The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-12-20
little Brother
Goes Soldering =
Review by II. RAYMOND
Member of the March Sixth I'm
employed Delegation, Still
in PriSon.)

IN fTlSOn.D
Ever since the war to make the
world safe for democracy ended, and
preparations for new war to make
democracy unsafe for the Soviet
Union began; ever since the last gun
was fired on the western front in
Europe and the first new lethal gas
was concocted in the laboratories in
America; ever since November IL,
1918, war books-diarieS, narratives,
dramas, poems, romance and what
nots about the war-have been clut-
tering the book stands to such an
extent that one would have to be
sentenced to sontary confinement Tor
life in order to read them ALL
Many of these books that l have
read are downright trash, and most
of them are sentimental bladerdaSh
written for the sole purpose of rally
ing youth to the banners of capital
ism for the next grand imperiaist
slaughter Only two of them, AL
Quiet on the Western Front" and
this new book, Little Brother Goes
Soldering" give us a picture of any,
thing resembling the true situation
during the war.
Little Brother Goes Soldering" is
narrative written in diary form. 1t
expresses the reaction of young
English school boy whose mind is
saturated with the typical English
bourgeois theology of army life and
var in general. This boy, who hardly
new what a worker looked like sud-
denly finds himself in an English
training camp, buck private, along
with the pit boy, the slaughterer's
boy and other English working youth.
The voluptuous billingsgate of the
army camp staggers him at first and
indeed his reaction to it staggers me.
never knew that school boys existed
who didn't know the meaning of the
word whore and I am sure the
general run of school boys are not
as eliminate as the author of this
diary depicts little Brother" (who
is really the author HIMSELF, as hav-
ing been.
In spite of the Enthusiastically broad
streak of lavender which runs through
ibis book and which is obviously part
Of little Brothers" makeup, this
book remains, of all the war books
have read. one of the most vivid
and truthful descriptions of what
men went through in the last i'm
perialist war, and stands second per-
laps only to "All Quiet on the West
ern Front"
Once at the front, Little Brother
begins to see things and write about
them in a very Illuminating and
truthful manner. The mud, the ver-
min, the gore, the avalanches of steel,
the terror and horror are all brought
out sharply before the reader with
out exaggeration.
He describes a machine gun dug
out after Smelling: There are patches
of blood here and there all over the
place, and bits of head in tin hats,
| and Jumps of red and grey body, with
pieces of khaki sticking to them"
And then the general confusion and
mixup: "There were Is of us, with
one Lewis gun. He (the officer) had
guided us all afternoon with his map
| out. Neither he nor us knew the
Way" And again on the Marine. 'The
brigadier galloped up to us on a
brown horse, and shouted. Fix bay
onets. Jerry is just over the hill. Go
at him and he'll run, simply run. He's
I lot more frightened of you than
| you are of himp He wheeled his
horse and galloped off {. the cap