440
PARTISAN REVIEW
Sirs:
Please enter my subscription...• Up
here the nights are pretty dull and lonely
-with beer drinking or self-pity the only
forms of entertainment. Movies are sec–
ond-rate or antedated, the "hostesses"
are a myth, and the above-mentioned
entertainments are unhealthy and tire–
some.
Therefore reading is a diversion and a
salvation. No more stimulating and pro–
vocative publication exists than yours. It
makes me mad, which is good.
It
gets
me excited, and it prevents the dull
routine of an unaccustomed army life
from getting under my skin.
It
is, in short, a necessity.
Fort Lewis, Wash.
PRIVATE X
Sirs:
Please send next issue to the above
address. • . . Out here in the prairie
region and in the thick of Army training,
pARTISAN REVIEW to me is something
more than an anodyne. The authors and
thought in it have served as a constant
source of viewpoint and policy....
Fort Sill, Okla.
PRIVATE Y
THE PARTISAN REVOLUTION
Sirs:
The Macdonald and Burnham article!
are both highly commendable in indicat–
ing that capitalism is dead or moribund,
and that socialism has not yet emerged.
But the concepts erected by both writers
to describe the recent power transitions
are unfortunate.
Macdonald sets up "bureaucratic col–
lectivism" as a description of what has
happened in Germany. Burnham sets up
"managerial revolution" as a description
of what has happened in Germany, Rus–
sia, and (in a degree) in the New Deal.
Both of these descriptive phrases seem
far-fetched. For, staring the authors in
their faces, in the very title of your mag.
is a far simpler and more accurate de–
scription. The PARTISAN revolution is
what has actually taken place in Russia,
in Germany, and- microscopically- in
the New Deal.
The
parties
are taking over. This is
the simplest and most basic generaliza–
tion which can be induced from recent
social history. Fundamental to any broad
new program for social action is a rec–
ognition of this
partisan revolution.
It's true that Burnham and Macdonald
are partly correct. Managers are acquir–
ing somewhat more power than before;
and bureaucrats are acquiring consider–
ably more power. But the
chief
gainers
of power are political functionaries.
Certainly, writers for the PARTISAN
REv. ought to realize that the main revo–
lution going on in the world today is the
Partisan REV.
Chicago, Ill.
HARVEY DAWSON
ROCKEFELLER ENTERPRISES, INC.
Sirs,
One of a set of photos posted in the
lobby of the Museum of Modern Art
theatre and depicting· aspects of cinema
history, is a shot of the Radio City Music
Hall with the following caption:
"The Music Hall is unique in its
position as an American showplace and
an international institution. Presenting
unusual entertainment, the Music Hall
has been credited in the motion picture
industry with elevating the standards
of films produced in the Hollywood
studios. It has become the goal of pro–
ducers and stars to have their photo–
plays booked at the Music Hall."
I see no reas.on why this outrageous
blurb and pack of lies should be allowed
to pass without dishonorable mention.
Nor why the Museum should be given
any benefit of the doubt on the suspicion
of here acting merely as a Rockefeller
affiliate, especially since the other cap–
tions, far from having come so obviously
from a publicity-release, are in the thin
snappy
Time-Life'-Fortune
style which
passes in that cinema department for
sophisticated criticism.
Yours, etc.,
pAUL GOODMAN
NEW YORK CITY
FANCY-PANTS DRAFTEE
Sirs:
Your-mercifully-anonymous draftee cor–
respondent, if one may fairly judge on
the basis of his own remarks, is a much
more serious flop as a socialist than as a
soldier. What kind of a fancy-pants-and
