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Temper!, v. 1, issue 2 July 1945

Page 1

TUMBRILS, A Journal of Critical Review                         Page 1
PAMPHLETEERING, PEOPLES, AND POLITICS
   In the last issue of Tumbrils, Jim Blish expended considerable space and vehemence in a paean of praise to the Printed Word and the pamphleteer, tossing his aristocratic head, and tilting his literary nose at the misguided members of all the APA's who go to the trouble of mimeographing, or printing, for themselves, material that is neither intellectual, provocative, nor propagandist in nature. There is too much in FAPA and Vanguard both, it would seem, that none of the Little Magazines would even look at, and a good deal of it must be, in Blish's opinion, almost "bad enough to be commercially published.
   (Let me make clear here that I am not quoting Blish, and that
   I may be reading more into his argument than he intended. But that's how it struck me.)
   I am Inclined to agree with Blish on all that he has to say about the power of the pamphlet. It has a specific value; there is a specific need for its existence. But I cannot for the life of me see what any of that has to do with FAPA or Vanguard. An amateur press association also has a very specific value, and that value is nothing more than the opportunity given to its members of exercising their literary and publishing talents in any manner they choose.
   I doubt that Blish will call me scatter-brained if I confess that I am as much amused by accounts of personalities, gossip, humerous small-talk and verse of the less majestic variety, as I am by bibliophilic discussions on the comparative merits of the more abstruse writers of the day.
   And while I attack Blish, and Blish attacks Michel, and Michel attacks everything removed from the Orthodox Russian Hierarchy, the pamphleteers, the real pamphleteers, those whose more serious interests deny them the less important enjoyments of amatuer journalism, continue to flood us with opinion, information and propaganda.
 "The Responsibility of Peoples"
   In the welter of hysterical effusion that passes today for political writing, in the deluge of cynical, fanatical, or sentimental eyewash, designed to obscure our vision to the sorry state of the world, Dwight Macdonald's pamphlet, "The Responsibility of Peoples,"is a sound and dry watchtower in a swamp of putrefaction and rationalization.
   Almost alone among the articulate members of the left in this country, Macdonald has undertaken the job of presenting, at long last, the attitude of the Socialist, the Marxist, the believer in humanity (or call it what you will) on the resolution of the war and the peace.

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TUMBRILS, A Journal of Critical Review Page 1 PAMPHLETEERING, PEOPLES, AND POLITICS In the last issue of Tumbrils, Jim Blish expended considerable space and vehemence in a paean of praise to the Printed Word and the pamphleteer, tossing his aristocratic head, and tilting his literary nose at the misguided members of all the APA's who go to the trouble of mimeographing, or printing, for themselves, material that is neither intellectual, provocative, nor propagandist in nature. There is too much in FAPA and Vanguard both, it would seem, that none of the Little Magazines would even look at, and a good deal of it must be, in Blish's opinion, almost "bad enough to be commercially published. (Let me make clear here that I am not quoting Blish, and that I may be reading more into his argument than he intended. But that's how it struck me.) I am Inclined to agree with Blish on all that he has to say about the power of the pamphlet. It has a specific value; there is a specific need for its existence. But I cannot for the life of me see what any of that has to do with FAPA or Vanguard. An amateur press association also has a very specific value, and that value is nothing more than the opportunity given to its members of exercising their literary and publishing talents in any manner they choose. I doubt that Blish will call me scatter-brained if I confess that I am as much amused by accounts of personalities, gossip, humerous small-talk and verse of the less majestic variety, as I am by bibliophilic discussions on the comparative merits of the more abstruse writers of the day. And while I attack Blish, and Blish attacks Michel, and Michel attacks everything removed from the Orthodox Russian Hierarchy, the pamphleteers, the real pamphleteers, those whose more serious interests deny them the less important enjoyments of amatuer journalism, continue to flood us with opinion, information and propaganda. "The Responsibility of Peoples" In the welter of hysterical effusion that passes today for political writing, in the deluge of cynical, fanatical, or sentimental eyewash, designed to obscure our vision to the sorry state of the world, Dwight Macdonald's pamphlet, "The Responsibility of Peoples,"is a sound and dry watchtower in a swamp of putrefaction and rationalization. Almost alone among the articulate members of the left in this country, Macdonald has undertaken the job of presenting, at long last, the attitude of the Socialist, the Marxist, the believer in humanity (or call it what you will) on the resolution of the war and the peace.