NEW MASSES

31 E. 27 St., New York City

February 20, 1936.

William Carlos Williams,
9 Ridge Road,
Rutherford, N. J.

Dear Mr. Williams:

We finally got our hands on your article on H. H. Lewis and have read it, and have liked it --and want to publish it. However, parts of it, it seems to me, have appeared in POETRY and it would be pretty hard to avoid the impression of duplication with all the onus attached to it. Isidor Schneider suggests, therefore, the following: Lewis is having another pamphlet published in the near future. Would it be possible for you to take the material in your piece and rework it somehow to include the new pamphlet when it appears? If you would agree to do this, we would be delighted to schedule it for publication.

SB:J
Encl.

357

NEW MASSES

369

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

LIONEL BERMAN

ALVAH BESSIE

RICHARD O. BOYER

JOY DAVIDMAN

BELLA V. DODD

R. PALME DUTT

RALPH ELLISON

WILLIAM GROPPER

ALFRED KREYMBORG

VITO MARCANTONIO

FREDERICK MYERS

SAMUEL PUTNAM

PAUL ROBESON

ISIDOR SCHNEIDER

HOWARD SELSAM

SAMUEL SILLEN

JOSEPH STAROBIN

MAX YERGAN

ART YOUNG

Mr. Wm. Carlos Williams,
9 Ridge Rd.,
Rutherford, N. J.

Dear Mr. Williams;

Can Communists and non-Communists unite? This is the subject of a discussion in the current issue of New Masses between Max Lerner, chief editorial writer of *PM* and contributing editor of the *New Republic*, and A. B. Magil, one of the editors of New Masses. I am sending you a copy of this issue under separate cover. The discussion takes the form of an exchange of letters in which the two writers consider the implications for American unity of the dissolution of the Communist International. Our own editorial comment also appears in this issue.

With the publication of this correspondence, New Masses inaugurates a discussion which we hope will be as wide and representative as possible. I am writing you as one of a number of prominent Americans whom I am inviting to participate in this discussion. I would very much like you to give your answers to the following questions:

1. What effect do you think the dissolution of the Communist International will have on national and international unity in the war and the peace?

2. What is your estimate of the effect on the social and political life of our country of Red-baiting and other manifestations of the "Red menace" myth?

3. Would you favor collaboration of non-Communists with Communists to liquidate the Communist bugaboo which Hitler and his allies in this country have found so effective in disrupting our unity?

4. Do you think that the Communist Party, in view of the fact that it is directing its energies to the support of the war and subordinating all other questions, ought to be treated as an integral part of the nation's win-the-war forces, as is the case in China, France, Yugoslavia and other countries?

You may, if you wish write your answers in the form of comment on the letters of Mr. Lerner and Mr. Magil and on our editorial statement. May I suggest that you limit yourself to a maximum of 1,000 words? I do hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

JN:RSR
ang

EDITOR: JOSEPH NORTH. ASSOCIATE EDITORS: FREDERICK V. FIELD, BARBARA GILES, HERBERT GOLDFRANK, A. B. MAGIL, RUTH MCKENNEY, JOHN STUART. WASHINGTON EDITOR: BRUCE MINTON. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: MARJORIE DeARMAND.

104 East 9th Street New York City Gramercy 3-5146

July 9, 1943