GUIDE TO GOOD READING Book Union selects inclusive new work on Soviet psychiatry BOOK which answer's many questions on the Soviet atti- tude to psychology and psychiat- ry, and a novel which takes as its theme political psychology and_ psychiatry and a novel which takes as its theme political witch- hunting in the American capital, are current Book Union choices: As the Book Union points out, Dr. Joseph Wortis, in his Soviet Psychiatry, “has recorded his findings in a spirit of sympathetic interest, motivated by his desire to achieve the greatest possible understanding. He gives you a direct translation in some cases, condensation in others. He in- cludes detailed case reports and their treatments, and clarifies the whole with his own lucid com-. mentary.” : ¥ . Topics covered include: The Relation of the Individual to So- ciety; the Material Origin of Men- tal Processes; The Family; The Importance of Social Forces; The Application of Dialectical Mater- jalism to Psychiatry. IN HIS preface to‘Soviet Psy- chiatry, Dr. Wortis writes: WHEN Dr. Stuart Mudd, the chairman of the American-Soviet Medical Society, returned from the Soviet Union in 1946 with several recent Russian psychiatric books and asked if I though them worth presenting to American readers, I replied that indeed they _ were, but that they didn’t begin to answer the many questions we were all asking about Soviet psy- chiatry, In spite of the disturbed re- lationships between the USSR and the USA (or partly because of it) there was, I found, wide- spread interest in the Soviet atti- tude toward problems of individ- ual psychology, personality de- velopment, child guidance, men- tal hygiene, and the like, and a widespread curiiosity about the actual organization of psychiatric The material available to an- Swer the questions we were asking at first appeared to be scanty and seattered and there was not a - single book in the English lan- _ ‘twenty years old. The few ac- - guage that even began to answer’ them. Yet Dr. Mudd, the most recent American medical visitor _to the USSR, and Mrs, Mudd, de- clared in their published report that the psychiatric activities were among the most interesting. they observed. I undertook, therefore, to as- “semble a book that supplied some of this information, depending mainly on authoritative state- ments from the Russian scentific literature supplemented by what- Two timely pamphlets on Korea available TWO TIMELY pamphlets on Korea are now available at the People’s Cooperative Bookstore, 337 West Pender Street here, One is Facts on the Korean ever additional sources of infor- mation I could tap. . The Soviet Union is sometimes depicted as a monolithic giant permanently imbedded in fixed Marxian dogma. A reading of Soviet psychiatric literature, how- ever, does not convey the impres- sion of a rigid application of fix- ed formulas.’ The tempo of change and de-. velopment, the periods of trial and error, the reversals of. policy and the constant atmosphere of experiment and growth are no- where more apparent than in the fields of Soviet psychology and psychiatry. Moreover, the atmos- phere is favorable to constant mutual criticism, on a principled level, though sometimes in very sharp form, “We shall not perish,” wrote Lenin once, “for we do not fear to speak of our weaknesses, and shall learn to overcome them.“ No single statement by any Soviet scientist need be accepted as final and authoritative, least of all if the statement is ten or counts in English of Soviet psy- chiatric work by Bekhterev, by Luriia, or by the visiting Ameri- can psychoanalyst, Frankwood E. Williams, are no longer adequate- dy representative of the present period. ‘ter is Even assuming that my own study gives a faithful account of present trends, it is neither com- plete nor timeless. _The most it hopes to do is to depict the gen- eral direction of movement and growth and to reproduce the scien- tific atmosphere in which Soviet psychiatry is developing. * * * IN HIS A Washington Story, Joy.Deiss has written a powerful and timely first novel of a typical Washington “witch-hunt.” The heroine and major charac- an intelligent but fear- stricken young mother, Faith Ro- bles Vance, whose father was a member of one of New England’s oldest families. Where the story opens, Faith is alone in the world with the excep- tion of her alcoholic‘husband, who has become a stranger to her, and her small daughter ,Jeannie. Desperately in love with Amer- ica, her father‘s adopted country, she applies herself diligently to her state department job, thus making a success of her busi- ness life because of the failure of her marriage. Caught up in the maelstrom of fear which grips’ Washington, and the victim of forces which oper- ate behind closed doors, Faith finds herself subpoenaed, then ul- timately disgraced, utterly lost ‘ruined, The author has sketched a start- ling picture of these Washington purging activities which have be- come daily fare for newspapers. He probes deeper than this, how- ever, and shows the dangerous effect of these “witch-hunts“ on constitutional rights, % His description of Washington life and mores are sharp and pene- trating. His distaste for all things _ which threaten the rights of Am- ericans is very much evident, and, like the good reporter he “was before- turning to novel writing. Deiss is analytical and able to sift the significant from the super- fluous. : CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING A charge of 50 cents for each "WO" cents for’ each adaitional Tine is OPEN AIR DANCING at Swedish Park. Every Saturday night. Dancing from 9-12. Arne John- son’s Orchestra. SOCIAL EVENING in honor of Miss Kitsilano, Saturday, August 5 from 8 p.m. To be held at 4548 _ West 12. Music, dancing, refresh- ments. Admission 25c. Everybody “TELL THEM YOU SAW IT IN THE TRIBUNE” BUSINESS PERSONALS MEETINGS SIMONSON’S WATCH Repairs — We repair Ronson’s Jewellery, all types of watches and clocks. 711 East ‘Hastings, Vancouver. SWEDISH-FINNISH WORKERS’ CLUB meets last Friday every month at 7:30 p.m. in Clinton Hall, HALLS FOR RENT \CRYSTAL STEAM BATHS—Open every day. New Modern Beauty ~Salon—i763 E. Hastings. HAs- tings 0094. SALLY BOWES INCOME TAX PROBLEMS — Rm. 20, 9. East Hastings. MA, 9965. A. Rollo, Mer. 0.K. RADIO SERVICE. Latest fac- NEED HIKING BOOTS? Try John- son’s. 63 West Cordova. Hand- a and reliable. Johnsons .PT Dixieland Trio CLINTON HALL, 2605 E. Pender, Phone Hastings 3277. Hall is available for rent. RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for meetings, weddings, and banquets at reasonable rates, 600 Campbell Ave., HA. 6900. _ NOTICES PLEASE NOTE: Office of Pacific Tribune will close at 12 noon on Saturdays. — Available for dances and socials, “Assure a suc- eessful evening.” Quality tops,: rates reasonable, Call MA. 5288 for booking. Ce TST TTT YT LIL ‘MARCH OF THE VOLUNTEERS’ .. FIVE THOUSAND writers, artists, workers and students attended a concert held in Pe- -king’s Chungshaw Park open air theater on July 20 to com- memorate the 15th anniversary poser of the famous “March of the Volunteers,” which is now the national anthem of China. Niet Erh was killed in an acci- of 24. A specially composed “con- dolence song” and poem as well as Nieh Ehr’s famous compositions, “March of the China honors composer of the death of Nieh Erh, com- © dent in Japan at the early age ‘wards victory and in today’s Volunteers,” “New Women,” rendered to the audience by an amateur choir of 400 voices. The great significance of Nieh Erh’s works was sum- med up by Mao Tun, vice chair- man of the All-China Federa- tions of Literature and Arts Circles, who said that in his compositions, Nieh Erh ex- pressed and _ stimulated the fighting spirit of the Chinese people. For more than ten years, he said, the Chinese peo- ple had sung his songs both while marching forward to- struggle to create a new life. TRIBUTE TO AGNES SMEDLEY Chinese people loved this American writer HEN Agnes Smedley, the American writer, after her first six months’ stay with the Communist-led Eighth JRoute Army, was asked in 1933 by Gen- eral Chu Teh to go to Hankow to organize medical relief supplies for them, she was reluctant to leave. “But you can do work there that no one else can'do,” the Com- munist generals said to her: she agreed, Then. they said, “Stay a few days longer; we will call all the army in this region to bid you farewell. Our army loves ‘you.” Those simple words of General Chu Teh and General Peng Teh- hwei were perhaps the pinnacle of Agnes Smedley’s life, the most precious tribute to the success of her work. x * * I and many others met Agnes in Hangchow, where we saw the appealing conditions of the sick and wounded soldiers, We heard of the heroism of the BHighth Route Army in its struggle against Japanese imperialism and of the reforms that were taking place in the Many of us Getermpined a help her, * * * Agnes Smedley came from a working-class home. She was born and brought up in the mining areas of America‘s Middle West. She knew all the PARCEED SAS of that life. _ Moved by the news of the Rus- sian Revolution, she worked her way to Germany in 1920 as a stew- ardess' on a steamer, and then went to the Soviet Union on a six months tour. to Returning Germany, she worked there with Indians for the* cause of Indian independence. In 1929 she had the chance of her lifetime. She was offered the job of China correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung, then per- ‘haps the greatest of Liberal news- papers on the Continent, * * * “So Agnes came to China. oy _ 12 years it was her home, From her arrival to the day of her death she gave all her time and energy to the cause of China’s workers and peasants. " Through her the world came to know of both the terror of Chiang Kai-shek’s China and the hope of China’s Communist areas, Border Regime. She was offered bribes to keep silent. But she spurned them. She was arrested by Chiang’s police, but refused to be intimidated. She was driven out of her job, cease- lessly following by police agents, she was libelled and slandered, subject to outrageous personal at- tacks. But she kept on writing. . Even in her last years the at- tacks did not cease. General Mac- Arthur’s unfounded charge that she was a Soviet spy had to be withdrawn by the U. S. War De- partment, but this last attack from her own country undermin- ed her health, hastening her death -in England earlier this year. * * * Generous in friendship, witty in conversation, thoroughly enjoying folk music and dancing, steadfast in fighting ‘oppression, no wonder the Chinese soldiers loved her. Agnes Smedley was one of the greatest of American women. One day that will be recognised even in the U. S. But she belongs to China, the country whose strug gles she dedicated her best-know” writings and there her ashes will be buried. Agnes was never a member of a political party. Before she died . she wrote: “T have had but one loyalty, one faith, and that was to the libera- tion of the podr and the oppress- ed; and, within that framework, to the Chinese revolution, as it has — now materialised.” ; For those things in which she believed, Agnes Smedley never ceased fighting. Her life is 2? example, —HILDA SELWN CLARKE: | Brother’s Bakery : Specializing in Sweet_and Sour Rye Bread 342 E. HASTINGS ST. ; PA; 8419 MILO CAFE “We Specialize in Ukrainian F 242 E. Hastings St. PA. Vancouver PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 8, 1950—PAGE ?