The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-12-19

Wnlch crowded City college, 4
ington Ave-, Sunday afternoon.
Strachey's lecture on "Cul-
ture and Fascism," with
Michael Gold as chairman, was ar
ranged by the John Reed Club OF
New York, which is using the pro-
ceeds to aid in the establishment Of
its new magazine, Partisan Review"
So great was the interest in the
meeting that 1t was necessary to
place 200 seats on the platform.
After these seats were filled, a large
number Of persons sat on the floor,
on either side Of the platform, while
others crowded the aisles of the audi
torium.
IT have very dear friend--a Ger
man comrade in England today, an
exile" Strachey began. HE told me
that he once heard a NaN say
Whenever hear the word culture,
reach for my gun That, I think
is the briefest and completest cpl
tome OF Nazi culture"
Asking the question why it is that
Fascism attempts visibly and ply
sicalIy to destroy and break off the
continuity OF hum an thought"
Strachey declared:
1T Is, unquestfonabiy this: That
the tradition Of human thought in
the field of art, science and literature
leads the human mind to certain con-
illusions which are incompatible with
the present mode Of civilization"
Fascism's Rise No Mystery
Fascism, the speaker pointed out,
is not am inexplicable movement.
"Fascisn is the movement of des-
peratton on the part of the very
greatest capitalists, the very greatest
bankers, to maintain their society at
any cost. 1t is an attempt to main
tain the present system by any de-
gree of violence"
II that is the nature of Fascisn.
Strachey continued, is it difficult to
understand that it attempts at the
same time to break the organizations
of the working class?
Starving in the midst of plenty
we spout this on street cornersEand
we should continue to do so. The
human reason rebels at such sit
uation. You cannot begin to find a
rational explanation why corn is being
burned in one place, while in another
place people are starving.
THE mind begins to rebel at such a
situation. That is why it is necessary
for the Fascists to stop men from
reasoning. In fact, the Japanese i'm
perialist government has a law pun
ishing people for thinking dangerous
thoughts
But the German Nazis, Strachey
added, know that all thoughts are
dangerous thoughts. This" he added,
sis to my mind the basis of the
necessity for the fascist attack on
culture"
Bourgeois Achievements
After reviewing the achievements
of the human race since the Renais-
sance-during the past 400 years-and
after pointing out the genuine ac-
compIshments of the bourgeoisie dur
ing its revolutionary struggle against
feudalisna, Strachey showed that cap
italisrn today Is neither willing nor
able to continue the advance OF
human culture.
ut is vitality important for Com
munists to show precisely that Com
munism is the only legitimate heir
to all human culture--that we are
a.
and the centuries-the only possible
heirs 10 IT,"
Strachey asserted that the Commu-
nists are absolutely justified in
describing the leading writers
of the past century as decadent and
bourgeois. TN using these adjectiyes
we have not dismissed them, how
ever. Proust, Joyce and Lawrence
have been writer's of first-rank i'm
portance. They made articulate the
tendencies of their time. They were
within capitalism and reflected its
character. That is what we mean
when we say they are bourgeois
artists"
Turning to contemporary bourgeois
writer's in America, Strachey cited
Archibald MacLeish's 'tFrescoes for
Mr.. Rockefeller's City" as n ex-
ample Of the rise Of fascism in Amer
lean literature.
Budding Fascism In u. S. Literature
He quoted Michael Colds charac-
terization of MacLeish's work as
Fascist and added that 'MacLeiSh is
making articulate the voice and
methods OF fascism."
These poems are quite obviously
the mood, the lett motif of fascism,"
The audience broke into merriment
when the speaker described Mac
Leish as "a bit busy about being
American"
The revolutionary phrases in Mac
Leish's poems against the House Of
Morgan can well be taken up and
used by the very Morgans against
whom this sentiment LIS directed. TT
seems far-fetched, but we have seen
1t happen in Germany"
Strachey then turned to Joseph
Wood Krutch, literary EDITOR Of The
Nation, as a typical exponent of "the
world-weary school of criticism" He
quoted q key-passage from Krutch's
book, 1.-THE Modern Temper" in which
the author denies that the proletariaI