QUESTION FOR WRITERS

Is socialist realism in art
possible under capitalism ?

IN THE “Brains Trust” col-
umn of the London Daily Work-
er recently the question was
posed: Is the practice of socialisi
realism possible in the working
class literature of capitalist coun-
tries? Below is published the
answer given by Arnold Keitle,
Leeds University lecturer in Eng-
lish.

x * *

IS IT possible to be a socialist
in a capitalist country? Obvi-
ously it is.

A socialist under capitalism is
sone who sees capitalist society

from the viewpoint of the work-
ing class and seeks to change
that society into a socialist so-
ciety. :

It is true that until we have
actually built and experienced
Socialism in our own lives we
shall have an incomplete idea of
just what socialist society will
-be like and of how it will change
us as human beings; but that
“doesn’t mean that we are not
‘socialists today.

The same applies to socialist
‘realism in art. Gorky once said:

“Socialist realism in litera-

- ture can appear only as a re-

' flection of the facts of Socialist

creative activities as they exist
in actual practice.”

This has sometimes been
taken to mean that socialist real-
ism is not possible until a so-
cialist society has actually been
‘built. But this is a ‘false and
mechanistic interpretation of
‘Gorky’s words.

For “socialist creative activi-
ties” do not begin after the es-
tablishment of socialism; if they
did socialism would never be
achieved. ;

They begin aS soon as the
working class becomes consci-
ous of the need of organised, re-
volutionary opposition to class

The ‘first great work of so-.
eialist creative activity is indeed
the creation of ‘the class-consci-
ous labor movement. and, as his-
tory develops, of the Commun-
ist party. And once ‘there are
in capitalist society conscious
socialists effectively striving to
ereate the means of winning
working-class power the prere-
Guisite for a socialist realist lit-
erature has arisen.

For socialist realism is not
merely a “reflection” of life in a.
mechanical sense. It isn’t achiev-
ed simply .by ‘photographing
‘an already established socialist
world.

It helps to create that world |
‘and to develop it by revealing
‘the vital forces at work in a
changing, developing society
and by organising our conScious-
“mess to cope the better with the
: ‘ * *

_ SOCIALIST realism is reality

seen and “artistically depicted
from the viewpoint of ‘the class-

- That is. why it is something
new in literature and something
of the most profound signific-
ance. For itis only the 'w
class that is capable, through
fighting for and creating social-
ism, of enlarging men’s consci-
ousness and therefore their art.
Socialist realism reveals new
possibilities anl potentialities in
‘human nature.

In capitalist society it is only
_ writers who approach their writ-

*

a

ing from a socialist realist stand-
point who are capable of reveal-
ing the positive and hopeful
aspects of the struggles which
aitend the decay of capitalist
society.

tOher writers may give an
honest and even penetrating pic-
ture of the break-up of capital-
ism ibut their work will inevit-
ably tend to be gloomy, flat and
onesided, lacking an_ essential
resilience and vitality. Only the
sucialist realist writer Jhas the
means of doing justice to the de-
veloping ‘forces of the future.

* * *

WHY THEN, is there in fact
comparatively little good work-
ing-class literature being pro-
duced today in capitalist coun-
tries?

Partly, I suspect, it is a mat-
ter of confidence. Too many of
our left wing writers do not
really ‘have faith in the strug-
gles of the working class and
their successful outcome.

They see the rottenness of
capitalism and they sincerely
want socialism — with part of
their consciousness. But not
quite enough. :

Another part of their mind
clings to the |limitations and
often the cynicism and decad-
ence of a bourgeois outlook.

Then again there is the ques-
tion of literary discipline.

To produce good art is per-
haps the most difficult, the most
demanding, task in the world,
needing a very great deal of
practice, patience, self-criticism
and toughness of mind.

Many workers who might well
‘become fine writers in practise
spend so much of their time in
earning a living and then taking
part in necessary day-to-day
political activity that they are
never able to develop their latent
iiterary talents.

Nor can one simply say that
such individuals ought to spend
less time in leading the continu-
ous struggles of the people, be-

cause it is the very fact that

they. are thus involved in politi-
cal struggle that give them their
powers and their insight.

Were they to withdraw from
the struggle there is no certain-
ty that they would retain and
develop the qualities needed for
the production of a vital social-«
ist art. It seems that in the
eenditions of capitalism it is
only the rather exceptional
writer who is able at the same
time to develop a full socialist
consciousness and a disciplin
literary technique. eee

But the thing is not impos-
sible. Gorky managed it, And
even if we can’t produce a Gorky
every year at least our writers
could ‘be doing better than most

“of them are today.

That is why I think we should

“welcome such novels as “Gwyn

Thomas’s All Things Betray
Thee and Margaret Hamilton’s
Bull’s Penny, as well as such
poetry as’ Hamish Henderson’s.

These may not ‘be the world
masterpieces of socialist realism
which we are all waiting for,
but they are something to be
going on with. It is no good our
imagining that a great new or-
iginal genius will appear over-
night by our muttering incanta-
tions or even theorising about
the nature and prospects of

' working-class art.

—ARNOLD KETTLE.

Read an accurate
Stalin biography

see

. IT WILL cost you 70 cents
to buy 12 issues of the Van-
couver Sun containing the
fantastically distorted and
inaccurate Rebecca West ser-
ies on the “life of Stalin.” For
only 75 cents, you can pur-
chase a complete, authorita-
tive biography of Stalin pub-
lished by the Marx-Engels-
Lenin Institute in Moscow.
It is available at the People’s
Cooperative Bookstore.

GUIDE TO GOOD READING

Karl Marx’
manuscripts

NO BOOK thas done so much
to change the world as Karl
, Marx’ Capital. It has been to
workers and oppressed people
in every. corner of the globe
a beacon light, announcing that
their days of poverty and ex-
ploitation will -be brought to
an end.

It is a scientific work of the
first rank, showing with pro-
found wisdom how the social
organism works.

But not just a scientific work,
not just wisdom for wisdom’s
sake; it is a work with a pur-
pose, it is wisdom for the work-
ers’ sake, the wisdom that the

working class needs to guide’

and help its struggle for so-
cialism. against capitalism.

(Marx was perfectly clear
about the purpose this efforts
were to serve.

Shortiy after the delivery of
the manuscript of the first vol-
ume of Capital to the printer,
he wrote to a friend in Geneva:
“This, without doubt, is the
most terrific shell that has ever

THIRD ANNUAL SHOW

Montreal Art Workshop

gives excellent

THE MONTREAL Art Work-
shop recently heid its third an-
nual exhibition and, as at the
previous two exhibitions, this
group of talented young paint-
ers presented an_ interesting
variety of paintings, sketches
and silk screen prints.

Those who have followed the
progress of this group were im-
pressed with the advances in
technique apparent in the work
of almost all the exhibitors.

Roslyn Sheinfeld’s Woman
and Child stands out as one of
the most interesting in the show.
A -warm, sympathetic treat-
ment of a working-class mother
holding her baby in a Montreal
streetcar, it was a difficult un-
dertaking technically and a

- trioute to the artist’s choice of

subject matter.

Sleeping Child, a brush and
ink sketch by Rita Briansky
is an excepticnally sensitive
work. . Miss Briansky’s other
contributions are all note.
worthy, maintaining her usua
high standard. oe

Rue Sur le Cap is striking
evidence of the developing ma-

turity of painter Abe Pinchuk,

but his Silk Screen Printer in-
dicates he is still more at home
in his old medium. :

“Mervin Yellin’s Bridge is a
well-executed painting depend-
ing almost entirely on design
for effect. As a result, chil-
dren playing.in the foreground
appear to be mere props for
the bridge and do not come to
life. Yellin’s recent preoccu-
pation with form here does not,
fortunately, express itself in his
other paintings. ,

uation of the many other con-

tributions. Joe Prezament, Bill
Martucci, Nat Letofsky, Abe

Peters, Bill Sharad, Harry Frei-

tag, Marion Gulnick and others
help to round out a fine show.

It musi bé Said that while
most of the material exhibited
is realist in form, the artists for
the most part have been con-

ca

exhibition

unpublished —
translated -

been fired at the head’ of the
‘pourgeosie.” -

.It certainly was. The capi-—
talists damned it, burned it, got
learned professors to “‘prove” —
that it was utterly wrong; bul
with every year that passed its
truth inspired more and more
of mankind to struggle against
capitalist oppression and equip-
ped their leaders with a scien-
tific understanding of the tasks

~they faced. Z

* * *

THE FIRST volume of Cap-
ital, though more than 250,000
words in length, was only 2
small part of ‘the work Marx
had planned. Only this vol
ume was published during
Marx’ lifetime, but he left man
uscripts for subsequent vol-
umes of Capital which were to
run to well over a million
words. -

‘Frederick Engels, Marx’ life-_
Ieng friend and collaborator, —
edited and published the sec-
end and third volumes of Cap-
ital, but there remained un
published the extensive manu: —
scripts dealing with the history
of economic theory and, in pat
ticular, the theories Marx used
to show just how and why cap-
italism is a system of exploita
tion when he worked out his
thesry of surplus value. ;

Now, for the first ‘time, 20 —
English translation of thesé
manuscripts has ‘been’ made bY
Emile Burns and .G. ‘A. Bon

‘ner. Theories of Surplus Value —

(obtainable in Vancouver at the —

_ People’s Co-operative Bookstore, —

337 West Pender Street) is 4
fine job indeed. It is a pity that |
all Marx’ other works have not
been translated with the sam
clarity and simple ‘force.

’ Marxism is often called a fol

eign creed by its enemies. This.

tent to reproduce life in a
rather static manner. With the
exception of Prezament’s Brick-
iayers at Work and a few other
items, there is nothing that de-
picts people at work, that de-
seribes man’s efforts to improve
the world he lives in.

The artist has a responsibility
¢o people, to society. If he wants
his work to have meaning for
people, he must first describe
life, reality, critically, i.e. work-
ers at ye gs picket lines,
aspects 0 e fight for peace,
childreft at play, etc. Bittinans
than that—the artist must in-
spire people by emphasizing the
positive aspects of life, the pos-
sibility of people changing con-
temporary reality for a better
ene. In this Way, alone, can the

: ' artist merge himself with
Space does not permit an eval.

rit gta movement of human-

In this reviewer's i
the Art Workshop ates
reflect this approach. Never.
theless, the exhibition was a re.
freshing change from the in-
terminable diet of abstraction
the hapless art-lover is sub-
jected to at most exhibitions.
HARRY GULKIN.

volume is a refutation of the
lie. Political economy is the |
cornerstone of Marxism and —
there ‘Marx shows how he found
the clues to his most important
discoveries in economic sci
in the writings of the great
British economists. ;
“The founder of modern
litical economy,” he writes, *
Sir William Petty (1623-87) on®
of the most gifted and orig
al economic investigators.”
He analyzes with deep insight
the writings of Adam smitlt
(1723-90), Ricardo (1772-1823)
and many other early exp?”
ents of economic theory ~
Britain. hae e
Struggling against diseas®
Marx wrote:
“I had to use every ™

It would be even more
practical for us not to make
is by the treasure 10°
political theory that | TON.
left with us—JOHN EA

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 4, 1952 — pAGt