Evening star., 1946-12-01

an expeditionary force to fight in
Italy. But If you look at Brazil
today you will have the impress
sion that she lost the war. Her
system Of transportation (ordi-
narily very poor and ineffective)
has been disrupted, as many of
her merchant ships were sunk by
the German U-boats. There Is a
tremendous shortage of meat,
milk, butter and especially wheat
all over the country. People wait
in long queues to buy those ar
ticles, and sometimes even then
they don't get them. In Rio even
drinking water is scarce. Infia-
tion is on. Prices are high. Pro-
duction is at its lowest. Salaries
have risen, but what is the use
of that in a country where prices
are rising too? There is a very
active black market, and Brazil
ians are beginning to lose their
traditional sense OF humor and
patience, to become irritated and
even predatorily aggressive. OF
course, / am not blaming only the
war for all that. Greedy, un-
scrupulous, profiteering mer-
chants are chiefly responsible for
such calamitous situation.
That Kind of Unrest
Which Comes From Fear
Brazilians suffer from chron-
ic disease Of the poverty,
aggravated BY a chronic disease
of the mind-unrest. that kind
Of unrest which comes from fear.
But fear of what2 Fear OF =
revolution. You never feel secure.
II you are a Catholic you fear
. Communist revolution that you
have been told will mean utter
violence, the burning Of churches,
the killing Of priests and the es-
tablishment of q ruthless, ma
terialistic government modelled
after that of Soviet Russia. II
you are q Communist you fear
the reactionary group. And II
you are q liberal you fear the
possibility OF both the Conn
munist and the Fascist rev.
olution. Moreover, as long -
everybody knows that no revolu-
ton may triumph in Brazil which
has no support from the army,
= new fear arises-the fear Of .
military dictatorship. The In
tegralistas, BraziPs green -shirted
Fascists, also are trying come
back.
Among so many poignant prob
lems and such q swarm of con-
fuSing issues, Brazilian writer's
sometimes are perplexed. Some
of them have joined the Commu-
mist ranks, but their majority be-
longs to group known as Es-
querda Democratica, or Demo-
cratic Left, meaning that
although they are Socialists and
very much against social injus-
tice, they don't go for Stain nor
for the one-party system. They
prize highly the four freedoms,
and they believe in a revolution
by consent. Some of the repre-
sentative authors of the country
belong to that group. How to
get rid of capitalism without
playing into the hands of Conn
munism? How to avoid die
tatorship of the Right without
creating circumstances favorable
to a dictatorship of the Left.
And, above all, how to give the
masses real opportunities Of get
ting better food. better housing
and clothing, as well as effective
medical care and a decent edu-
cation? Those are the questions
that Latin American writer's are
asking now. Sometimes they
grow somber. bitter and disillu-
stoned, and it Is only natural
that such a dark mood should
color their writings. That is one
of the reasons why Latin Ameri-
can novels are not popular in the
United States, where readers gen.
orally love success tales, and
hardly understand or sympathize
with submerged characters and
stories about poverty and frus-