Page Eighteen
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sundovy Moy 26. 1957
Pua ,riv
A Letter From Moscow
(Continued from Page 10)
students whose names were to be
compiled by the Komsomol. At the
same time the secretaries of the
University-Komsomol were se-
verely criticized for "lacking con-
tacts with the students, and grave
errors in ideological work."
This was the first time in the
history of the Moscow University
that the administration was
forced to discontinue lectures, since
the lecturers proved unable to an-
swer questions arising in the dis-
cussions. The students considered
this a victory over Komsomol.
Contrary to the expectations of
the Komsomol secretaries, who
had counted on a subsiding of the
discussion, they continued in the
clubs and students quarters,
THE subsequent discussion pro-
duced the slogan of the "so-
cialist revolution against the
pseudo-socialist state." L e n i n
himself created the ideological
basis for this, and has given a de-
tailed description of the methods
and tactics of this struggle. Par-
ticularly the students of Russian
nationality adopted this slogan
because they considered it a
method to retain the unity of the
state. The members of other na-
tionalities, however, continued to
adhere to the tenet of different
paths toward socialism, in this
conflict the traditional differences
between the Russians and the
other nationalities are becoming
strongly apparent.
It appears as if, in the long run,
the preservation of socialism will
only be possible if the slogan of a
"socialist revolution against the
pseudo-socialist state" is some-
how realized. The formula of dif-
ferent paths toward socialism,
even though coined by the present
Soviet leaders, would initiate a
development not leading to a so-
cialist renaissance, but only to
the appearance of autonomous,
possibly even sovereign groupings,
whose nationalist chauvinism
could break up the unified state
structure, and would consequently
lead to a deterioration of its so-
cialist institutions.
The importance which the
Komsomol attributes to the Uni-
versity discussion caused the
spreading of such discussions to
other places. In the middle of De-
cember the Komsomol activists of
the Moscow military district con-
vened to deal with similar occur-
rences within the garrisons. A
resolution adopted at this con-
ference said, among other things:
"In various party meetings in re-
cent times 'demagogic elements
from the ranks of youth have
transgressed the borderline of in-
ner party democracy, have mis-
used the right to criticize, and di-
rected massive, mostly unjustified
attacks against local and Central
party officials, against the party
leadership, and against the sys-
tem itself. These attacks carried
forward under superrevolutionary
slogans produced even reaction-
ary and counterrevolutionary
threats."
IN THE middle )f December, we
were informed in Moscow about
the events at the Leningrad insti-
tutions of higher learning. In line
with the old revolutionary tradi-
tions of Leningrad, the students
there went considerably further
than we. They regularly publish a
mimeographed students' paper
called "goluboi buton"-The Blue
Bud - which is controlled neither
by the faculty nor the Komsomol,
and which deals with problems of
contemporary Marxism, artistic
creation, and related topics.
That no action was taken
against the editors of this publi-
cation despite the fact that they
were sharply attacked by the Len-
ingrad Komsomol made a great
impression in Moscow. The paper
is still being published, and many
of its articles are copied by hand
here in Moscow, and furnish the
basis for new discussions.
The latest measure against
these trends was directed against
the students from the Baltic coun-
tries, who were told at the end of
December that they cannot con-
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tinue their studies at the Mos-
cow Lomonossov University. The
explanation was that the univer-
sities in the Baltic countries also
have been affected by the general
wave of discussions, and that the
discussions were almost exclusive-
ly concentrated on the "different
paths toward socialism," and
would consequently lead to na-
tionalist, anti-Russian, and bour-
geois-separatist ideas.
W E KNOW that lively discus-
sions are also under way in
Kiev, Kharkov, Sverdlovsk, Novo-
sibirsk, and even in Central Asia,
in Tashkent. They are centering
on the same alternatives which
arose in Moscow, either the estab-
lishment of a genuine socialist re-
ality, if necessary by revolutionary
means - this idea is chiefly pro-
pagated by the Russians - or the
implementation of different paths
toward socialism, which is chiefly
supported by the members of non-
Russian nationalities who point
out that such a development was
even approved, not only by the
decisions of the twentieth Party
Congress, but is already being
practiced.
The comments of the Komsom-
ol, and its often hasty measures,
make it clear to the individual
groups that they are not alone,
and that almost the entire Soviet
youth is participating in the new
wave of discussions. This is un-
doubtedly one of the most signi-
ficant political movements since
the death of Stalin. It is also
noteworthy that it was not ini-
tiated by the ruling forces, not
"from above," but spontaneously
from within the socialist camp it-
self. It will probably also be solved
within the socialist camp. It can
be promoted from above but
scarcely prevented.
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FITZGERALD
(Continued from Page 9)
was, just as we would presume
underwriting.
While Scott Fitzgerald, to be
sure, had all his life a youthful, a'
sort of freshman-like outlook on
things, he was still very much a
serious artist. He conceived his
as novels, and not as vehicles for
actors and actresses. But coinci-
dentally, he was on to something
in his last, unfinished book, The
Last Tycoon. He had hit on a pop-
ular theme-behind the scenes in
the life of a Hollywood demi-god.
-and was one of the first people
to give it atthorough treatment.
But the author did not live to
finish this work, and now we shall
never know if it was to have been
his greatest work. The theme hasa
been treated successfully many
times since; so, in a way, we may,
say that Fitzgerald was bypassed
even when it came to writing a
novel about an inherently popular-
industry. Let us then, for the time
being, say that Scott Fitzgerald's
contribution rests in the pages
of his novels and short stories
alone. For, until such time as TV
and the movies become more re-
fined, he won't quite fit there.
WHAT the work of F. Scott Fiz-
gerald should achieve today is
a wide reading audience among
college students. For he was a real
college boy-long beyond his col-
lege years-and he wrote much
that is a reflection of his days
at Princeton. Fitzgerald never.
graduated from Princeton, and
that fact hurt him deeply. He was
not a diligent student, but it was-
the truth that he did get sick late
in the fall of his senior year and
left school for home and a rest.'
But he always wanted to make it
clear that he was not bounced out
of Princeton for bad grades. In a
poignant phras, in a letter to
Ernest Hemingway, Scott stressed
this when he wrote, "You can't
flunk out in November."
Scott Fitzgerald wrote a lot that"
will be meaningful for the present
generation of college students.
Some titles: This Side of Paradise,
a novel; the stories The Diamond
As Big As the Ritz, The Offshore.
Pirate and - well - most of the
stories in Flappers and Philoso-
phers.
The college student ought to
become familiar with Fitzgerald's
life. For the time being, Arthur
Mizener's The Far Side of Para-
dise, Fitzgerald's biography, wilt
suffice for a detailed description
of the author's career. Also he
should see Budd Schulberg's The
Disenchanted for a close-up, first-
hand account of how Fitzgerald,
the slipping novelist, seemed to a
young man fresh out of Dart-
mouth (Schulberg). Above all he
should read This Side of Paradise
(1920), which was the college boy's
Bible in the Twenties-a youthful,
undisciplined, affected, spirited,
and (for its time) rather shocking
picture of the youth of the sensi-
tive Fitzgerald-figure, Amory
Blaine.
AND if his imaginaton and sym-
pathies are stirred, he will
trace the author's life through
The Beautiful and Damned 1922),
see the maturing of his gifts in
The Great Gatsby (1925), the
sprawling overflow of artistry of
Tender Is the Night (1934), and
the serene, economical craftsman-
ship evident in the existing seven
chapters of The Last Tycoon
(1941) and the accompanying
he might also read his short
stories.
Fitzgerald will talk to members
of the present college generatio
if they will listen to him. He was
a lot like them, And, above all,
these are the years in their lif.
when he should first be read.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's life, in its
entirety, makes a certain state-
ment. And though these exact
words are not to be fgund in his
work (although, ironically, theft'
truth tormented him), he would
surely have endorsed them:
"The older a man gets, the more
inclined he is to accept some one
else's basic facts of life. The time
to live and create a concept of life
for yourself is when you are
young."
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