The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-24
Unity of Purpose and
Vigor Mark May.June
Issue of left 'front.'
LEFT FRONT, May-June, 1884.
Organ Of the John Reed Clubs of
the Midwest. 1Oc.
Reviewed by
WALLACE PHELPS

OUR revolutionary literature is
" growing very rapidly. And it is
not confined to a few metropolitan
areas. For the first time really
national literature, free from So
phisticated importations, is being
given form by the many regional
revolutionary magazines.
The latest number of Left Front,
the bi-monthly organ of the John
Reed Clubs Of the Middle Wes-., has
two striking features. The issue as
whole is vigorous and direct. 1t
has the punch and unity Of pur-
pose which shows that the editors
and contributors are thoroughly
aware of their aims and of their
audience. They are evidently try
ing to contribute to our national
revolutionary literature by building
from the ground up. There is little
of the jazziness and pretentiousness
in the magazine, which comes
from juggling of ill-adapted forms
and themes.
The other encouraging feature is
the predominance of younger
writer's of very promising gifts. Pace
Setter, a story by Tom Butler, is an
interesting variation of familiar
worker themes. A tire-builder with
his nose to the grindstone, produe-
ing more than anybody else in the
shop, finally wears himself out, and
wakens to the interests of the
workers in the shop. This final
conversion mars the story some
what in that it is little too linear,
too much like a resume of what
might have happened. Mark Mar
wins recreation in Jorgen's Folly of
the wrecking of machine in the
18th century because it would speed
up production and throw workers
out of jobs, suggests the vast room
for experimentation. 1t falls short
of its aims, however, because the
account is too literal. The char
acters do not rise out of their
historical setting.
Edith Mango continues her re-
portage Of the unemployed strug-
giles in Chicago. Her sketches are
lucid and in places exciting, but her
frequent absorption in details and
in tactics serves to make the
sketches simmer where they should
sizzle Herbert Klein contributes
section of play of the South, John
Henry Bad Niger" which I i'm
derstand will soon be produced in
New York.
THE poetry and the criticism seem
to be the weakest parts of
the issue. The review Of Farrell's
The Young Manhood of Studs
Lonigan by Herb Markson is SEN
sitive enough to the evident virtues
of the book, but Markson exag=
gerates them and throws them out
of perspective by failing to relate
the book to the problems and
achievements of revolutionary liter
allure in general. Similarly the re-
view of The Great Tradition by
Granville Hicks accurately sums up
the contents of the book, but fails
to cut through to the method Hicks
employs-to its implications and to
validity of Hicks use of it. Had
this been done, the review would
have been more helpful to readers,
writer's, and critics.
The poetry. in general, is not as
good as it might be. Several of the
poems are easy writing by direct
rhetorical statement. They do not
show sufficient awareness of the
problems Of revolutionary poetry.
H. H. Lewis poem is pedestrian
without being popular The form
and images are loose, and the ref
erences remote and arbitrary. The
two best poems are those by Pillin
and Wright. And Wright, too, sue
cuinbs largely to the rhetoric Of
direct statement. The power of his
poem is in the idea and not in the
mood and images he uses to evoke
the idea. Pillin is one Of the most
promising of our younger poets,
and one of the most experimental.
But he has not yet achieved a bal
ance of idiom and theme.
A word about the makeup.
Though this has been improved in
the last issue, Left Front is still
little confusing to readers. be-
cause of the splitting up Of re-
views and stories, and the use OF
columns in Newspaper fashion.
If I seem to be a little too critical
in this review, it's because I believe
that the future of Left Front is
promising, and that improvement
in the material will give it an i'm
portant place among revolutionary
magazines.