PROLETARIAN MAGAZINES
BLAST,
a bi-monthly of proletarian short stories, editerJ by Fred R. Miller.
Nos.
4
and
5.
THE ANVIL,
a bi-monthly of proletarian stories and poems, edited by
Jack Conroy. Nos.
7
and
8.
LEFTWARD,
a monthly published by the John Reed Club of Boston. Vol.
1.
No.
1.
It is good to realize that while Mr. H. L. Menken was recently
fuming and sputtering away on his typewriter, telling the world in his
stale near-beer style that the production of little magazines, particularly
proletarian magazines, was a fad that was doomed to die the next minute or
so, two or three lusty proletarian magazines were being born and the
already-established proletarian magazines were issuing new numbers so
excellent in quality as to make Mr. Mencken's super-hysteria sound like
plaintive meows. vVhether Mr. Mencken likes it or not, the fact remains
that revolutionary little magazines arc not only dominating the field but
are compelling most literary-minded intellectuals to take definite stands and
tell the world about it. Some of these intellectuals, by a tremendous
effort, manage to maintain a half-suspended position while they pray for
inspiration and a fashionable Utopia. Others prefer fences, particularly
the liberal element of our young writers who, through the flying-trapeze
movements of academicians, faddists and nature-neckers are sweating blood
and adjectives to give their fence-straddling position some vestige of dignity.
Occasionally, we find fence straddlers, of the variety I mention, in
the company of writers who have their feet on the ground. I find such
a combination in the last few issues of
Province/awn.
Its regular con–
tributors consisted (the magaz ine has been temporarily discontinued) of
revolutionary writers and contributors who refer to themselves as liberals,
although in practice they reveal distinct tendencies toward Fascism. A
few months ago a
Provincetown
liberal wrote an article accusing com–
munist intellectuals of being faddists, overlooking the obvious point
that if being a communist intellectual is a fad, then so is unemployment,
so is hunger, so is the danger of war and fascism. This is only one instance
of the fallacious thinking that is to be seen in such magazines that dare
not subscribe "to any particular creed," but stick their tail of impartiality
in the air as though it were a banner instead of a tail. Yet, in the pages
of these same magazines some excellent contributions in revolutionary
writing have crept in. Particularly I have in mind the work of Edward
McSorley, whose fragments from a full-length work have been appearing
in
Provincetown,
overshadowing anything else published in that periodical.
His full length work, when and if published, should make a fine contribu–
tion to the library of revolutionary literature. McSorley is only one of
the many revolutionary writers to be found in "liberal" magazines. Their
work, appearing in the tedious midst of liberal writings, furnishes a strik–
ing contrast.
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