| Show CAEL ON BRAINS I 1 4 FOR SUPPORT regimented propaganda to if modern idea established order bolstered I 1 hy by no conscientious student of letters has been beed inclined to taka too seriously the alarm that has haa boon been fell over the future of literature I 1 in a dussias Rus sias proletarian 3 state after all it was wail only A a natural part of bf tho the revolution that tho the intellectuals should have been regimented for propaganda purposes history allows that it Is the part of the intellectuals during stability to the established order and when that order becomes insupportable to express in varying ways the intellectual ferment that precedes all fundamental shifts in political power thus the writers in russia long dro ago became revolutionary propagandists and when tho the revolution came they extolled the new regime more blatantly but riot not less effect effectively effectives ivel yo than tho the writers in a capitalistic state bend bead their art toward support of the homely virtues whence capitalism draws its strength writers know this somerset maugham la in the preface fleo to east ast and west takes pains to inform hla his readers that the editor of the magu magg elno where his stories mostly op ap Pearel pe ared never liever told him what to write or what not to write it if it were oot not at least suspected that writers writer are regimented under whatever political system such ouch declarations of independence would bo be superfluous but du there are degrees of regimentation as of everything else during a revolution the subtle concealment ceal ment of propaganda under layer of art disappears and the skilled writer becomes ng As unscrupulous as aa any linot hack pub agent that Is what aliat happened in russia when in tho the phrase of max mas east man the artists were put in uniform tho the russian revolution la Is now an fact the need for obvious propaganda lessens the dlo hards harda may still believe that there Is IN rn nn unlimited distinction between true proletarian writers anil and bourgeois intellectuals hut but karl radek one of communists roost most powerful think ers era realizes that undiluted propaganda may eventually defeat its own ends at a congress of all soviet writers la in Alo moscow scow bladek said that tho the bars must bo be let down and that the old theory of he who la Is not with us ua 13 1 against us ua would no longer rule rula in tho the arts I 1 and so eo it may soon bo be that the writers of russia will lay aside their uniforms and the russian artists in erautt will ind find new menns means for expression out of the chamoff canoa of revolution may anay appear tho the needed security which la Is the basis of all art at the annio baroo time it may be ba well to speculate on tho the theory that tho the reason why literature has so lagged in the SOO boo yva acara ra of america la Is because of its ita regimentation under tinder such bannera dai aa puritanism and materialism the growing determination 0 ot our writers to work under tinder different standards stan darda and to tolk talk openly of tho the place of propaganda in art la Is na as significant ant na dadeks movement in the opposite directions direction washington post |
