62
PARTISAN REVIEW
If this letter is to be quoted will you
please quote it entire.
This is plain enough. Seldom, in fact,
has a transaction of this nature been
avowed more frankly. The
New Masses
refused to print him unless he boy-
cotted PARTISANREvIEw-a condition
in itself humiliating enough for a writer
of Dr. Williams' standing. Apparently
it was further stipulated-it
is hard to
believe that Dr. Williams volunteered
for the job-that he also allow his rela-
tions with
US
to be publicly misrepre-
sented. (It is, of course, literally true
that we have no contribution of his-
since we sent both poems back to him.
But the implication is, to say the least,
misleading.) We are distressed that Dr.
Williams should lend himself to such
shennanigans. And we are puzzled when
he writes, "You know, of course, that
I have no reason for liking the
PARTISANREVIEW." All we know is
that he thought well enough of our
venture to send us two poems and to
promise others.
In its efforts to stifle independent left-
wing expression, the
New Masses
has
so far been signally unsuccessful. The
Williams episode is its first triumph, so
far as PARTISANREVIEWis concerned.
But what a victory! Conditions!
Threats! Pressures! These are the tactics
of the underworld. And it is now clear
from which quarter factionalism in the
left-wing literary movement issues.
When Dr. Williams was invited to con-
tribute to PARTISANREVIEWhe was not
asked to boycott any other publication;
nor would we for a moment presume to
put any such conditions on our writers.
When the real situation becomes clear
to Dr. Williams, as in time it must, we
hope he will send us some more poems.
A Letter to the Editor
I just read your editorial statement
in the December issue of the PARTISAN
REVIEW.Upon completion I promptly
consigned the issue to the garbage pail.
All additional
numbers of the
PARTISANREVIEWsent to me will be
relegated unopened to the same place.
When a 'Left'
magazine in it.s
