can't afford the luxury (ta re their membership) of refusing to play, welcome any American participation—not bothering to inquire which wing of the U. S. movement it comes from...
...Hillman in France From « Paris Observ#r To the Editor: SlDNEY HILLMAN, accompanied by Martin Kyne and Mike Roe* of tba Marino Shipbuilders, cams to Franco after the labor conference in London, and did tha round* with th* French CGT crowd...
...For the play is written not as escapist entertainment but in tha tradition of great drama...
...not naturally a scold, but she lives, too, in memories: of her grander past, of the many gentlemen callers —rich planters, most of them—she let slip by for her unlucky choice of a husband...
...The AFL, to my mind, hss committed a most colossal mistake...
...For years the conscience of mankind has been appealing to tba German masse* by word and petition with no result Assuming thst the allied radio could get that kind of message through to the German people, are they capable of understanding an appeal that Mr...
...8—Hollywood and an assortment of leftist have beard of an underground movement in Germany...
...Knowing well that he wsi not and did not pretend to be a Socialist, we regarded it as oar Socialist duty to support him in his effort to reconstruct the nation's life in such a way as would minimise the evils of capitalism and keep open the paths of democratic, peaceable, and intelligent social change...
...There is just dull, driven doom, against which they feebly flutter for their little while...
...Mutie by Paul Bowie...
...and Anthony Ross Is a baffled Babbitt exuding for others the confidence that has failed In himself, a sort of early •wan that turns Into a honking goose...
...8—We have bean told since 19S8 that a revolution would occur in Germany to and the war...
...Julie llaydon limps her wistful hours as a shy moth from whom fate withholds the flame...
...VOICE OF PROTEST From George go-char To th* Editor: I like Th* New Leader bees use it raises its voice of protest against tyranny, whether it be capitalist, communist, nasi, or even "democratic...
...Eddie Dowling'* easy naturalness is sweetest theatre...
...His example will give us strength to go on with task* made still heavier by hi* physical decease...
...they ask...
...This is the fruit of Nazi indoctrination...
...And great drama it Is not...
...she warms in the Are of his enthusiasm—then he reveals he is already engaged, and turns his flame away...
...Of course, this had been the principal platform of all the official meetings and discussions...
...He still suffers from psranoia, from being hemmed in...
...Many liberal* and laborite* have often made such wishing an almost logical development of their zealous efforta to bring about change...
...That ia all the east) In them, the play holds four aces...
...Only by maintaining that ideal can the nation pay fit tribute to its lost leader...
...Our Tragic Loss Statement adopted by the National...
...By T*nn****a William...
...12—This last illustration deals with a "wishful thought" which I believe to be a fact...
...and they are better waters it bids us drink...
...On* of th* season's swiftest successes, earnest and consummately performed, has come to the Playhouse in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie...
...But here, there is neither enough social consciousness evoked to fire us to urge a new law or prompt us to sign a check, nor enough courage in tha character to make us admire their stand against forces greater than themselves...
...The* German feels that the greatest crime America hss committed against the fatherland, one that is unforgettable and unforgiveable, was to defest him on the field of bsttle...
...Thomas imagines desirable...
...And insofar as they picture more families than this one, they shadow forth drifting, spiritless lives — a life that Is not worthwhile...
...11—"Wait till the boys get back," is constantly heard...
...across the stage stretches the blank wall of the future . The drifter talks...
...It opens a deep well of pathos out of "now and the past...
...There are moments when the 'gentleman caller" aeems "going to great lengths" to perk up the drooping daughter: the picture of inconsequence and futility is almost too exact...
...Actually the farmers wanted to hold on to their land and were unaware of any anti-capitalist ideology that had been wished upon them by solicitous sympathizer...
...The New York Drama Critics Circle has voted it the season's best play...
...Fortune magasina discovered that more propertied than proletarian people believe in Socialism...
...Even if the Germans wanted to act on such an appeal, can they...
...And that thought la repeated despite the fact that Governor Dewey received over 46 percent of the popular vote...
...Only the moat sensitive- performance, timed and patterned by the sympathetic understanding of Eddie ' Dowling (aided in the directing by Margo Jones) save the work in several such trying momenta, and pitch it in a tone of tense, earnest dignity, that sets the play in a world of its own, like the glass menagerie that is the daughter's substitute for fair reality...
...By sulking in their tents they've handed the ball to Hillman, who haa naturally grabbed it and is rscing down the field, with "his friends" clearing his way...
...Thus the inevitable tragic end is made endurable...
...Their lives are fruitless, worthless...
...Thus on tha plane of great drama...
...By remaining outside with half the organized American workers, the AFL has deprived the truly democratic sections of the European labor of much needed moral, and numerical voting support...
...At the Play haute...
...Pre-tented by...
...Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Federation af itt tcteion in Pitttburgh, April 14 and IS...
...Lansing...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 16
