William Phillips replies:
I ca nn ot understa nd w hy Mr.
Wresz in persists in statin g that there
was a fi nancial connectio n between th e
ea rl y
Parti sa n
R ev iew
and th e
Communi st Party. H e cit es n o
evidence - because there is no ne. This
is not an earth-shatterin g qu esti on, but
I would think the record should be set
straight . And it eve n might be useful
to und erstand th e rela ti o n of th e
Communist Party to
Partisarl Review.
Li o nel Abel's asserti o n is not evi–
dence, since he was in no position to
know the relati on of
Partisan Review
to
th e Communist Party . Yes, we used
the fac ilities of th e J ohn R eed Writers
C lub of N ew York
to
hold lec tures.
But as I have stated , th e J o hn R eed
C lub itse lf was no t fund ed by th e
Communi st Party, alth o ugh it was
ho used in th e same b uilding. And as I
explained to Mr. Fraser, Mr. Wreszin 's
ed it o r at B as ic Boo ks , th e
Co'mmuni st Party itse lf had n o
pos iti on o n
Partisan Review.
But th e
Party stalwarts at
The New Masses,
such
as Mi chae l Gold and Granvill e Hi cks,
we re hos til e to
Parti sa n R ev iew
beca use it did no t toe th e Party's
literary line. The simple fact is th at
R ahv and I staged a le cture by J o hn
Strac hey at a th ea ter, whi ch had an
enormous attendance, and the proceeds
sustained the magazine fo r a year.
Mr. Wreszi n's asserti on that we d o
no t perm it sc ho lars access to OLlr
arch ives is untrue. W e always have
give n correspo ndence that th ey asked
for
to
qualified scholars. But we have
p rotec ted li v in g w rit ers by no t
allowing random looking through th e
archi ves. As I recall , Wreszin was given
Dwight Macdonald 's correspo ndence
after he asked fo r it.
O n th e qu esti on of anti-Sem itism ,
th e fac t th at Mr. Wreszin has had
mixed responses does not appea r
to
be
re leva n t. I am c itin g my own
experi ence. I do not mea n to suggest
th at Mac do nald 's an ti-Sem iti sm was
blatant; it appears to have been an early
trait that he could not always con trol,
and whi ch did not kee p us from being
fri ends.
I th o ught I had made it clear that
R ahv had in ve nted a do no r, because
th e rea l dono r wa nt ed t o remain
an o nym o us. Th e all ega t io n of
duplicity by Mr. Wreszin is nasty and
un call ed-fo r.
Finally, I am sorry I do no t recall
th e interview with Mr. Wreszin . And
he does not list me in hi s book with
the people he interviewed .
The New
World
of the
Gothic Fox
Cultllre and &onomy ill EngliJh
and SpaniJh America
by CLAUDIO vELIZ
"Prese nted with conside r–
able wit a nd learning....it
be longs, dare o ne suggest, to
a cha racteristically Hi spa nic
literary tradition , in w hi ch
the a uthor expatiates, with
grace a nd wit, on one big
th ing."
- J .H . E lliott,
New YorK Review
of
BOOK'}
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University of California Press
