SOCIALIST LITERATURE IN THE 1950's
In: The political quarterly: PQ, p. 361-373
ISSN: 0032-3179
Socialist literature in the 1950's is clearly characterized by fragmentation, both in source & substance, & by the replacement of the primacy of economics by sociol as the center of the socialist imagination. Crosland's THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM is the most comprehensive work of the 1950's & is an extraordinarily able analysis, synthesizing both econ & soc factors, of the broad changes in British society since the wars; but his work falls short, by his own standards, of the claims of a socialist literature. By contrast, Strachey's CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM has the classic look of something built to last; but socialist thought will, perhaps, be far more influenced by Pelling's & Poirier's histories of the Labour Party than by such works of comprehension, or by anthologies such as the NEW FASHION ESSAYS. The New Left book OUT OF APATHY is all denunciation & sectarian polemic & represents a complete rejection of pol'al values. British socialism must be inherently pluralistic, & good use can be made of any form of writing which is prepared to recognize that fact. AA- IPSA.