th e literary poli cies o f 71/(,
Neill Masses
and of writers like Granvill e Hi cks and
Mi chae l Gold .
I hope you will be abl e to adjust
the referen ce properly.
Sincerely,
Willi alll Phillips
January 22, 1995
To the Editor:
J us t a no te in respo nse to Mr.
Phillips's fri e ndl y comill ents o n Ill y
biograph y o f Dwi ght Macdonald
(PR
-t,
1994) .
I have no wi sh to take issue with
Mr. Phillips's readin g o f my book.
But he has apparently fo rgotten that I
did interv iew him o n May 9, 1985 in
Bosto n. H e was guarded , and less th an
fo rth com ing. I have a tapc of th at
meetin g. I asked if I could have a look
in th e
PR
files. He asked what fo r and
I sa id fo r w hateve r info rmati o n I
mi ght find relati ve to m y stud y. H e
replied th at he did no t permit " fi shin g
ex ped iti o ns." Mr. Phillips seems un–
aware th at th e consultati ons of archi val
file s arc fi shin g ex pediti o ns. Mr.
Phillips has a reputati o n fo r guardin g
th e
PR
file s fr om prying eyes of
research scholars. It is asto nishin g how
many books th at deal w ith th e journal
neve r cite th e
PR
p ap ers in th e ir
acknowledgments.
As fo r th e tec hni ca lity co ncernin g
th e source o f funds to suppo rt th e first
PR ,
wh en it was an arm o f th e C P ' s
John I"l...eed C lub, wh at it amo unts to
is thi s. PR gave lectures and dances
u nde r th e auspi ces of the C lub and
kept th e mo ney to fund th e magazin e,
whi ch I co ncede is no t techni ca lly th e
same as gettin g a check fro m the Party.
H oweve r, Li o nel Ab el, a lo ngt ime
contribu to r to th e journal, has w ritten
in his
hllellec/u al Follies
(p . 46): " th ey
IR.a hv and Phillipsi had bee n entrusted
by th e Party .. . with a magazin e,
Partisall R eview,
whi ch at th e time I
m et th em was a Communi st o rga n
paid fo r by th e Communi sts." I w ill
change my refere nce in th e paperback
editi o n to simpl y say "suppo rted by
th e Party." As fo r wh ere th e fund s
came from aft er Dw ight Macdo nald's
res ignati o n , I based my account o n a
le tte r fr o m R a hv to Mac do nald .
Phillips fa ils
to
no te th at in m y
footn o te coverin g these matters I refer
to hi s "sli ghtly different acco unt " in
hi s own memo irs. H oweve r, I co uld
easily be persuaded that bo th R ahv an d
Phillips were being dupli cito us as th ey
kept all o f thi s sec ret at th e time .
N o thin g is doc umented in Phill ips's
own account, simply asserted .
As to wheth er I overplayed o r un–
de rpl ayed Dw ight's "anti-Semitism," I
leave that up to the readers. I have bee n
charged with bo th and even praised by
Irving H owe fo r handling it we ll. The
sam e goes fo r wh e th e r I trea ted
Dw ight harshly o r was too fri endl y. I
have been accused of both . I ca n onl y
say I came to love th e man, and many
think that came through in my book.
Mr. Phillips and I do have o ne
thin g in commo n ; neithe r o f us ca n
write like Dwi ght Macdo nald . In that
respect we are hardly alone.
Mi chael Wreszin
N ew Yo rk , N ew York
