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SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISM
A ONE-ACT PLAY:
Will He Come Back?
By FELIX GRENDON
please. (She hangs up the receiver) And you go EDITH : I can guess what you want.
into my study where you won't be in the way. MARTHA: (Dubiously) Oh, can you? That
GILBERT : My God! You don't know what you're would simplify matters immensely. (They sit
up against. down) It's nearly a year ago now since Gilbert left
EDITH: (Bristling) Do you imply that she's me.
cleverer than I am? EDITH : Yes, I know.
GILBERT: (Retreating to the study) Nothing of MARTHA: (Disjointedly) And, of course, I've
the sort, my dear. But you'll be at each other's had my business and the two children to look after.
hair EDITH: (With forced sympathy) I can quite
EDITH : Bosh! understand how you feel.
GILBERT: (Trying to assert his masculinity) An MARTHA : (With real sympathy) I dare say you
occasion like this requires the sagacity of a man can. He's the same Gilbert, that's easy to see.
EDITH : (Pushing him into the study) Go on in, EDITH : (Politely) I don't quite know what you
do. She'll be here in a moment. mean.
GILBERT: (Projecting a final warning) You'll MARTHA: A decorator gets used to sizing up
have trouble, see if you don't. I'll be close at hand, souls as easily as interiors. If you want to catch
though, to get you out of it. a man's soul off guard, study the colors, arrange-
(Edith shuts the door with a bang) ments, and decorations of his living room. The high
GILBERT: (Poking his head out again) Really lights and the low, the harmonies and the discords
Edith they are so many revelations, trumpet-tongued.
(The door bell rings. She stamps her foot at him EDITH : What are you driving at?
imperiously. With an air of resigning her to a well- MARTHA : Look at this mantelpiece. Above, a
merited fate, he shuts the door. Martha comes in. picture of Gilbert and his Sunday School classmates.
She approaches to sfiake hands, but Edith antici- On the right of that Satsuma vase a photo of his
pates her.) mother, on the left, a photo ofof you, I judge?
EDITH: (Coldly) Sit down, please, MissMc- EDITH : Yes.
Cutcheon. MARTHA: Well, the mantelpiece in my sitting
MARTHA : (Looking around) What a pretty flat. room is just like this one. The same Satsuma vase,
Where did you get these curtains! Beauties, I must the same Sunday School picture, the same photos
say. (She walks over to them, and then touches the except that the one on the left is a photo of me.
wall). And quite the latest thing in wall paper. And the same graceful Adam desk, the same vo-
(Edith is dumbfounded at her visitor's offhand luptuous curtains, the same gay disorder in the dis-
behavior, yet she cannot conceal her pride of pos- tribution of things. In short, the same jaunty,
session.) sensuous, harum-scarum, sentimental, materialistic
EDITH : It's a grass-cloth. Gilbert.
MARTHA: Stunning. Though personally, I like EDITH : (Menacingly) Whatever his faults may
a flat wash better than a paper. It's so much be, I won't have him abused in my presence. He is
cleaner. my best friend.
EDITH : (Outranged) You haven't come here MARTHA : (Affecting solemnity) He is the father
merely to criticise my furnishings, I presume? of my children.
MARTHA: (Laughingly) Forgive me for snoop- (Edith, too angry to catch the irony of the situa-
ing around like this. I'm an interior decorator, you tion, is slightly overawed by the conventional al-
know. My art always gets the better of my head. Is lusion.)
Gilbert in? EDITH : (Defiantly) That gives you a claim upon
EDITH: (Authoritatively) No. his purse, a claim that has, I believe, been amply
MARTHA: (With a sigh of relief) That's good. recognized. But it gives you no lasting claim upon
Two women can talk so much better alone. his love. Love yields to no law save its passionate
EDITH : (Coldly) Quite so. need of fulfillment.
MARTHA: (Rattling away to keep up her cour- MARTHA: (Relieved) Why didn't you say so
age) A man is a most disturbing factor when before, my dear? (She goes over to Edith) Now
women have serious business in hand. He affects that I know you love him passionately, nothing will
to despise us for paying him too much attention. be simpler than to straighten out this perplexing
But what happens if we forget him for the least lit- business. But you must help me.
tle while? He prances furiously all over the shop EDITH : Help you!
until we notice him again. And so we do notice him. MARTHA: Yes. Help me to help Gilbert; help m<
It ruins work, but it's the only way to keep him to save him from this wasteful life of philandering
quiet. EDITH : (Going up to her fiercely) I know verj
EDITH: (With studied moderation) Would you well what your game is. But you are wasting youi
mind telling me what you came about? time. You can't persuade me to give him up.
MARTHA: About Gilbert, of course. MARTHA: Persuade you to give him up! My
120 NEW REVIEW
dear Miss Webber, I came here to persuade you to fered with my work a good deal; when he wasn't
keep him. home, he interfered a good deal more.
EDITH: What! EDITH : That sounds like a hopeless contradiction.
MARTHA: Yes. We've misunderstood each other MARTHA: But it isn't. You see, he'd meet a new
completely. Come, let's sit down and talk it over flame, pass into a state of exaltation, and off he'd go.
like friends. EDITH : (Recalling her own wrongs) He goes off
(They both sit down, on ttte sofa.) still, thanks to your training.
EDITH : (Suspiciously) Why do you want me to MARTHA : Please don't heap coals of fire.
keep him? Do you dislike him? EDITH: (Rubbing it in) There's his latest. (She
MARTHA: Does anyone dislike him? You know shows her the note to Jessie Dean. Martha has seen
his personal charm and fascinating ways. Unfor- too many notes of the same import to be curious
tunately, there is one way he treads too often. about this one.)
EDITH: What way? MARTHA : (Gesturing a refusal to read it) I know
MARTHA : The way of a man with a maid. it by heart. But what can we do about it? Gilbert
(Edith is shocked without quite knowing why. is built like that. Some men and women take to sex
She tries to express the sentiment with greater pro- the way others take to drink or stamp collecting.
priety.) It becomes a sport or a hobby with them. I simply
EDITH : You mean his weakness for excursions ? didn't take Gilbert's hobby too seriously, though his
MARTHA: Exactly. Of course, he always came goings-off and comings-back were very trying, espe-
back. cially his comings-back.
EDITH: Just as he does with me! I understand EDITH : Then you were always glad to get rid of
perfectly how you must have felt. His low taste for him?
polygamy filled you with disgust. MARTHA: Strangely enough, no. When he was
MARTHA : Oh, hardly that. away, I couldn't get him off my mind. You know
EDITH : (Severely) Do you mean to say you ac- what babies men are, how easily they sicken, and
cepted his infidelities without a murmur? how wretched they get away from home. Well, I
MARTHA: (Apologetically) Well, his nature was felt that I had pledged myself to look after him. My
different from mine. conscience kept whispering to me that perhaps my
EDITH : Bah! When a woman makes that ancient business and domestic interests had driven him
excuse for a man, she discredits her sex. What's away, and that he might be in the hands of some
more, she injures him more than she does herself. unscrupulous female, uncared for, unhappy, his
Just look at his actions. He's been a cad to you and health gone to rack and ruin.
a beast to me, hasn't he? Well, all this suffering is EDITH : (Condescending to so much simplicity)
the consequence of your criminal indulgence. Gilbert unhappy! You are easily taken in. Trust
MARTHA: I'm very sorry. But, consider, when him to put himself in clover every time.
two people have been married a year or so, their MARTHA: One never knows. Anyhow, see for
relations become those of a brother and sister. yourself whether my anxiety was groundless. After
Why, then, should I begrudge Gilbert a love affair each absence, he'd come back with a woeful story of
once in a while? I could have had several myself disillusionments and misadventures. You can imag-
for all he cared. ine the details: his late partner had disclosed a
EDITH: Well, did you? bushel of faults, her features had begun to pall, and,
MARTHA: No, I was too busy. I had two children what was worse, her conversation was trite, her
to look after and I was up to my ears in my business. jealousy unendurable, their joint bickerings endless,
No leisure, no love. When a man is in love with you, and so on. Romance had got another black eye.
he runs through your time like a spendthrift through Sometimes Gilbert himself had got one.
a fortune. He won't hear of what he calls a divided EDITH: Serve him jolly well right, the heartless
loyalty. And all your business must hang fire, while brute! Fancy forcing you to listen to accounts of
you remain at his beck and call. Now I dropped my his sordid infatuations!
business once, when I first met Gilbert. But I don't MARTHA: He didn't force me. I listened will-
think I shall ever drop it again. Work like mine is ingly.
fascinating; there is no end to its change and vari- EDITH: What!
ety. But what is the difference between one lover MARTHA: Oh, it was fun and instruction com-
and another? Like the difference between one sea- bined. You've no idea how much we learn of squalid
shore resort and another. The company changes a reality from the history of a romance told by one of
trifle, but the ocean is the same. the principals. The whole history, inside out, from
EDITH: What was the matter between you and first to last. For Gilbert told me everything, every-
Gilbert? thing without reserve. What else could he do? He
MARTHA: He was. When he was home, he inter- had to pour his heart out to somebody, poor fellow.
WILL HE COME BACK ? 121
And who was half so interested in him as I was? MARTHA: Oh, no, you're quite mistaken. Recall
Nobody. Besides, he often needed advice which he with what dejection he returns from each of his
couldn't get from anyone but me. adventures, Miss Webber.
EDITH : Advice from you! EDITH : By the way, how did you learn my name
MARTHA : Yes. I could tell him exactly how far a and where we lived?
girl meant to go when she said yes, or how little she MARTHA: Didn't Gilbert tell you? He ran right
meant to withhold when she said no. into me in the Pennsylvania Station yesterday.
EDITH : Am I to believe that you actually encour- EDITH : And blurted out everything, I suppose.
aged him to be unfaithful ? MARTHA: He made a clean breast of it. I'm
MARTHA: Dear, no. Again and again I pointed afraid it's automatic with him now.
out that philandering is bound to defeat its own pur- EDITH : The unspeakable cad! To betray my holi-
pose, that it is a game in which you always want est confidences to a stranger.
what you can't get, and always get what you don't MARTHA: (Quizzically) It was only his wife.
want. EDITH: (Lashing herself into a frenzy) The
EDITH : Why didn't you get a divorce ? very last person a gentleman should have confided
in. I see it all now. This is a put-up job. You
MARTHA: And leave him utterly unprotected? want to get this man off your conscience. And you
No. With his reckless passion for making love, hope I'll be fool enough to oblige you by marrying
think of the women into whose clutches he might him. You expect me to take your place, to become
have fallen! My conscience balked at such base a sort of human phonograph receiving the records
desertion. I felt that I had to hold on, until some of his endless love affairs. Never. You've come to
competent woman with a firmer hand than mine the wrong shop.
should be willing to take my legal place. Only then MARTHA: Don't be absurd. He may be on my
could I resign him without a sense of shirking a conscience. But he's on your hands, isn't he? He's
responsibility I had assumed with open eyes. a solid human problem. And you can't wash that
EDITH: (Uneasily) Why do you tell me all this? off your hands any more than I can wash it off my
MARTHA: Because you are the first woman to conscience.
whom I'm sure he can safely be confided. EDITH: (Defiantly) Can't I though?
EDITH : I'm not so sure of that. MARTHA: (With concise determination) No. We
MARTHA: He never stayed so long with any of can't both abandon him at the same time. What
the others. He's been with you a whole year. would become of him? You must face that.
EDITH : Yes. And already he treats me as if I EDITH: (At the top of her lungs) I won't face
were his wife. Goes on excursions and comes back anything. I won't be dictated to. I
impenitently, just as he did with you. (The door opens, and Gilbert enters, cigarette in
MARTHA: If you married him, you could change hand. Has he overheard the conversation about
all that. himself? If so, he cannot have caught its drift. For
EDITH: Judging by present results, could I do he struts between the two women as a cock struts
better than you did? between t^vo jealous hens, flattered, but determined
MARTHA : You forget, I had my business. to stop their bickering.)
" EDITH: (On her high-horse again) And I have GILBERT: You really mustn't quarrel about me,
my pride. girls. I'm not worthy of it.
MARTHA: But you love him. No, it's useless to EDITH: Look her
protest. You showed your real feelings plainly MARTHA : But we
when you supposed I had come to wrench him away GILBERT: (Persuasively) There, what did I tell
from you. Let's prove that women can show com- you, Edith? I knew I'd have to interfere. Calm
mon sense about an affair of sex companionship. down now, and I'll divide myself in half to oblige
You love him; I don't. You're domestic; I'm not. you.
You can manage men; I can't. What can I offer EDITH : Oblige us! You can multiply yourself by
Gilbert? Little beyond my sympathy and my sense ten for all we care.
of obligation. What can you offer him? The three GILBERT: We!
things he most needs: Love, a home, and protection. MARTHA : Yes, we're both agreedthat some one
EDITH: Protection! He's a man, not a molly- must take care of you.
coddle. GILBERT: Magnificent thoughtfulness. (With
MARTHA: He's a red-blood, and needs protection irony) And would it be too much to ask which of
against the unhappy consequences of his philander- you the fair savior is to be?
ing. EDITH: (Snappily) Neither.
EDITH : (Resentfully) How do you know he's so GILBERT : Then what on earth were you wrangling
unhappy? As far as I can see, he's having the time about me for?
of his life. MARTHA: (Apologetically) 1 was doing my best
122 NEW REVIEW
to induce Miss Webber to take care of you perma- GILBERT: The charge of deception comes with
nently. poor grace from your lips, Edith, or from Martha's
EDITH : And Miss Webber was doing her best to either. You both married me
decline the job with thanks. EDITH: (Snapptty) Excuse me, I saved you from
GILBERT: (The truth dawning on him) You adding bigamy to your other crimes.
might both wait until you're asked. A fine pass the GILBERT: Well, you both lived with me, then un-
world has come to when two women dispose of a der false pretenses.
man behind his back. MARTHA: (Good humoredly) Here's news!
MARTHA: What could we do? We both feel re- EDITH: (Indignantly) What next, I wonder!
sponsible for you, I legally, and Edith morally. GILBERT: My understanding with each of you
GILBERT : Really, Martha, you amaze me. was that I was to get a home, a woman to take care
MARTHA: Why? of it, and my personal freedom.
GILBERT: (Appealing to High Heaven) Why! MARTHA : Man wants but little here below.
Good God,, she asks me why! (Facing her) Is GILBERT: (Savagely) I asked no more than
this a fit place for a woman to meet her husband in, every man of my generation was brought up to ex-
for the sole purpose of discussing their private do- pect.
mestic affairs? MARTHA: Can you deny that I gave you your
MARTHA: What's fit for the gander is fit for the freedom ?
goose. Now sit down, and let's all be reasonable GILBERT: My freedom yes, but what about my
together. home? You were so busy decorating the interior
GILBERT : Impossible. of other people's houses that you had no time for
EDITH : And worse than useless. the interior of your own house. You cared for my
(Nevertheless they follow Martha's commanding peace of mind. But as for my comfort in body, you
lead and take chair.) positively encouraged me to seek that outside.
MARTHA : The trouble with you, Gilbert, is that MARTHA: But you always came back.
you don't appreciate a good home. GILBERT: No thanks to you. For when I told you
EDITH: (Pessimistically) No man does. of my love affairs (mostly fictitious at first), you
GILBERT: Oh, doesn't he? That's where you didn't mind them a bit. You actually seemed to
women are completely off the track. A man loves enjoy hearing the details. As I live, you egged me
his home every bit as much as a woman, perhaps on to bring you news of more and more lively
more. To be sure, he's not always bragging about adventures. It was unwifely. It was indecent. It
it, fussing over it, or giving parties in it. But he was downright immoral.
works for it, he even marries for it. MARTHA: (Blushing) Nonsense, Gilbert, your
EDITH : If only for the pleasure of running away exaggerations are perfectly monstrous.
from it. GILBERT: Not in the least. You quite forgot
GILBERT: Quite so. But that's only for the joy that one touch of jealousy makes the whole
of coming back to it. world kin. You forgot everything a wife should
EDITH : (Sarcastically) Or possibly for the fun remember. That was what turned our home into
of confessing your troubles over it to Martha. a mockery of its name. It ceased to be a home. It
GILBERT: (To Martha) What, you've actually became a hotel. And not even a comfortable one
given me away? Told her all I told you about her? at that.
(He gestures to some one, God perhaps, to witness EDITH : Well, surely / made a home for you.
his wrongs.) This comes of baring one's soul to a
GILBERT: A home? You mean a prison. Mar-
woman. (Confronting Martha) You have betrayed
tha, at least, was satisfied with my constant spirit-
my confidence, violated my deepest trust, destroyed
my faith in friendship. Tattle-tale, no, tattle-snake, ual presence. But you, radical though you pro-
fessed to me, demanded my constant physical pres-
viper! But what can one expect? Give a woman
enough rope and she'll hang her best friend. ence.
MARTHA: (Unmoved) You are forgiven, Gil- EDITH: (Flaring up) When a woman goes to
bert. We know that your outbursts of blame mean the extraordinary pains of making a first-class
just as little as your outbursts of praise. When home for a man, the least she can expect is that
things go wrong, you call me a viper. When they the man shall be in it. Those are my terms. Take
go right you tell me that "my cheeks are like the them or leave them.
peach-bloom, my tresses like the dawn." GILBERT: I shall leave them, thanks. I won't be
EDITH: (Jumping up angrily) What, he said a peg for one woman to hang her passion for busi-
that to you, too? ness on, or another woman her passion for owning
MARTHA : Hundreds of times. a man. The cells of my forefathers rebel against
EDITH : And to hundreds of women, I dare say. so ignominious a choice.
Blackguard, deceiver! MARTHA: Very natural of them, too, Gilbert.
WILL HE COME BACK ? 123
But don't forget we've inherited the cells of your MARTHA: You want a home, I believe?
forefathers, too. GILBERT: Decidedly.
GILBERT: What of that? MARTHA: Everybody does, especially men. And
MARTHA: Only this. That our forefathers im- you don't want to be tied for life to one companion?
posed on the world the type of woman that suited GILBERT: Decidedly not.
them. Well, we have inherited this imposing trait. MARTHA: Nobody does, not even women. What
And we are about to impose on the world a type of people desire, however, is a long cry from what
woman that will suit us. they can get. Your practical choice, Gilbert, is
EDITH : Yes. We've advanced a bit, you see. between a home if you are faithful, and a hotel if
GILBERT: Advanced? Look here, Edith. You you are not.
pick up amorous tid-bits in Greenwich Village, at- GILBERT: (Flippantly) To be inconstant is not to
tend lectures on Birth Control, keep a bachelor flat, be unfaithful.
read the Spoon River Anthology, and give your MARTHA: I don't pretend to understand these
hair a Castle cut. But do you know what the wo- fine distinctions. All I know is that you can't have
men in the Oneida Community did, seventy years an old-fashioned home run by a new-fangled wo-
ago? man. Indeed, you can hardly induce any modern
MARTHA: (Eagerly) No, do tell us. woman to feed, serve, nurse, and worship a man
GILBERT : (Shocked) I beg to be excused. But in the good old style. And I must say I think it is
they did all of these stunts and a good many more. extremely lucky for you that Edith is willing to
EDITH: Well? make the sacrifice, even if she asks you to recog-
GILBERT: Yet you call yourself advanced. Ad- nize that the burning question in such a domestic
vanced! Lord, you've said it. You are an ad- arrangement is not: "What is home without a
vanced woman of the period of President Polk, woman?" but "What is home without a man?"
model 1847. GILBERT: Ah, Martha, your logic would be irre-
EDITH: If I were a man, I'd wring your neck. sistible if you were speaking for yourself
You, who coolly demand a wife, a home, and none MARTHA: I'm speaking for all three of us
of the responsibilities that go with these advan- EDITH : Oh, don't urge him, Miss McCutcheon.
tages, of what period are you? There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out
MARTHA: (Coming between her and Gilbert) Of of it.
every period, age, and climate, my dear. Now do GILBERT: There are. (He picks up the note to
be sensible, both of you. (She separates them.) Jessie Dean, and flourishes it.) Thanks for the re-
You two were simply made for each other. minder. A hotel is better than a prison, anyhow.
GILBERT : Rot. You'd have to go far and search Good-by, Martha.
long to find a worse case of incompatibility of tem- (He is out of the room, almost before they can
per. stir. Martha, who has not reckoned on this climax,
MARTHA: My dear Gilbert, incompatibility of dashes after himtoo late.)
temper is the basis for the happiest marriages I MARTHA: But, Gilbert
know of. When a husband and wife disagree tact- EDITH : (Bitterly) Don't worry about him. He'll
fully, marriage becomes a life-long adventure. On have the face to come back, as usual.
the other hand, too complete a sympathy and too MARTHA: (Anxiously) I know. But to which
great a community of spirit are death to marital one?
joy. That was the trouble with us. We were
agreed on everything, including your right to occa-
sional changes of sex companionship. What was
the result of this perfect but tedious agreement?
Alarums on my part, excursions on yours. AN APPRECIATION
GILBERT: (Stirred to the depths) Don't shift "The current [March] issue of the NEW RE-
the blame on me. You broke the spirit of our bond, VIEW impresses me as quite a triumph of Socialist
even if I broke the letter. Why, you actually de- magazine work. . . . I have never seen a more
fended my conduct yourself. Wasn't it your doc- interesting number of any magazine, Socialist or
trine that marriage is a pattern to which 57 varie- otherwise.
ties of people cannot be fitted? It is an immoral
doctrine, one you should never have preached. "How the NEW REVIEW can afford, from a
MARTHA: You had already practised it, Gilbert. financial standpoint, to set such a standard, I
And it was much simpler to fit a doctrine to you cannot see, but it will be a fortunate thing in-
than to fit you to a doctrine, for I couldn't very well deed if it can succeed in carrying on its future
redecorate your passions. Besides, you can't have work on so high a plane."
J. G. PHELPS STOKES.
your cake and eat it too.
GILBERT: How do you mean?
124 NEW REVIEW
that Brieux has a great deal to say about all the im-
The Failure of Brieux portant problems of sociology. Syphilis, free love,
prostitution, Malthusianismthese are but a few of
By Ernest A. Boyd the themes which have inspired him. It is true Les
HETHER Bernard Shaw is responsible for Avaries, Les Hannetons, Blanchette and Matermte
the vogue of Brieux in English-speaking profess to deal respectively with these questions,
W countries is a question whose answer de- but the result has been, to say the least, unsatisfac-
pends upon the depth of one's faith in Shaw, as tory. As a bid for the martyr's crown Les Avaries
the moulder of destinies of contemporary English may pass. Syphilis is truly a shocking subject, but
drama. He has certainly assured us that the author no self-respecting censor would mention the word,
of Blanchette is "the most important dramatist west much less allow it to be discussed in public. But that
of Russia," since the death of Ibsen. Moreover, he incredible substitute for a play is too great an insult
is mainly responsible for the change which now en- to one's aesthetic taste to escape with the meagre
ables us to accept with a certain equanimity the justification that it is shocking. Does the author
usurpation of the stage by moral and social prop- seriously believe that we have learned anything new
agandists, who often vie with their master in defy- or helpful from this play ? Even as a "heart to heart
ing the laws of dramatic writing. talk" at some meeting "for men only" it would be
However much we may tolerate the "arguments", utterly useless. We have never yet observed that
"discussions" and other substitutes for drama which those who knew most about the effects of this malady
Shaw has imposed upon us, we are at least entitled have avoided the opportunity to contract it. The
to revolt when none of the elements are present subject is one with few dramatic possibilities, and
which enable many to enjoy the Shavian play. Once these quite escaped the vision of Brieux. His story
it is understood that Shaw is not writing a play, in might have served an instructor in hygiene in the
the modern sense, but is attempting an elaboration perfunctory discharge of his duties, but no drama-
of the old Platonic dialogue, with scenic modifica- tistof ideas or otherwisewould have entertained
tions, and additional interlocutors, then we may give it. Some eminently practical Americans have rec-
ourselves up to the interest of the discussion. The ognized its true value and turned it to this purpose.
interplay of ideas is, or used to be, interesting, while Les Avaries is, however, unique in more ways
the theses are usually less arduous reading than if than one. It is the only piece in which Brieux
they were found in their natural environmentthe frankly reveals himself as a moral reformer abso-
Blue Book or the Fabian pamphlet. So far as Shaw lutely indifferent to the demands of stagecraft.
is concerned the playgoing public has divided itself Blanchette is a conventional, lachrymose melodrama,
into two classes, those who think he is a mountebank in which Shaw might have recognized all the old
and those who believe he is a preacher, and who stage tricks which he denounces so loudly in others.
have acquired a taste for sermons in dialogue, in- It is the old, old story of the girl who takes the
terspersed with buffoonery. wrong turning. Of course, we are told it is an in-
The reader who seeks Brieux in his native garb, dictment of modern education, of this "man-made
unadorned by the dialectics of apologists, will speed- world" where unprotected females are so fettered
ily be shocked. His prose is so poor, the form of and harassed. Because Brieux's young lady is too
his formlessness is so feeble that one is at once well educated to stay at home it is apparently the
upon one's guard. Brieux, in his dramas, has duty of the State to provide her with work and at
failed to differentiate himself from the ordinary the same time to protect her virtue. The right to
commonplace journalism or lecture of a social kind. work is, indeed, a sound proposition, but can anyone
His plays are as colorless as the average leading ar- maintain that Brieux has made it seem so ? Blanch-
ticle of a "progressive" newspaper, with its vague ette's failure to earn a livelihood is the outcome of
phrases about humanity and equality, and its sta- conditions a great deal more complicated than
tistical attitude towards misery. Sometimes he is Brieux's romantic tale reveals. But then he had
saved by his interpreters, who manage to galvanize clearly no intention of dealing seriously with the
his speeches into some sort of rough eloquence, but problem. Otherwise he would not have altered the
the printed page evokes no emotion. Even the very denouement in deference to the stupid criticism of
orthodox radicalism of Anatole France takes on the the arch-sentimentalist Sarcey. That Blanchette, in
color of life in those fine eloquent speeches which the revised version, should return, virgo intacta, and
he has collected under the title Vers les temps meil- marry a respectable youth who always loved her, is
leurs. But neither the form nor the content of very consoling to the patrons of melodrama. It is
Brieux's work is stimulating. not exactly what one expects from "the most impor-
What is the content of his work? Brieux has been tant dramatist" since Ibsen.
hailed as a dramatist with ideas. What is his mes- This readiness to make fundamental alterations
sage? Shaw, and the apologists generally, have at- is significant, nor has it been manifested only once.
tempted to answer the question. They assure us In Simone, for example, where the pivot of the play
BOOK REVIEWS 125
is the refusal of Simone to pardon her father for for he is invariably inconclusive. His characters
having killed her mother because of her infidelity, have no relation to life, and their revolt is wordy
this vital feature was obliterated at the last moment. and diffuse, without any practical objective.
After the dress rehearsal Brieux altered his idea Had the author any personal ideas, any philosophy
and made the girl quite willing to pardon her father. in the light of which to criticise, his plays would be,
Having thus deprived his piece of its mainspring, at least, an expression of himself. If his characters
he could hardly pretend to have had any serious in- were unreal, his plays mere treatises, but at the same
tention in writing it. Similarly L'Evasion, to take time the revelation of a point of view, they might
one of the translated plays, shows this indecision. share the interest we accord to the theatre of Shaw.
When Dr. Bertry confesses that he has long since But this is precisely what is lacking in Brieux. He
ceased to believe in science, we may well ask what has written one tract on hygiene and a series of
he was supposed to represent in the earlier part of melodramas with a veneer of ideas entirely divorced
the play. All along it was understood that Bertry from any general scheme of life. That Brieux feels
stood for the scientific ideal, upon that assumption for the sufferings of the workers is probable, that
the entire drama centres, yet Brieux abandons his he is conscious of various abuses is evident, but his
premises in the weakest and most palpable manner. plays do not supply a criticism of these things. They
In short, he nowhere shows the courage of his con- force nobody to think who has not already acquired
victions. He sets up his puppets, who declaim their the habit, while the absence of humor, of style, of
theories; they are so many abstractions who present
a problem in an artificial, indefinite way, there being grace, makes it highly unlikely that he will succeed
no attempt to arrive at a conclusion. It is possible in touching those who are indifferent to existing
to read anything one personally believes into Brieux, social evils.
Book Reviews
A Book on the Nearing Case body of the argument the picture grows vivid be-
fore the eyes of the reader of how this is being ac-
1 The Limitation of Academic Freedom at the University of Pennsylvania
by Act of the Board of Trustees. A brief of Facts and Opinions prepared
by Lightner Witmer, A.B. '88 Wharton School and College, Professor of
complished at the University of Pennsylvania. The
Psychology and Director of the Psychological Laboratory and Clinic, U. of
Pa. New York, W. B. Huebsch. 50c.
corporation lawyers, gas magnates, Sugar kings and
financiers who sit on the Board of Trustees are
listed in Chapter IX"The Invisible Government."
T HE book is composed largely of reprints of
articles written originally for the North
American and Public Ledger of Philadelphia
published since June 15, the date of Dr. Nearing's
Prof. S. McCune Lindsey of Columbia, who inves-
tigated the Nearing case, says: "Last spring the
faculty recommended him for re-engagement. His
dismissal. There are quotations also from Mont- record, both as a student and as a teacher, was very
gomery's History of the University of Pennsylvania, high. I took pains to look this up and his record is
the Alumni Register,the University publication flawless, and is one of the best of the forty profes-
that seems to be dominated by the "conservative" sors and instructors in his department." It is true
group of the alumni,the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the Trustees had served notice in July, 1913, on
George Wharton Pepper's book: A Voice from the the assistant professors and instructors of the Whar-
Crowd, and from utterances of Rev. Dr. Aked, Bab- ton School that at the expiration of the period speci-
son the statistician, and one or two others. fied in the terms of appointment such appointment
The material brings out very clearly the follow- would be regarded as terminated unless renewed.
ing essentials of this now famous case: The nature This notice was not served on the College instructors,
of the dismissal; the activities of Prof. Nearing that and was taken as a warning to the young and ag-
led to his being dropped; the economic orthodoxy gressive group of teachers including Conway, Pier-
that has grown up in the Controlling body of the son, King, Kelsy, Young and Smith, all teaching sub-
University backed by a clique of the Alumni, and the jects concerned with social relations and touching
real issuea part of the universal struggle of economic questionsto stop questioning "things as
Democracy against Autocracy which always seeks they are" on pain of dismissal. The storm of pro-
to control the expression of opinion. In the test from the alumni that followed brought forth the
introduction he calls attention to the fact that assurance of "no intention to interfere with freedom
"there is much more than a lightly held of speech in the University," and Dr. Nearing was
opinion that certain representatives of the privi- promoted to an assistant professorship in 1914.
leged classes have determined upon a campaign for However, on June 14, 1915, the Board of Trustees
the control of research and teaching," and in the of the University voted not to reappoint Dr. Nearing
126 NEW REVIEW
assistant professor of economics for the year 1915- permitted Dr. Nearing to lecture against child labor
16, and the Provost sent Dr. Nearing the following: in his church. Grundy's editor denounced Dr. Near-
MY DEAR ME. NEARING: ing's church lecture against the greedy exploitation
As the term of your appointment as assistant pro- of helpless children as sacrilege, and called on the
fessor of economics for 1914-15 is about to expire, University trustees to rid themselves of such a dan-
I am directed by the trustees of the University of gerous professor.
Pennsylvania to inform you that it will not be re- Grundy's senator, Clarence J. Buckman, became
newed. With best wishes I am, chairman of the senate appropriation committee this
Yours Sincerely, year. When the University trustees came before
EDGAR F. SMITH. this Grundy committee as applicants for $1,000,000
How much chance for appointment in some other of the State funds they are said to have been re-
University was it reasonable to suppose the dis- minded of the fact that Doctor Nearing had un-
missed professor had after June 15 ? The method of pleasantly antagonized "influential men" in the State
"failure to renew appointment" has about it the who had much to do with granting or withholding
unpleasant flavor of persecution for expression of State appropriations. "Dr. Nearing was actively
opinion. connected with the movement for improving child
As to the activities that caused the interests in labor legislation in Pennsylvania in 1905 and 1906.
control of the University to drop Dr. Nearing from After this appointment to an instructorship he re-
the Wharton School faculty, The Nearing Case gives signed as secretary of the Pennsylvania Child Labor
us glimpses that enable us to understand why the Committee1, where he had been active in reporting
beneficiaries of special privilege would regard him as violations of law in establishments of prominent
an advocate of "dangerous and untried theories." manufacturers, coming in conflict with them and
He has published a series of books dealing with with the Chief Factory Inspector over the enforce-
burning economic and social issues. Their mere ment of the child labor provisions of the factory
titlesIncome, Social Adjustment, Wages in the law." Since 1907 he has not been officially connected
United, States, Woman and. Social Progress, Social with the movement, although he has publicly ex-
Religion, and Economicsshow their author's inter- pressed his views, and according to Prof. Witmer re-
est in the vital issues of the day. It is easy to under- ceived intimation on one occasion that the Wharton
stand the eifect on the mind of a capitalist like Ed- School budget was being held up because certain
ward T. Stotesbury or of George Wharton Pepper, instructors in that school were too radical.
author of A Voice from the Crowd, produced by such Any person having an adequate conception of the
publications. With their training and experience it close alliance between the political coterie, big busi-
would indeed be a marvel if they did not consider ness and special privilege that dominates Philadel-
these books an attack on the foundations of in- phia, will easily understand why such activities
dustrial society and the essence of religion. Be- would not meet the approval of these interests.
sides publishing his books Dr. Nearing was one of Relatives and business associates of the trustees
a group of Wharton School professors who gave ac- are prominent as directors of the General Alumni
tive service to the State and Municipality in helping Society of the University and on the editorial staff
to curb the encroachments of capital. We read a of the Alumni Register. This close corporation
quotation from Mr. H. S. Morris, one of the trus- evidently stands for "orthodoxy" the present
tees of the estate of Joseph Wharton, founder of the regime in economics, and the "old time religion"
Wharton School: "They have been of vast use to as they understand it. We are led to believe that
the present mayor and his directors in showing up these forces and Provost Smith would like to see
the wrongs done the city by corporations whose most the college curriculum less elective, and including
powerful directors sit on the board of trustees of more Latin, Greek, and Mathematicsless of the
the University. They checked the United Gas Im- "dangerous" new sciences and more of the "safe"
provement Company in its aggressions against the disciplinary studies.
citizens; the Reading Railway was brought to its Of course Pennsylvania is not the only institu-
knees in its excessive freight charges on coal by the tion that has been made the almoner of the wealthy.
service of one of these professors, and the talent and Coupled with the presence of the givers on govern-
efficiency of the Wharton School have been used ing bodies of the beneficiary institutions we have
wherever possible by the present administration." the strong desire of the active administrators to
And again from the North American of June 19, receive additional largesses. So the teaching must
1915: "For years Doctor Nearing has lectured and not offend possible givers. We must even be treated
written against child labor exploitation." A news- to the spectacle of Chancellors and Presidents going
paper in Bristol, the home town of Joseph R. Grundy, out of their way to laud Standard Oil magnates and
leader of the Pennsylvania child exploiters' fight their methods. And all this was the inevitable
against Governor Brumbaugh's child labor laws, result of the factors and forces that have played so
sometime ago took occasion to make a vitriolic at- prominent a part in the United States in the last
tack on both Dr. Nearing and a local minister who twenty years.
BOOK REVIEWS 127
What is academic freedom? What is it that we although much spoken of of late years, is practically
who demand academic freedom, or free speech in as much of a stranger to us as Sorel himself. This
class and lecture rooms demand? Simply that is best shown by the fact that Reflections on Vio-
trained scholars, who have mastered the best that lence, the chef d'oeuvre of the man and "The Bible"
modern methods and past achievements have put of the movement, had to wait these many years for
into their hands, shall be absolutely unfettered in an English translation and an American edition, al-
their methods of investigation and in the conclu- though it has none of the drawbacks which Das
sions at which they arrive. For if their announce- Kapital offers to either translator or publisher.
ments are statements of observable fact, they will As a result, both the man and the movement have
at once be checked by observers and experimenters been a series of surprises, to us. To mention but
all over the world. And if they are theories of in- two: When the report reached us, a few years ago,
terpretation of facts, that seem to threaten the that Sorel had joined the extreme reactionary politi-
present social or religious orders, they must still be cal group in France, the so-called camelots du roi,
free to publish and teach their theories and con- we were shocked. And when we learned at the be-
clusions. For if they are true they constitute a ginning of the Great War that the French Syndi-
wholesome criticism on the present order; if false, calists had become war-mad and turned chauvinists,
they will not survive, for they will not answer to we stood aghast. The things seemed incomprehen-
the experiences of men and will be rejected because sible to us.
they do not fall into harmony with men's thoughts.
Any living system of thought or social structure And yet there was nothing inherently improbable
changes, and changes because men see new rela- or even surprising in these things. In fact, when
tions and try new devices. The men who believe in the man and the movement are thoroughly under-
authority controlling reason, in doctrine or dogma stood, the events that surprised us so much will ap-
being prescribed, show thereby their deep lack of pear perfectly natural, and, if not exactly to be ex-
faith in men. They are frequently the worst of pected, at least within the range of probability. For
infidelsthey fear to learn the truth for fear that Sorel and the movement which he represents are
the truth may be bad. thoroughly reactionary and highly militaristic in
W. S. SCHLAUCH. general outlook,as a reading of the Syndicalist
"Bible", which is now offered in a very attractive
garb by the American publishers, will easily demon-
strate.
It is, of course, impossible to enter upon a compre-
Sorel on Violence hensive discussion of the Sorelian philosophy within
1 Reflections
$2.25.
on Violence, by Georges Sorel, New York. B. W. Huebsch, ihe limited space of a book review like the present
one. And I shall not attempt the impossible. But I
OREL and his book represent in miniature the want to warn my readers that by characterizing
S fate which has long been that of Marx and
Das Kapital. Like Marx, Sorel became the
representative of a great popular movement, not-
Sorel's philosophy as thoroughly reactionary I did
not mean to imply that it was on that account the
less interesting, or less worthy of our careful study
withstanding the fact that he was not essentially a and consideration. On the contrary, it is highly in-
popular leader, and spoke a language hardly under- teresting, both on its own account, and as a histori-
stood by the great majority of his followers. Like cal document. For in order to be fully understood
Das Kapital, Sorel's Reflections on Violence1 be- and appraised at its true worth the Sorelian philoso-
came "The Bible" of a popular movement, to be often phy must be considered as a part of the general re-
referred to but very little read. And both men as actionary trend which has in recent years been mani-
well as both books have been so little understood by festing itself in science, philosophy, and art. The
most of their respective friends and foes as to be book now under consideration is, therefore, inter-
often praised and even more often abused for things esting, not only because it gives us a consistent phi-
which were not in them. losophy of the Syndicalist movement,a philosophy
In this country, Sorel is even more of a stranger which enables us to understand its anti-parliamen-
than Marx. Which is perhaps not surprising when tarism as well as its chauvinism;but also because
we consider that Sorel is, comparatively speaking, it shows the reflection on the labor movement of
a new-comer into the politico-social sphere of inter- such reactionary manifestations of bourgeois life
ests ; and that he as well as the movement which he and ideology as Bergsonism-Pragmatism in philoso-
represents, while undoubtedly of great proportions phy; Neo Catholicism in religion; mysticism and
when standing alone, dwindle into comparative in- sex-obsession in literature; and the revival of the
significance when ranged alongside of Marx and monarchical cult in politics.
the movement he represents. And the movement There is one aspect, however, of the general re-
which Sorel represents, the Syndicalist movement, actionary character of the Sorelian philosophy upon
128 NEW REVIEW
the consideration of which I must stop for a moment manifestation of the sentiment of the class war, ap-
its militaristic quality. Partly because of the pears thus as a very fine and very heroic thing; it is
timeliness of the subject, and partly because we are at the service of the immemorial interests of civiliza-
so used to associate in our minds Syndicalism with tion ; it is not perhaps the most appropriate method
anti-militarism that my ascribing a militaristic of obtaining immediate material advantages, but it
quality to the Sorelian philosophy must challenge in- may save the world from barbarism."
stant contradiction. But a careful reading of the And this does not apply only to the class-struggle,
book now under consideration will show that the but also to the struggles between nations. For the
anti-militarism of the Syndicalists has a very limited barbarism here referred to, is the barbarism which
significance,namely, that the Syndicalists are not would result from the effeminacy and humanitarian-
interested in maintaining the present State. The ism of the race.
Syndicalists are anti-militaristic in the same sense "Middle class cowardice," says our author, "very
that they are anti-parliamentarian; they believe that much resembles the cowardice of the English Lib-
both the parliamentary and the military systems are eral party, which constantly proclaims its absolute
devices by which the ruling class seeks to perpetu- confidence in arbitration between nations; arbitra-
ate the present state, and they therefore oppose both. tion nearly always gives disastrous results for Eng-
But that does not mean that they may not occa- land. But these worthy progressives prefer to pay,
sionally, and for temporary purposes, use either or or even to compromise the future of their country,
both. Besides, the Syndicalists' anti-militarism is a rather than face the horrors of war. . . . We
home policy, not a foreign policy; they are anti- might very well wonder whether all the high moral-
military-service, not anti-war. ity of our great contemporary thinkers is not
On the contrary, their entire philosophy breathes founded on a degradation of the sentiment of hor-
the martial spirit, in the true militaristic sense of ror."
that phrase; a glorification of force and the so- After having thus laughed to scorn the cowardly
called martial virtues, and an utter contempt for bourgeois for shrinking from the horrors of war
the weak, the peaceful, and the accommodating. and believing in arbitration, he declares that:
"Pacifist" is to Sorel a term of reproach whose "Proletarian violence not only makes the future
contemptuous implications are only exceeded by the revolution certain, but it seems also to be the only
epithet "democrat." A "pacifist," whether in social means by which the European nationsat present
policy affecting the class-war at home or in foreign stupefied by humanitarianismcan recover their
policy affecting war between nations, is always a former energy." L. B. BOUDIN.
miserable coward, a degenerate willing to sell his
birthright for a mess of pottage. It is because of
this that violence is glorified. Not as a means to an
end, but as something noble in itself. And Sorel Schools of Tomorrow
expressly accentuates the fact that it is the brutality
1 Schools of Tomorrow, by John and Evelyn Dewey. New
of violence that has this ennobling quality. The York: Henry Holt & Co. $1.50
greatest danger to our civilization lies in the fact
that our capitalist class is growing pusillanimous, URING these days there are taking place great
weak and accommodating, giving in easily to the de- D and radical reforms in the field of education.
mands of labor without showing the proper spirit The stupid methods of a time that is past are being
of fight. The manly spirit of fight must be put back superseded by the more intelligent and humane
into the human breast, if the world is ever to become ideas of advanced educators. What these reformers
regenerate. It is this which makes proletarian vio- in education are accomplishing is only the very
lence so important. seed of what is to come, and so John and Evelyn
"The dangers"say Sorel"which threaten the Dewey entitle their book Schools of Tomorrow.1 If
future of the world may be avoided, if the prole- you want to get a very good and comprehensive con-
tariat hold on with obstinacy to revolutionary ideas, ception of what is being done in the newer educa-
so as to realize as much as possible Marx's concep- tional world and what it is that the more alert and
tion. Everything may be saved, if the proletariat, advanced educators are really driving at, there is
by their use of violence, manage to re-establish the no better book you can turn to than this one. It
division into classes,, and so restore to the middle gives a clear and fairly well rounded out picture of
class (Note: the translator always uses "Middle- the whole thing and is filled with practical examples
class" for capitalist class or bourgeoisie) something of what is being done and where success has been
of its former energy; that is the great aim towards met with. At the same time the book sets forth the
which the whole thought of menwho are not hyp- authors' own views respecting the various methods
notized by the event of the day, but who think of the written about and their own conclusions are stated.
conditions of tomorrowmust be directed. Prol- In this book education is treated both theoretically
etarian violence, carried on as a pure and simple and practically. One strong point of it is that al-
ATTITUDE OF INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST BUREAU 129
most every point which is set forth in theory is par- examined and also the school as a factor and insti-
alleled by some actual example. Education is treat- tution of society.
ed as a natural development, and the factors which Considering the important part that education
constitute natural development are analyzed. Then
plays in the life of each individual and of the com-
play is spoken about and the importance of it ar.d
the good uses it can be made to serve. A chapter munity as a whole this is an excellent book for us
takes up the consideration of the child as an indi- all to read; especially those Socialists who send their
vidual, and another discusses him as a member of children to the ordinary Public School.
the social group. Then the school curriculum is ROBERT H. HUTCHINSON.
to arbitration. The German delegates
returned to Berlin pledged to use all
Nor is this the worst: Things were aims of peace conditions, and the Com- preparatory work for peace can be car-
said in the testimony which touch the mission expresses its earnest desire ried on. Whether this can best be done
bottom of human brutality: that these aims shall now be given a in one general conference, or whether
"A roll of cotton cloth made by child practical form. several separate conferences would be
labor is just as long, just as wide, just The letter goes on to state that, in necessary, is a matter for the Bureau
as white, and just as good as if made addressing the Executive Committee of Executive to determine; but it is es-
by adults." the Bureau, the Commission does not sential that Social-Democracy should
There was this appeal to precedent: desire to offer any censure. It clearly act in accordance with the mandate of
"Congress never tried between 1830 recognizes the difficulties which have the International Congress.
and 1860 to prevent interstate com- had to be surmounted, but it is anxious In commenting upon the letter the
merce in the products of slave labor." that the Bureau should now endeavor Executive Committee of the Bureau
And then there was this gentle to reunite the various sections of the states that the policy recommended is
thought about children in general: International in a conference where the one that it has pursued.
"You couldn't fix an age limit for
child labor any more than you could
tell when a pig becomes a hog."
Scandinavian Socialist
Correspondence
From a British Socialist
Peace Terms Tc the NEW REVIEW: trious citizen, respected by all, but he
HE Executive Committee of the wisely leaves the Cabinet to shape the
THE GREAT WAR The Militant Proletariat, by Austin Social Insurance, by I. M. Rubinow.
Lewis. The unskilled workers as The only comprehensive book on the
subject. Includes Employers' Liabil-
Imperial Germany and the Industrial a new and revolutionary factor ity, Sick Insurance, Old Age Pen-
Revolution, by Thorstein Veblen. A in the American Labor Move- sions, Insurance Against Unemploy-
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says Dr. Isaac A. Hourwich. (M) lem, by a specialist. Traces the econ- life. Frank and realistic. Mr. Dreiser
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LABOR PROBLEMS Stahl; A Candidate for Truth;
The Invisible Event. Floyd Dell
American Labor Unions, by Helen Reflections on Violence, by Georges places this trilogy among the six
Marot. Covers the whole labor union Sorel. The classic on the philosophy best novels. Perhaps the finest
movement. Sincerely critical and of Syndicalism. In this book Sorel
concrete!}' revolutionary. Full of expounds his famous theory of "social work of contemporary English
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The characters are drawn by the hand Economic Origins of Jeffersonian De- tional experiment. The authors point
of a master, the style is strong in its mocracy, by Prof. Charles A. Beard. to these typical advance posts of
simplicity and symphonic in its Deals with the period following th progress, search out the truth that
sweep. Critics agree that it is the adoption of the constitution. The underlies them, and from these truths
greatest novel of the XXth century, conflict between rising Capitalism and construct the schools of to-morrow.
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Pelle the Conqueror, by Martin Ander- of economic conditions in colony
sen Nexo. A Danish epic of the times, and of the origin of the great Landmarks of Scientific Socialism,
proletariat. Overwhelming in its land fortunes, notably those of the Anti-Duehring, by Frederick En-
truth, sympathy and realism. A pro- Astor family and Marshall Field. gels. A survey of the Socialist
letarian Jean Christophe. The first Volume II begins the story of the
great railroad fortunes, most of its position, elaborated in controv-
volume deals with peasant life, the
second volume with life in the indus- space being given to the Vanderbilts ersy with Prof. Duehring. $i,
trial city. (H) Each volume $1.50, and Goulds. Volume III tells for the postpaid.
postpaid. first time, backed by incontestable
proofs, the true story of Russell Sage, Capital, by Karl Marx. The great clas-
Stephen B. Elkins, James J. Hill and sic of Socialism. Unrefuted and irre-
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novel centering around the Haymar- The 3 volumes for $4, postpaid. and forces in Capitalist Society.
ket tragedy in Chicago in 1887. (X) Volume I, "The Process of Capital-
Regular price, $1.50; our price, 90 History of the Supreme Court, by Gus- ist Production," is practically com-
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and analysis of evidence seldom used, which, up to the time that Marx
its short histories of the judges, of came on the scene, had confused all
The Red and the Black, by Stend- their party affiliations and business
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Dostoevsky. A new and superb FEMINISM of Capitalist Production as a Whole."
translation. The greatest of Russian Predicts the rise of Trusts and makes
novelists. The Brothers Karomazov: Women as World-Builders, by clear the cause of panics and indus-
"The greatest work of fiction ever Floyd Dell. A study of the Fem- trial crises. Shows how the small
written, a work so extraordinary that inist movement by means of ten capitalist is swallowed. Explains the
everything else seems insignificant," subjects of Land, Rent and Farming.
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Translated, with critical introduction,
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The Way of All Flesh, by Samuel chapter is a delightful description of Ethics and the Materialist Conception
the society of the future, where we of History, by Karl Kautsky. In five
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perhaps the finest, in the English fear and conventionality will vanish. the Ethical System of the Period of
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Kant; the Ethics of Darwinism; the
The Works of Turgeniev, com- Woman Under Socialism, by August Ethics of Marxism, soc., postpaid.
plete, in seven volumes (two vol- Bebel. Translated from the original
German of the 33rd edition, by Daniel The Theoretical System of Karl Marx,
umes in one). An excellent edi- De Leon. This is one of the greatest by Louis B. Boudin, author of "So-
tion in every respect, good paper Socialist books ever written. It is a cialism and War." This is an answer
and typography, bound in neat powerful exposure of the shams of to critics of Marx, and to some So-
cloth. Formerly sold at $15. capitalist morality. This is the book cialists who caricature the Marxian
from which garbled extracts are taken doctrines. It is an excellent synthesis
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