Books
H e has called his book T h e H i d d e n
P eople because “o u r p o o r have been
h id d en by th e increasing affluence o|
th e rest of o u r society, a n d buried in
th e statistics . . . W e have little con­
tact w ith them . . . (because) they
have been h id d en by th e suburban
spraw l a n d changes in the structures
of o u r m ajo r cities."
TH E HIDDEN PEOPLE
Poverty in Australia,
by John Stubbs. CheshireLansdowne, 145 pp., $ 2 .2 0 .
W ho com prise th e poor? About a
q u a rte r says Stubbs, are aged pen­
sioners, m any of w hom are cold be­
cause they cannot afford heating, and
a re d irty because they are too ill ot
too w eak to do th e ir washing.
JO H N STU BBS’ estim ate th a t th ere
are a t least h a lf a m illion people in
A u stralia living in poverty m ust be
considered conservative.
It is based on his own observation
an d research, figures su p p lied him by
v o lu n ta ry organisations a n d m eagre
G overnm ent statistics.
T h e fact is th a t th ere has been little
research in A ustralia in to th e e x ten t
a n d n a tu re o f poverty and, even w here
som e G overnm ent d e p artm e n ts have
collected info rm atio n , says Stubbs,
"th e y actually refuse to reveal th e in ­
fo rm atio n even to social w orkers and
universities.”
In A m erica, w here th ere has been
extensive research in to poverty, P re ­
sid e n t
K ennedy
accepted
th a t
32,000,000 p eople in th a t country were
living “o n the fringe of subsistence.”
E ven allow ing fo r varying conditions,
says Stubbs, the A m erican research
w ould in d icate th a t A ustralia could
w ell h ave a m illion p eople living close
lo th e subsistence level.
J o h n Stubbs, w ho is a p o litical re ­
p o r te r for T h e A ustralian adm its th a t
h is is n o t a definitive study of the
p ro b lem of poverty in A ustralia.
B u t h e is a first-class re p o rte r and
h e h a s set o u t th e classes of p eople
w ho suffer poverty in A ustralia, and
h a s spelled o u t clearly w hat it m eans
to th em in term s of deprivation, m is­
ery a n d h u m iliatio n .
58
T h e rest a re big fam ilies w here the
b re ad w in n e r is on th e basic wage or
less;
th e
unem ployed, Aborigines
(th e ir poverty statistics are close to
100 p e r cent.), widows a n d deserted
wives, a n d derelict a n d hom eless men.
H e says: “ M any, p e rh ap s a majority,
of depressed A ustralians are poor be­
cause they w ere b orn poor, for there
is a vicious circle of poverty. Badly
fed as children and badly educated,
th e p o o r seldom have th e opportunity
to lea rn a trad e. T h e ir w ill has been
w arp ed by th e ir early suffering and
rejection by th e rest of society.
“ O thers a re victim s of the concep1
th a t th ere should be m ob ility in tk*
work force and a pool of unemploye
to reduce th e pressure for wage in'
creases.
“T h ese include lab o rers w ho are get
tin g old . . . too old to get a regu*3'
o r decent jo b a n d n o t yet old enou?
to get a pension o r d ie.”
T h e chief sufferers of poverty ^
th e children, says Stubbs, and J ’
c h a p te r o n th em —“ T h e Young: T ,
p o o r c h ild ’s badge”, m akes tra$*
reading.
“ In a d eq u a te o r ragged clothing ^
th e badge th e p o o r child is forced
w ear,” says S tubbs a n d h e recoU^ ^
th e h u m iliatio n s of ch ild ren in 1 j
p lig h t . . . of 10-year-old boys f°rl\ j
to w ear th e ir m o th e rs’ shoes to sch
o r go barefooted . . . th e boy c°
A U S T R A L IA N
L EFT REV IEW
sidered unruly and a trouble-m aker
who cried w hen he was given a new
pair of shoes; they were his first.
Big families present special p ro ­
blems. T h e parents often have to
choose between h erd in g them into
one, cheap-rent room so th a t they can
have adequate food; or pay e x o rb itan t
rent for decent accom m odation and
live mostly on bread and m argarine.
John Stubbs has collected m ost of
his m aterial in personal interview s
with pensioners, derelict m en, heads
of families and charity workers, and
he presents his shocking facts q u ite
dispassionately. Perhaps too m uch so,
for there is room for indig n atio n and
anger.
T h e a u th o r takes no political sta n d ­
point, except to em phasise th a t the re ­
sponsibility for dealing w ith the p ro ­
blem rest squarely on the govern­
ments, Federal and State, who, he
says, tend to regard the existence of
poverty w ith callous indifference or
ignore it, like sw eeping d u st u n d e r
the carpet.
He says: “T h e tim e has come for
3 m ajor review of A u stra lia ’s social
security system to enable the vast
am°u n ts of money available to be
spent in the most effective way.”
A forlorn hope w ith o u t big social
changes.
T om L a rd n e r
ANDRE VOZNESENSKY:
R e e le d Poems.
Uthorised Translations, with
"deduction and Notes by
erbert Marshall. Methuen,
L°don, i 966
$5
WasMOSCOW ’n D ecem ber, 1962, I
•nan0*16
1®’® ^ fortd n ates who
fanio^eC* to Set tickets to the nowUs poetry-recital in the Palace of
F ebruary - M arch, 1967
Sports at L uzhniki. O utside^ in some
th ree inchcs of snow, h u n d re d s of the
less lucky were clam oring to get in,
and scalpers were doing a ro a rin g trade.
Inside, the atm osphere was electric.
T h is was the tim e of th e first m ajc r
co nfrontation betw een th e young, p ro ­
gressive w riters a n d th e ir o lder and
conservative counterparts, soon to be
fought o u t on the P arty and G overn­
m ental level.
B ut the first h a lf of the program
was dom inated by a b attery of poets
of the m iddle and o lder generation,
whose very appearance was in sharp
contrast to th a t of th e predo m in an tly
youthful audience. T h ey were re­
ceived w ith polite deference, b u t little
more.
W hen R o b ert Rozhdestvensky and
A ndrei Voznesensky eventually took
th eir tu rn s at the podium (Y evtushen­
ko was in Cuba) the response of the
huge crowd was incredible. W hereas
the o lder poets h a d m anaged to recite
only two or—if they were lucky— three
pieces before the tepid claps died
away, deafening ro u n d s of applause
b ro u g h t b oth Rozhdestvensky a n d Voz­
nesensky back for poem a fte r poem .
A nd it was sim ilarly instructive to
n o te the difference in delivery: w here­
as m ost of th e o ld er poets relied on
pu re declam ation in th e best R ussian
bravura trad itio n — a style, incidentally,
also favored by Y evtushenko— R ozh­
destvensky stood casually w ith hands
in pockets and b re ath ed alm ost con­
versationally in to th e m icrophone,
w hile Voznesensky excitedly ra ttled
his poem s off at m achine-gun speed,
his rig h t h an d p u m p in g away u n ­
controllably a t his side, like a nervous
and inexperienced actor.
Yevtushenko, Rozhdestvensky and
Voznesensky are the th ree o u tstan d in g
representatives of th a t new wave of
young w riters w ho have revolutionised
Soviet poetry a n d m ade it th e mass
a rtform of th e age, as it was in the
days of Mayakovsky— hi a way a b ­
59
A U ST R A L IA N L E F T REVIEW
solutely inconceivable in any capi­
talist country. T h o u g h Rozhdestvensky
— a fine and sensitive poet— is sa il,
regrettably, largely untran slated , W es­
te rn readers have by now become
reasonably fam iliar w ith Y evtushenko’s
work, and now we have a substantial
selection of Voznesensky's verse, w hich
illu strates both the d ep th in q u a lity of
the Soviet poetic revival and its range
a n d variety.
T h is revival has been in te rp rete d —
correctly, I feel—as expressing the re­
action of the younger generation to
th e Stalin period, reflecting th e ir im ­
patien ce w ith philistinism and b u re a u ­
cratic strictures, th e ir desire for a
fu lle r and freer life and th eir dem and
for honest explanations of the past,
to g eth er w ith th e ir determ ination
never to re tu rn to the negative fea­
tures of th a t past. Yevtushenko, of
course, is the lau reate of the m ove­
m en t— the m an whose verse, despite its
fre q u e n t lyrical poignancy, trum pets
from th e public platform , giving im ­
m ediate voice to b u rn in g issues in a
direct and fo rth rig h t form,
Voznesensky’s, on th e o th er h and, is
a m ore personal and priv ate voice.
H e is agitated by and large by the
sam e questions as m otivate Yevtu­
shenko, b u t his way of answ ering
them is m ore individual and u n o rth o ­
dox—b u t for all th a t no less po p u lar.
T h e shaping influence in Y evtushen­
ko ’s w ork is obviously Mayakovsky;
his im p rin t is p lain on Voznesensky as
well, b u t th e d o m in a n t strain in the
la tte r’s verse is w ith o u t a d o u b t th a t
of P asternak, to whom he bears a
g reat resem blance, p articularly in his
em phasis on m eta p h o r and his belief
in the special powers of the im agina­
tio n —as in A nti-w orlds, dealing w ith
th e in n e r realm of dream a n d fantasy:
“L ong live those Anti-worlds!
Fantasists— into nonsense w hirled.
B u t w ith o u t fools th ere ’d be no
wise.
N o oases w ith o u t th e deserts w ide.”
60
F ebruary - M arch, 1967
A nd again, in his notes (entitled
/ L o v e L o rca ) to his poem The
Len in Sequoia, w hich is heavily in­
fluenced by th e g reat Spanish poet:
“ M etap h o r is the m otor of form . T he
tw entieth century is the century of
transform ations, of m etam orphoses.
W h at is a pine tree today? Perlon?
A fibreglass rocket?”
H is concentration on th e association
of ideas and images leads Voznesensky
to a special awareness of th e nature
of th e m odern urbanised and indus­
trialised society aro u n d him , w hich he
captures in a series of hard, brittle
and vivid m etaphors, rem iniscent of
the R ussian futurists, the French sym­
bolists, Lorca (Vosnesensky’s fine se­
quence on Am erica, T h e Triangular
Pear, recalls L orca’s Poet in N ew
Y o r k ) and even the English Imagists:
“ My self-portrait, apostle of the
heavenly portals, my neon re to rt—
A irport!
T h e d u ra lu m in u m windows vibrate
Exactly like a soul’s X-ray . . .
T h e m onum ent of the e ra ’s
An a irp o rt.”
T h is is unusual and fiercely u n in ­
h ib ite d verse, q u ite unlike th a t which
we have come to expect from the
Soviet U nion, b u t it is contem porary
in th e best sense of th e w ord and,
above all else, uncom prom isingly
honest. Voznesensky recognises the
u n iq u e role played by poets in fight­
ing for tru th , and, indeed, in suffer­
ing for th e ir dedication. As h e says
in his notes on T h e L en in S e q u o ia :
“Poetry always m eans revolution. T h e
songs of Lorca m eant revolution to
those
hypocritical
neo-inquisitorial
jailors— for in them , all is internal
freedom , a bandon, tem p eram en t . . .
M arx w rote th a t poets are in need of
g reat endearm ent. W h at talk of e n ­
d e arm en t can th ere be w hen the
n aked h e a rt of a poet is flayed w ith
b a rb e d wire? . . ,”
A U S T R A L IA N
LEFT REVIEW
And in his poem T h e B allad o f the
F u ll-Stop:
“ . . T h a t the w inds w histled, as
through the stops of clarionets,
T hrough the bullet-ridden heads of
our finest poets.”
H erbert M arshall’s translations seem
to do less than justice to the d istinc­
tiveness of the original, th ro u g h an
unnecessary eagerness to m atch it
rhyme for rhym e. His preface and
notes—discreetly acknowledged by the
publishers not to have been authorised
by Voznesensky him self— would do
credit to any gutter-press krem linologist in th eir inexplicable d istortion
of the adm ittedly very real conflict be­
tween w riters and officialdom in the
USSR. B ut for all th a t this volum e
is an im p o rtan t c o n trib u tio n
in
bringing to English readers one of the
leading new literary figures in a
country w here poetry has a tta in e d the
rightful place denied it in the c ap ita ­
list world.
R oger M il l is s
PROFILE OF AUSTRALIA,
by Craig McGregor. Hodder
a*id Stoughton, 39 8 pp., $6.
CRAIG M cG REG O R, a jo u rn a list in
his early thirties, previously collabora ted w ith M idget F'arrelly to w rite
This Surfing Life. T h e influence of
journalism , of his own age group and
"■s knowledge of the surfing g enera­
tion are all m arked in P rofile o f
Australia.
T h ere is plenty of inform ation,
sometimes colorfully irrelevant b u t
niore often usefully in te rp reta tiv e of
A ustralian a ttitu d e s and responses.
ow and th en it’s inaccurate o r re ­
petitive, b u t basically it is carefully
^search ed . A well-designed index is
an asset. In a sense it im presses as
a series of well inform ed new spaper
February - M arch, 1967
articles ra th e r th an a basic analysis.
It carries the weakness of journalistic
style in that, for the sake of color, it
som etim es overstates a case in a ra th e r
superficial way. A bout 4 or 5 pages,
widely
separated,
dispense
with
wom en. Strung together are all the
best know n facts and legends b u t one
u nderstan d s little of w hat now leads
m ore wom en to work, how this
changes th eir own a n d th e ir fam ilies’
a ttitu d e or even the a ttitu d e s which
society adopts in brin g in g wom en into
the work force.
It is in C raig M cG regor’s approach
and in his trea tm e n t of young people
th a t the book assumes its m ajor
im portance.
.
H ere is recognition of the changing
A ustralia in all its aspects a n d here
is sym pathetic intellig en t trea tm e n t of
the generation w hich has grown up
since W orld W ar T w o.
Perhaps
C raig M cG regor’s past experience and
association w ith M idget Farrelly e n ­
abled him to so objectively portray
prevailing a ttitu d e s am ongst those who
are often the despair of th e ir elders
b u t on w'hom fu tu re A ustralian de­
velopm ent m ore and m ore rests.
B ut because C raig M cG regor is
caught u p in the affluent, e xpanding
post-w ar A ustralia, some of his re­
flections are less th an objective.
H e accepts th e notion of class, sees
class divisions and refreshingly de­
m olishes the tiresom e and reactionary
theory th a t A ustralia is a classless
paradise, yet his views of class are
largely confined to perceived class
attitudes.
I t is im p o rta n t how people view
them selves and one cannot b u t agree
th a t trad itio n al w orking class attitu d e s
seem o u t of d a te to the grow ing and
younger w hite collar strata. Yet class
concepts do n o t arise only from sub­
jective attitudes; ex p lo itatio n creates
its own opponents. T h e real question
61
A U ST R A L IA N L E F T REVIEW
is th e issues on w hich one fights. One
can bem oan a lack of radicalism , an
old fashioned anti-intellectual labor
p a rty , a n ineffective com m unist party,
b u t this w ill n e ith e r explain th e grow ­
ing polarisatio n in A ustralian politics
n o r find th e radical policies which
C raig M cG regor so obviously desires.
W h ite collar grow th is a fact, b u t
C raig M cG regor’s in te rp reta tio n of the
facts a re not always accurate.
He
claim s th e re a re m ore w hite collar
w orkers th a n others, b u t even his own
q u o ted statistics belie his view unless
one plays th e num bers game. One
can c ount as w hite collar everyone
in th e categories of professional, a d ­
m inistrative, clerical, sales a n d trans­
p o rt a n d m ake u p a figure roughly
equal th a t of craftsm en, production
workers, laborers, service workers and
m iners, o r change it aro u n d a b it and
still it will be an over-sim plification
to assum e th a t every little girl who
pou n d s a typew riter or serves in
W oolies is w hite collar and therefore
m id d le class, o r th a t all listed u n d e r
tran sp o rt, p ilots to postm en, are
identifiable as one class grouping.
C ertainly m id d le class values assist
to create fe rtile gro u n d for the a n ti­
im age of a Calwell o r th e trade
unions. Yet a W h itlam will not, at
least on V ietnam , lead to a radicalisation. T h e p o in t is surely th a t given
g reater m ate ria l w ealth th e radicals,
recognising contin u ed exploitation of
blue a n d w hite collar workers (in
A ustralia b u t also in th e w orld), m ust
take th e ir feet a n d th e ir visions out
of th e depression e ra and form ulate
m eaningful policies for those with
new values.
C raig M cG regor considers m any of
them , foreign policy, w hite A ustralia,
education, tran sp o rt, equal pay, and
h e im plies, too, th e fru stratio n s of
association w ith im personal power,
th e grow ing a u th o ritarian ism a n d the
w h ittlin g away of democracy. A some­
62
F ebruary - M arch, 1967
w h at black a n d w hite view of the
A LP, of the trad e unions and the
com m unist party, a general un d er­
estim ation of th e left does not serve
to explain, for exam ple, th e 10,000
people, intellectuals, students, old and
new type unionists, ALP, comm unists
a n d even liberal supporters who
d em onstrated against Johnson in Syd­
ney and who show considerable dis­
q u ie t a t the direction of A ustralian
foreign policy.
Ju st as the second W orld W ar was
a w atershed for the grow th a n d de­
velopm ent of a ttitu d es, so th e Vietnam
involvem ent brings m ore sharply to
th e fore the grow ing contradictions in
A u stralian society.
It m ust be said
th a t this book was w ritte n before
V ietnam had fully im pacted itself on
th e A ustralian political scene.
A
fu tu re editio n m ay ex p an d on the
grow th of b oth the a rticu la te left, and,
u n fo rtu n ately , th e rig h t, in this
situation.
O ne m ay q u a rre l w ith m any o p in ­
ions in P rofile o f A ustralia, b u t it is
a stim u la tin g a n d honest a tte m p t to
express in perspective the changing
face of A ustralia.
Since a profile is “an o u tlin e of a
face seen from th e side" one may
h ope th a t C raig M cGregor, w ith his
h ighly readable style, m ay soon give
us a fu ll face p o rtra it in depth.
M avis R o b er tso n .
FREEDOM IN AUSTRALIA
by Campbell & Whitmore.
Sydney University Press, 298
pp., $7.00.
T H IS BOOK can be read w ith profit
by lawyers as well as non-lawyers,
fo r it is a critical analysis of a wide
range of C om m onw ealth a n d State
law s affecting th e liberty of the in d i­
vidual in A ustralia.
A U S T R A L IA N
LEFT
F ebruary - M arch, 1967
R EV IEW
The w idth of this range is shown
bv its contents, which consist of four
parts' Personal Freedom , including
personal freedom and th e crim inal
law police powers, treatm en t of the
sick, and freedom of m ovem ent; Free­
dom of Expression, including public
meetings, radio and television, th ea tre
and cinema, the press, obscenity, de­
famation, contem pt of court and con­
tempt of parliam ent, security of the
state and freedom of speech, a n d free­
dom of religion; Economic Freedom ,
including freedom to w ork and free­
dom of property; T h e In d iv id u al and
His Governm ent, including A borigines,
the discretion to prosecute, and pro­
tection from power.
On the whole, the a u th o rs ad o p t a
liberal a ttitu d e to the rig h ts of the in ­
dividual, and, although they specifi­
cally state th a t th eir aim has been
to present a balanced view a n d th a t
they do not claim to be cham pions of
civil liberties, they conclude their
preface to the book w ith these challenging words: “A ustralians have no
grounds for complacency on questions
°f freedom. Some hard-w on victories
°f past centuries have been eroded
away by A ustralian legislation, and
even by decisions of th e courts. T h e re
as been little effective protest. It is
°u r hope th a t this book m ay play a
fut*
*n
st' m u*a t‘nS protest
in
the
A careful study of th e book will
certainly increase considerably the
num ber of those w ho w ant to assist
ls protest, for the a u th o rs rely not
° n vague, general criticism s of th e law
ating to individual freedom in Austh*
*3Ut on a d eta'*ed statem en t of
e relevant laws and co u rt decisions.
a short review, it is im possible
0 set o u t even a sm all p a rt of the
acts and argum ents adduced, b u t a
. ," r ° f th e a u th o rs’ conclusions on
e need for law reform gives some
n 'cation of th e ir stand.
V agrancy laws should be thoroughly
reviewed and should n o t be used as
an excuse for arresting persons sus­
pected of o th er offences.
T h e censorship laws should be re ­
pealed and placed on a m ore sensible
basis. T o o m uch un co n tro llab le pow ­
e r is given to governm ent officials and
governm ent and sem i-governm ent ad ­
m in istra tio n boards a n d commissions.
T h e unsatisfactory law reg u latin g the
relation betw een these boards and the
o rd in ary citizen should be replaced by
a system of law w hich w ould enable
th e citizen to ascertain his rig h ts by
a sim ple non-technical procedure. A p­
p o in tm e n t of O m budsm en a n d ex­
tension of legal aid w ould greatly
assist the citizen.
Public servants should be given
greater freedom to p u blicly criticise
governm ent policy a n d adm in istratio n ,
for adm inistrative efficiency a n d in ­
tegrity in governm ent dep en d u p o n
free and open discussion of p u b lic
issues.
T h e presen t law, w hich gives P a r­
liam ents and C ourts th e rig h t to be
b oth accuser a n d ju d g e in cases of
c ontem pt is a relic of th e past, and
is th e very antithesis of freedom of
th e individual.
T h e m any m erits of the book, how ­
ever, m ust n o t b lin d us to its defects.
For exam ple, it seems to adopt a de­
featist a ttitu d e in th e fight for the
rig h t of public servants to publicly
criticise governm ent policy and a d ­
m in istratio n , w hen it suggests th a t
th e only possible reform is the in tro ­
d uction of th e careful use of the
A m erican Congressional C om m ittee
system for th e p u rp o se of q uestioning
officials. T h e value of this system,
however, depends entirely on the
ability, outlook and sincerity of the
com m ittee m em bers, a n d its record
since the end of th e second w orld
w ar does n o t inspire m uch confidence.
T oo often it becam e an in stru m e n t
to stifle freedom .
63
AU ST R A L IA N L E F T REVIEW
A p a rt from some exceptional cases,
th e rig h t of the public servant to
criticise both policy and a dm inis­
tra tio n is essential to an efficient de­
m ocracy, and A ustralians m ust not
rest content u n til this rig h t becomes
p a rt of the law of th e land.
Finally, in spite of its liberal tre a t­
m en t of its them e, the book now here
analyses th e law from th e p o in t of
view th a t A ustralia is a capitalist,
class society and th at, therefore, the
freedom of th e individual cannot al­
ways be correctly analysed w ithout
taking this in to consideration.
T ru e , it could hardly be expected
th a t such a question w ould figure in
a book already of such w ide compass.
H ow ever, there is not even the re­
cognition by the au th o rs th a t th ere
is an a lte rn a te stru ctu re of society
based on public instead of priv ate
ow nership, and th a t an exam ination
m ade in this lig h t would fu n d a m e n ­
tally a lte r m any of the problem s
posed a n d solutions exam ined.
A L egal C o r r espo n d e n t
REVIEWS IN BRIEF
Three biographies in the Peli­
can series “ Political Leaders of
the Twentieth Century” .
“ K H USCHEV” ,
by
Mark
Frankland, 2 1 3
pp., 80c.
“STALIN” , by Isaac Deutscher (1 9 6 6 edition), 6 4 8 pp.,
$ 1 .7 5 . “M AO TSE-TUNG” ,
by Stuart Schramm, 352 pp.,
$ 1.20 .
A ll these biographies will repay re a d ­
ing for th e lig h t they throw on
p re sen t events.
K ru sch e v is th e least researched a n d
weakest of the three. N evertheless, it
is very readable, a n d th e a u th o r’s m ain
conclusion is valid enough:
64
F ebruary - M arch, 1967
“ Kruschev’s ru le was a transition
p eriod from som ething h e clearly
w'ished to abandon to som ething he
could not p roperly im agine. H e u n d e r­
stood the need for change, b u t not
the im plications of th a t change” (pp.
208-92).
Stalin was first w ritten in 1948, which
adds to its m erit.
W hile denouncing all the crim es, the
a u th o r com pletely re b u ts those who
un th in k in g ly com pare Stalin with
H itler:
“ N ot in a single field has H itler
m ade th e G erm an n atio n advance
beyond the p o in t it h a d reached
before h e |took pow er . . T h e Germ any
H itle r left b e h in d was im poverished
and reduced to savagery" (pp. 551).
U n d er Stalin (1948) "R ussia is now
the first in d u stria l pow er in E urope
an d the second in th e w orld . . .
T h e w hole n a tio n has been sent to
school . . . Its avidity fo r knowledge
for th e sciences, for th e arts, has
been stim ulated to th e p o in t where
it has becom e insatiable . . . of Stalin­
ist R ussia it is even tru e r th an of any
o th e r revolutionary n a tio n th a t ‘twenty
years have done th e w ork of tw enty
g enerations’ ” (pp. 553-4).
M a o Tse-tung is a m inutely researched
and p e n etratin g biography, specially
useful a t the presen t tim e.
A m ong th e m ajor traits of his sub­
ject h e designates M ao’s view th a t “the
subjective creates th e objective” .
T h is can be th e driving force for
m ighty deeds of heroism a n d fantastic
achievem ents in one set of circum ­
stances, w hile leading to ignom inious
fa ilu re a n d even farce in a n o th e r—
b o th to be clearly seen in Mao Tsetu n g ’s C hina.
E.A.