10
PARTISAN REVIEW
part therefrom, New Deal or no New Deal. Nor is he phased by
the hard, awkward, granite fact that a capitalist State, such as we
live under, is maintained primarily to protect property rights. "The
only sound slogan," he writes airily, "is, 'It's
your
State!' For under
that slogan you can raise a fighting army; under any other, the war
is lost." He means, of course, an army to fight for progress. But
the phrase is not a happy one. Mr. Chamberlain is a good anti–
fascist, and he is sincerely opposed to a second crusade to make
the world safe for democracy. But we predict that when and
if
fascism or war comes to this country, it will be under just this slogan ·
he thinks is so "sound".
In all this, Mr. Chamberlain in effect is trying to put into theo–
retical terms the political philosophy of the left-wing of the New
Deal. Such attempts are rare among those pragmatic gentry, and
Mr. Chamberlain seems to be uneasily conscious that he is trans–
gressing the bounds of good taste. "All this may sound pretty theo–
retical," he apologizes. The importance of the theory of The Per–
manent NEP to left New Dealers is that it enables them to support
the present
status quo
with a good conscience, and to overlook the
fact that any reformist
Government
must work within the limitations
of the capitalist
State.
Far from itself being the State, the New Deal
has found the State, as represented by the Constitution and the courts,
sabotaging even the mild reforms it has attempted. Even if the
New Deal is heart and soul for the masses-and we don't agree
that it is-when capitalist decline has reached a certain point, it
will have to decide whether to defend the capitalist State
at all costs,
or to overthrow it. Not even the President's celebrated smile will then
be able to gloss over the blunt choice between fascism and social
revolution.
DICTATORSHIP
AT COOPER UNION
Few will deny that the normal function of
educator and critic should be to lead the
public and give sympathetic guidance in
any move for progress. In America there is ample indication to the
contrary, as the controlling forces seemingly concentrate for .the re–
straint of the few who wish to advance, and only through prolonged
struggle can a student or individual approach any adequate under–
standing of modem culture.
It is doubtless true that in most educational centers the apathy
of the student body merits no better than it receives. Yet there are
several happy instances to show where pupils have maneuvered their
faculty into an acknowledgment of rising .cultural trends. For instance,
