October 21, 1933 Letter From Cambridge
October 21, 1933
Cambridge
Dear folks in Japan,
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I am actually experiencing that intellectual rebirth, which you Howie so much appreciated in your sojourn here – I am finding the study of history reveals more and more wealth and insight when the keen edge of a dialectical tool – such as for instance Marx devised—is applied.
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We see here in England the strange phenomenon of certain churchmen (or I am told) holding communist or left-wing socialist views. […] But it is a dangerous and perilous place to hold strong socialist views. My landlord, who casually told me lately he was a Communist, although a […] less complaining labourer I never saw, says that he knows of two or three clergymen who give free to any of their flock who desire socialist literature written by men like Lenin, Marx, etc. How they would reconcile certain views of Lenin and that of the church’s claim would be interesting to hear – but it is certainly an agreeable surprise to find men in positions of no little influence who will not associate themselves with reaction. Mr. Bell, my landlord says that the swing to the left amongst working people is phenomenal since the National Gov’t [a conservative coalition] came into power. He is a funny chap, English to the core, with English outlook, a strong family man, fond of wife and child but by several conversations I perceive he is extremely unlikely to be deceived by press, radio or other bourgeois propaganda, is a deep sympathizer with Russia and hates [British Prime Minister] Ramsay MacDonald as only a Communist can.
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Love to all – Herbert