Evening star., 1937-07-24

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comically shortsighted desires Of
adults, 1t could make one ask oneself
the passing question. rs life long
enough for any purpose?' For it
would seem to be only in childhood
when there is no awareness OF time
and mortality, that there is room for
generosity and tolerance. The adult.
seeing the shadows grow long. scraps
these commodities with greater haste
than beauty and turns all his energies
into snatching his desires while vet
he can.
But, says Mrs. Delafeld, these de-
slres are often pitifully foolish ones,
and in the panic to realize them the
humankind does not scruple to injure
the beings which it has created, its
own young. And Time which gave
doth now the gift confound" Shake
speare, of course, said it best, but it
will always bear restating. 1t is put
here in terms of simplicity that are
well worth new examination.
WORLD REVOLUTION, lsl7-1s3s.
BY c. L. r. James. New York:
Pioneer Publishers
THIS book begins at about the point
where The Stain School OF
Falsification' (reviewed on this page)
leaves of-that is. 1t takes up Trot-
sky's statement that a new Interna-
tiofal is in process of formation for
the combined purpose of saving the
Russian workers government and
forwarding world revolution, and pro-
ceeds to show how such a develop
ment is necessary if the gains" made
by the workers in the overthrow of
czarism are not to be utterly lost
To this end it reviews the history
of the International since 1917, goes
enthusiastically into the MARKHAM doc
trine that economic revolution must
be conducted on world scale and
generally presents case for the
millennium. 1t is written with intense
emotional feeling but still presents
fairly comprehensive history.
Mr. James agrees with Trotsky that
Stalinism in Russia is a complete de-
parture from Ieninism and consti-
tutes betrayal Of the aims for
which the Bolshevik revolution was
fought. He further agrees with Trot-
sky in claiming that the point at
which Stain left Lenin's doctrine
was his abandonment Of effort toward
world revolution and his assumption
of the position that socialism could
be achieved in single country.
But he feels that Stains regime is
only phase and that the new In
ternational will revive the crusade
for worldwide Marxism and that In
this crusade Russia will take the
initiative.
The value Of the book would seem to
lie IN its historical material.
WHIRLPOOL. BY David Lamson
New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons.
DAVID LAMsoN, as readers may
remember, is the man who in
1888, in the midst of promising and
blameless career as a teacher and
writer, was convicted OF numbering
his wife (who was found dead in her
home) and was condemned to be
hanged. This was in, California,
where Mr.. Lamson worked on the
Stanford University Press. He spent
l3 months after the conviction as an
inmate Of Condemned Row in San
Quentin State Penitentiary. At the
end OF that period the Supreme Court
OF California reversed the decision:
he was granted a new trial and was
freed. He wrote his "reminiscences of
his time in the death house in 1885
under the title Of I'VE Who Are About
to Die" Now he writes a novel
centering about the conviction and
death in prison of an innocent man,
likewise accused of the murder of
member of his family.
note at the beginning of this
book states with some insistence that
no analogy with actual people, places
or events is intended" in the work and
declares that none should be sought
And it is necessary to state, as q point
in criticism, that the novel would
stand on its own feet even If published
anonymously. The similarity be-
tween the authors experience and
that OF his hero, however, is no coin
cldence. We can accept the word
that ne has not attempted to fiction
lze his own trial in physical objectiv-
lty, but his account of the emotions
OF his accused hero and of prison
existence cannot be taken as the
products of impersonal research. The
book is the book of a man with a
scar, unquestionably. But who will
say that scar is not a highly fertile
literary soil, provided that an author
uses his memory of his wound with
universally? No one, surely.
This book is a dignified thing,
moving with long inevitability through
maze of circumstances to the heros
undolng. He is young farmer, he
hnds his brother and his wife kissing,
he is certain that there has been no
wrong dong but Furnishes his brother
by thraShlng him. The brother then
runs off. Somewhat later a skeleton
Is discovered near the farmers land
and the train is lighted. One cir
cumstance after another conspires to
hasten the flame-the malice of
nelghbors, the sensationalism Of the
press, the ignorance OF the accused
man of any chicanery or political
technique. He is tried and found
guilty. While waiting for execution
ne attempts an escape and is killed
His brother returns shortly afterward
and the falseness OF the verdict is
proved. But nothing is done, for the
men who have railroaded the tnno-
cent stand together, naturally, for
their own protection. That is the
plot.
To the reviewers mind the story
suffers somewhat from multiplicity of
detail. from its lnnumerable conversa-
tons, its great volume of technical
legal explanation, and so on. These
things give the book a current realism.
but they impede. too, the smooth move
men, OF the universal theme. For the
theme is universal 1t is so old. indeed,