Evening star., 1943-07-25
The Conspiracy of the
Carpenters

By Hermann orchdrdt It,.
Translated from the German
by BarroDs MusSey. (Simon
& SchuSter)
Americans are so much in the
habit of regarding the novel as
form of light entertainment that it
is doubtful that many of them will
read this book. The reviewer rec
ommends it, Notwithstanding. 1t is
a book for thinkers, particularly for
thinkers on the social themes. So
cial themes, of course, are, at pres
ent, being aired with great authority
by all the 10 Doakses who can get
a publishers imprint or minute on
the radio. Social themes are fash
ionable-the amateurs have taken
them up. This is book to delight
the professional. It's unpopularity
might seem to be honorably assumed.
1t Is the story of the fight of the
government of an imaginary Central
European power against two kinds
of demagogues. The power is rep
resented as republic with a constl-
tuition based on individual human
rights and minimum of govern
mental interference with production
and distribution. 1t is theatened by
a demagogue of the Hitler type who
raises a private armv and urges COL
lectivism unoer the following recipe:
The collective is the community
freed of the individual, creeping to
the leaders feet without anguish or
care: the soldier singing In the
ranks; the happy patient under doc
tors orders; the child in his moth
er's lap the victory Of the in
nocence that distinguishes the ami
NAL, because it desires no more than
nature offers-food and mating" On
these terms the demagogue offers
equality-all people being completely
subject to The will of the leader and
his appointed elite. The peoples
craving for security justifles the
tyrant. That is his claim.
From the other quarter, the re-
public is menaced by the revolution
ary intellectuals, writer's, painters,
actors and professors who, by tinting
their wares red. see a market for
them far exceeding anything which
they could hope to achieve by being
merely honest These assume to lead
the workers. 1t is time of general
unrest, and both sides draw ad-
herents.
Between the two stands the con-
servative party, declaring for in
dividual liberty and responsibility,
for protection of property and enter
prise, for human dignity, in short.
The conspiracy against the govern
ment is, however, so devious that the
conservatives do not defend them
selves merely by open constitutional
measures. They form an order-the
"CarpenterS which undertakes to
unite Christian principles with polit-
ical practices. What this amounts
to is the enlistment of all the citizens
Of good will into a religious military
brotherhood to defend their consti-
tutional rights against the ideologi-
cal encroachers.
The story is not that of individ-
uals, but of the three principles of
government fighting it out. And
the significance of the work lies in
the organization set up by the
author for the maintenance of the
free state-Christianity working as
an effective force (and force is to
be taken literally) in political in
stitutions. Realizing that the phrase
will hardly be taken seriously to-
day, the author has gone into great
detail about his imaginary organiza-
ton. He has it function through
federal police, maintain a court and
sentence offenders, though with
startling kind of punishment not to
be met with in any known penal
code. 1t is not an elite" 1t is open
to anyone who knocks"
The characteristic of the novel
is maturity. It's treatises on politi-
cal science, upholding, as they do,
the most advanced theory of gov
ernment yet devised by man-indi-
vidual esponsibility-are profoundly
wise. They reach to the springs of
human behavior. They put forward
the idea that governments are for
men. and must therefore be in pro-
found relation to human nature, but
to the enduring good qualities of
human nature and not to its base
ness or indolence There is an