The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 31, 1925, Page 9

‘tions. By N. LENIN. ~ The socialist proletariat has got to consider the basic principles of the literature of the workers’ party, in or- der to develop these principle and ex- press them in their most complete form. These principles are in con- trast with bourgeois customs, with the commercialized bourgeois press, with the individualism of the ambi- tious adventurers of bourgeois liter- ature and their “splendid freedom,” and with the scramble for profits. What do these principles consist of? Not only that the literature of the proletariat should no longer be a means of enriching groups or indi- vidual character nor be independent of proletarian control. No more “non- party” writers; no more literary su- permen! — Literary activity should be a part of the whole work of the proletariat. It should be a cog in the great machine which will be put in motion by the whole vanguard of the working class. Literature should become one part of the work of the party, organized, thought out, unified, and revolution- “All comparisons limp,” says a Ger- man proverb. It is so of my compart- son of literature with a cog In the ma- chine of the movement. There will be no lack of hysterical intellectuals to yelp in distress at this conception, which, according to them, will debase, will destroy, will “bureaucratize” anc make mechanical the free “struggle o minds,” free criticism, free “literar: endeavor,” etc. Their laments will be nothing but an expression of bour- geois intellectual individualism. Obviously, literature is the last thing to be treated mechanically; it cannot easily be graded by, or sub mit to, the decisions of the majority. In this matter, one ought, undoubted- ly, to allow a great deal of scope for individual initiative, for personal in- elination, for inspiration and imagin- ation, in form and content. All this is indisputable, but it proves only one thing; that the literary side of the party’s work cannot be me- chanically identified with the other sides of proletarian activity. This by no means destroys the truth—incomprehensible and strange as if may seem to intellectuals and bourgeois democrats—that literary work ought to be’most strictly bound to the rest of the socialist work of the party. Writers ought to enter the party without making any stipula- Publishing establishments, bookshops, reading-rooms, libraries, everything to do with literature ought to be placed under the control of the party. The organized socialist proletariat ought to supervise and control all tHis work; it should infuse into it the vital spirit of the workers, and in this sphere, should throw off the outlook of the mercenary bourgeoisie, who see in the writer only the man who sells his writings to earn his living, and in the reader simply a customer who brings in money. Naturally we do not imagine that this change in literature can be brought about at one swoop; in this Russian literature, which has for so long been crippled by an “Asiatic” censorship, and corrupted by a Eu- ropeanized bourgeoisie. We are far from expecting any panacea whatever in the shape of decisions and resolu- tions settling the whole thing in an arbitrary manner. .That is not the point. What concerns us, is that our class-conscious proletariat should understand that here is a new prob- lem that has to be faced frankly, and everything possible done to solve it. After having delivered ourselves from the chains of censorship, we do |. not want to be the captives of bour- geois commerce and its relationships. We want to create a press that is freed not only from police control, but also from the influence of capital and from private ambitions, and above all freed from anarchist-bourgeois in- » dividualism. These last words will be an object of derision to the reading public. “Good heavens!” some burning apos- tle of “intellectual freedom” will doubtless exclaim; “Good heavens! You want to submit to the masses a thing so subtle and so personal as literary. workmanship, ... You want workmen to decide, by the majority of votes, high questions of philosophy, science, and taste. That is the way you suppress the spirit’s freedom to work, which is essentially individual. Don’t be alarmed, my friends! First of all, this concerns the litera- ture of the party, and its place in the party, of control of the party. Every one is free to write and say what he wants to without the least restriction. But every voluntary association—and the party is one of them—is free to expel from its ranks members who use its organization to preach opin- fonsagainst the party. Freedom to write and to speak should be as com- plete as possible. In the name of free speech, I should give you the whole right of shouting, lying and saying all that you want to. But in virtue of the freedom of association, you must concede me the right to maintain or to break my alliance with people who write in such and such a fashion. The party is a voluntary organiza- tion, that will inevitably fall tn ruins, first spiritually, and then matertally, if it does not take care to decide the position of those people who propa- gate opinions against it. And to fix what is for and what is against the party we have the program of the party as a critérion, its tactical reso- utions, its statutes, and finally the xperiences of international socialism, he whole experience of voluntary as- sociations of the proletariat. Our party is becoming a party of the. masses; we are in an epoch of rapid transition towards open legal organization, and at this period many useless people (from a Marxist point of view) and perhaps a few who are Christians or mystics as well, join us. But we have a strong digestion: we are Marxists hard as adamant. We shall assimilate all the confusfonists. Partisans of the freedom of associa- tion we still fight unmercifully to purge the party of confusionist ele- ments, Furthermore, may we inform our friends the bourgeois individualists that their talk about “absolute Mberty” is nothing less than pure hypocrisy? In a society which maintains itself by the power of money, and where the mass of the workers lack the necess- ities of life, there is no real liberty. Are you free in relation to your bour- geois publisher, my writer friend? Again, are you free in relation to your bourgeois public, which demandg from you pornography and prostitution as a supplement to “sacred dramatic art”? ; Absolute freedom is a bourgeois or anarchist fiction (for anarchism is a bourgeois theory the wrong way round). One cannot live in society and be free towards society. The freedom of the bourgeois writer, or artist, or actress, is a mask of inde- pendence concealing a real depen- dence on the money of parasites and souteneurs. We socialists tear aside this hypoc- risy and unmask their false standards, not to arrive at a literature “above class” (that will only be possible in a socialist society, in a society without classes), but to oppose to this so- called free literature, which is really allied with the bourgeoisie, a litera- ture bound openly to the proletariat. This will be a literature truly free, Our Party’s Press and Literature because corruption and ambition will have no place there, and socialist ideals and sympathy with the op- pressed will continually bring into it new forces and new groupings. This will be a free literature, for it will not depend on the blase heroine nor the tenthousand bored and fatten- ed high-brows, but on the millions and millions of workers who are the pick of the country, its power and its fu- ture. This will be a free literature, which will enrich itself with the latest crea- tions of revolutionary thought, with the experience and living work of the socialist proletariat. Get down to the job then, comrades . . » We have before us a great and difficult problem: we must create a rich proletarian literature, narrowly and indissolubly bound to the socialist workers’ movement. All the journals, all the periodicals, all the bookshops should immediately harness themselves to the task of re- organizing in order to become the or- gan of one or other of the organiza- tions affiliated to our party. It is only after this work that so- cialist literature will deserve the name; it is only then that it will be capable of carrying out its tasks; it is only then that even within the framework of the bourgeois society, it will be able to free itself from bour- geois bondage and bind itself to the movement of the truly revolutionary class. (The above article first appeared in the “Novaia Jhizn” of November 13, 1905, and has been translated from a French version appearing m the “Ca- hiers du Bolshevisme” of December 19, 1924). Drama_in the New World By T. F. MEADE. N New York there are about one thousand theaters or places of amusement coming under the head o drama in the new world. Probably seven million people avail themselves of opportunities to visit these theaters to find diversion and food for thought. in the portrayal of life buzzing all around them. Yet, in these thousand theaters where is represented as de- cisively as in any capitol of any na- tion, the level of culture of the nation there are scarcely half a dozen plays, which may really be considered as representing any serious thought or phase of life. Music is the most emotional of the arts and the drama the most animat- ing perhaps, and probably, many agree the supreme form of cultural develop- ment in its presentation of actual life in its multitudiously varied tones and forms. In James O’Neill’s dramas we know we'll see gripping life that disturbs us. His “Desire under the Elms” and “S. S. Glencairn” are now playing here and many people are visiting an, studying them. ; Shaw always inspires*fhought and often drives us right alongside a rag- POLITICS is a most interesting game .. . and labor politics is more so. You will learn many angles of if from “A Conference of Pro ive Reactionaries” by Alexander Bittelman in the February issue of the Workers Monthly. If you don’t subscribe—you surely will after reading this article in order to get others of such ‘interest. ess- ing fire, scorching the soul, where we must act, where we must take sides— either by boldly pushing forward, af- firmatively, or negatively, by coward- ly retreating. Shaw’s “Candida” and “Man of Destiny” may now be seen. Both are well given. “What Price Glory” is one of those accidental dramas given at times which 100 per cent “cultural” and pa- triotic America considers too strong, useless and even effronting. But the innate fineness of human aature prompts. them to accept such works as part of the philosophy of life, even tho it hurts and they become students of psychology for a time, tho soon off on something else. But the leaven has worked a little and this is what counts much, for the drama, in every phase of life, among all peoples, is destined to prove, is proving a mighty psychical force in attaining that de sired, destined end toward which the work-a-day world is striving. These are side of the drama—that which utters the joy of life. On this side “Peter Pan” tells us merrily, and ap- pealing strongly to our imagination of that splendor of child life of which we feel so little in America. Here is a play world and if there is some sombre coloring in the pirates and in he usual bourgeois attitude towards animal life, they are enlivened and the gloom is dissipated by the fun all around them which continually keeps us in the humor of brightness and keen appreciation of life being worth living. How many children and women and men have not even the opportunity to see such a play? The struggle for a living is so sharp and oppressive, mon- ey is so hard to get, time is so devour- ed by daily essential routine that many of the working class cannot pos- sibly take advantage of such plays, even if they lived near or in a city where they may be given. Little, often no effort is made to bring the true drama to the people, with adequate presentation, or even with poor equipment. Bourgeois cul- ture is conventional. It has no place for that breadth of thought which might tempt the imagination to roam afield, or out of those timits set by the powers that be, with Sunday school ethics and standards. New York forces on one, very quickly, its provinciality. It is not possible to live in it long without seeing the ob- vious narrowness of its life in the vast majority of its forms. It, therefore, expresses iiself in its art; necessari- ly in reflections of that life and its drama takes on the same dull hues. The hopeful signs are the demand for better drama. It is always evident among the people but the production of drama is in the hands of those who follow the American ideal of progress, to make money. : A few are making splendid efforts to get such pictures of life to the people as will satisfy, in part at any rate, this demand for better drama that the producers will s forced to accept such " a remarkable step for- rama presented in our cities. The Communist has a magnificent phase of propaganda in such portrayals of life. We shall take advantage of it. BOOKS FOR THINKERS SCIENCE, LITERATURE ECONOMICS, HISTORY, “Any Book in Print at Once. Jimmie Higgins Book Shop 127 University Place NEW YORK CITY A Workers Party Book Shop The Walden Book Shop 307 Plymouth Court (Between State and Dearborn Just South of Jackson) - CHICAGO