The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-29
BY A. LANDY.

WHAT else can you ask person who proposes
W to take Communism away from the Commu-
nists? Nevertheless, this is actually what Ed
mund Wilson urges as the chief task of the
liberal today. Mr. Wilson made his proposal
in opening a discussion on the position of the
contemporary progressive in a recent issue
of the New Republic.
Even person with the insight of an ostrich
will appreciate that these are times that try
mems souls Old ways, old habits are proving
useless and inadequate Old positions no longer
meet the requirements of swiftly changing situa-
tons. Capitalism has entered an impasse and
is heading straight for the abyss. Literally mil
lions are finding it impossible to continue liv-
ing in the old way.
Naturally, when anything so far-reaching &C.
ours, even handful of liberals are bound to be
affected. These gentlemen, it is true, are not
exactly involved in any material way. They are
not really hungry or destitute or driven to des-
peration from sheer physical necessity But spir-
tually Intellectually, their unwillingness to
tinue in their old position is equalled by nothing
less than the unwilingness of the masses to die
of hunger.
Economic crises have been known to produce
various social and political abnormalties. But
when an avowed liberal suddenly begins plan
ming to capture Communism from the Commu-
nists, then even the blind must see that we are
in the midst of an extraordinary crisis indeed.
We do not say that Wilson proposes to organize
liberal hunger marches, or to duplicate the food
raids of England Arkansas or Oklahoma City;
as far as we know Mr.. Wilson merely proposes
to take Communism away from the Communists.
But we do say that nothing short of the present
crisis could have produced Wilson's admission
that liberalism is only shameless apology for
capitalism.
Nor does Wilson'S confession" stop at this
In his opinion, the present crisis is not crisis
of growth, but an unmistakable crisis of decay
He is actually convinced that American capital
ism is on the brink of destruction and that the
American masses ready TO turn to new
way Of life Under such circumstances, what else
can an honest liberal propose but the capture
of Communism from the Communists?
1t is characteristic of crises that they lay bare
what hitherto has been totally hidden; they
mature and develop what formerly existed in
embryo only; they accelerate all the forces of
development and achieve in few short years
what otherwise would take decades to accom-
plish. And what crisis does on social scale.
in the relation between classes, it does also in
the life Of single individual
We do not know exactly what happened In
Edmund wilson's liberal SOUL But we do know
omic crisis that is forcing the masses to turn to
Communism, is forcing the liberals to change
their methods Of saving the masses for capital
ISM In terms of his own personal experience,
this change may have been very painful to
Wilson; 1t may even have convinced him that
he has now ceased to be an apologist for capt.
talist exploitation. But, in terms of the OBJ
je,tive contents of his article, it is not Wilson'S
class character that has changed, but merely
the vocabulary in which 1t is clothed. In point
Of contents, the call to take Communism away
| from the Communists is merely continuation
Of his previous class line only this time, in diff
ferent words. Now, as before, it is reactionary
| to the bone.
1t y true that both the liberals and the mass
es are beginning to feel the need for new ways
Of life; but their for this are as different
as their interests and aims are opposed. The
liberals are forced to change precisely because
the masses are looking for a new path: but while
the only way out for the masses is the destruc-
ton of capitalism, the only concern OF the lib
erals is It's preservation.
In spite of all Of Wilson's terribly revolution
airy admissions about the end of capitalism and
the necessity OF looking for new path; In spite
Of any illusions he may harbor about his own
revolutionary conversion. Wilson's article reveals