The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-07


beginning of the war on The British
Lion on the Edge of Precipice' (?)
Or my pamphlets published prior to
the Versailles Conference. But these
other fellows understand nothing, they
laugh at Marx as if he were queer
relic Of the Victorian age, and fail to
see that they are laughing at them
selves. Mr.. Wells wrote book entit-
led: Mr.. Brittling Sees it Through
but he could have written better one
entitled Mr.. Pickwick, Socialism and
War. These simpletons, these intel
lectual towards and heroes of phrases
ridicule you, ridicule the young British
Communists who are striving to take
possession of the only weapon capable
Of destroying the British bourgeoisie,
and call them pupils of Moscow.
Stupid asses, they fail to realise that
all their lives they have been merely
pupils in Sunday schools of the British
bourgeoisie."
Bernard Shaw says all this with
/ Incompatible art. The author takes
up the role of the hero in petty
bourgeois socialist comedy of errors:
he speaks in the name of the British
philistine intellectuals in order to
express their thoughts clearly as
Macdonald, Snowden, Webb and Wells
could never formulate to them, for
they fear even to express their coward
ly thoughts.
Factors Which Exist and Factors
Which Should Not Exist.
N FTER this brilliant gem of satir-
N ical humor at the expense of the
philosophy of the socialist" intelli-
gentzia of England, Bernard Shaw
presents in new setting a picture
which is frequently drawn in his sa-
tires. Bernard Shaw is an Irishman
and therefore is better able than any
one else in England to ridicule the
Englishman's conceit, in other words,
the attitude the Englishman takes in
regarding himself as the center of
the universe, as not having any con-
nettfon with the external world and
his demand that the only relation
that the external world shall have to
England, is that of worshipper and
slave. In one of his dramas Bernard
Shaw pictures young Englishman of
good family who travels in Europe
after leaving the university. 1t is
well-known that a young Englishman
of good family would dress for dinner,
even if he was stranded on an unin-
habited island and had to dine alone.
On the ship, however, where he dined
with Germans. he wore his loung suit.
In reply to his tutors query as to why
he did not preserve the good old Brit
ish customs, the young man said: 81
am going to dine with foreigners"
The most witty Austrian writer and
statesman, Pernesdorfer, relates
that once on the Danube he met a
young English woman and, like the
gallant gentleman he was, he offered
her his services, explaining that, as
she was foreigner, she no doubt re-
quired his aid The pert young Eng
fish miss retorted: II, foreigner
No, you are foreigner" Since Eng
land is the axis of the universe, it
follows that all those who are not
English, are foreigners. Englishmen
however, are never foreigners any
where. On one occasion, was visited
by young and not very clever Eng
fish diplomat, who had long lived in
Russia and had Travelled abroad gen.
orally. He was surprised at the fact
that it was necessary to secure a pass
to enter the Kremlin. and the Krem-
lin, as is known, is the headquarters
Of our government. When I asked him
whether I could enter Buckingham
Palace or Downing street straight
from the street without permission,
he looked at me in establishment as if
to say, how can one compare the form
alities that are required to enter
royal palace in England or the prem
ises Of the British government with
what il reOuirad for the Kram1fn9 For