Vol. 63 No. 11 NOVEMBER 1958 Sixpence

Notes of the Month Custos

S.P.E.S. Presents ...

John Morley: Humanist and Writer Richard Clements

The Issue is Survival Archibald Robertson

The Social Roots of Art Otto Wolfgang

F. Matthias Alexander

Conway Discussions Correspondence

South Place News Activities of Kindred Societies

Society's Other Activities

• •

SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETYSUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK

November 2—GEORGE VON HILSHEIMER, BA. (Former Director of Re-

ligious Education, Ethiral Society of St. Louis).Religious Education in America

Oboe Solo by JOHN COWDYSonata .. Saint - Saens

Hymn: No. 76November 9—W. E. SWIN'I'ON, Ph.D., F.RS.E.

Memory Hold the DoorThat Time of Year G. C. DowinanThe Lads in their hundreds Somerrell

Hymn: No. 64November 16—JOHN LEWIS, Ph.D.

The Modem Threat to the IndividualPiano Solos by JOYCE LANGLEY- Nocturne in F sharp .. Chopin

Waltz in A flat .. Chopin'Hymn : No. 163

November 23—F. IL A. MICKLEWRIGIIT, M.A.What the Bishops said at Lambeth

0 Mistress Mine .. Roger QuitterEleanore .. Coleridge Taylor

Tenor Solos by STANLEY GERRARDHymn: No. 226

November 30—Mrs. DOROTHY PICKLES, MA.Black Africa, the Fifth Republic and Britain

Soprano Solos by JUDITH LouisFeast of Lanterns BantockThe Fields are full Armstrong Gibbs

Hymn: No. 25SOUTH PLACE SUNDAY CONCERTS, 68th SEASON

Concerts 6.30 p.m. (Doors open 6 p.m.) Admission 2s.November 2—LONDON STRING TRIO, EMANUEL HURWITZ, WATSON

FORBES, VIVIAN JOSEPH. CHRISTOPHER BUNTING.Bach, The Art of Fugue.

November 9—ALLEGRI STRING QUARTET. ELI GOREN, JAMESBARTON, PATRICK IRELAND, WILLIAM PI FETH

Mozart in E flat, K428; Britten No. I: Dvorak in E flat, Op. 51.November 16—AMIC1 STRING QUARTET,

Haydn in B flat, Op. 76, No. 4; Bartok No. 2; Beethoven in F, Op. 135.November 23—AEOLIAN STRING QUARTET. SYDNEY IIUMPHREVS,

TREVOR WILLIAMS, WATSON FORBES, DEREK SIMPSON.Mozart in 0 mi., K421; Sibelius. PETER WALLFISCH. Brahms PianoQuintet.

November 30—ILSE WOLF, MARTIN ISEPP.Schubert Lieder, with GERVASE DE PEYER, Schubert "Der Hirt Auf Dem Felsen". GERVASE DE PEYER, CECIL ARONOWITZ, LAMAR CROW-SON. Mozart and Uhl Trios for Clarinet. Viola and Piano.

December 7—HARRY ISAACS PIANO TRIO.Mozart in C. K548; Beethoven in B flat, Op. 97; Brahms in C minor, Op. 101.

The Monthly Record is posted free to members and Associates. The Annualcharge to subscribers is 8s. Matter for publication in the December issue shouldreach the Editor, G. C. Dowman, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I, by

_November 5.. . .The Objects of the Society are the study and dissemination of ethical principles

and the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment.Any person in sympathy with these objects is cordially invited to become a

Member (minimum annual subscription is 12s. 6d.), or Associate (minimum annualsubscription 7s. 6d.). Life membership i13 2s. 6d. Associates arc not eligible tovote *or hold office. Enquiries should be made of the Registrar to whomsubscriptions should be paid.

TheMONTHLYRECORD

Vol. 63 No. 11. NOVEMBER 1958 Sixpence

CONTENTSNOTES OF THE MONTH, Custos 3S.P.E.S.PRESENTS . . . 5

JOHN MORLEY: HUMANIST AND WRITER, Richard Clernents 6

THE ISSUE IS SURVIVAL, Archibald Robertson .. 7

THE SOCIAL ROOTS OF ART, Otto Wolfgang .. 10F. MATTHIAS ALEXANDER ("A POET UNSUNG") .. 13

CONWAY DISCUSSIONS 14

CORRESPONDENCE .. 17SOUTH PLACE NEWS 19

ACTIVITIES OF KINDRED SOCIETIES

SOCIETY'S OTHER ACTIVITIES .. 20

The views expressed in this journal amnot necessarily those of the Society

Notes of the MonthA MOST SUCCESSFUL Annual Reunion of this Society and kindred bodies tookplace .at Conway Hall on September 28. Mr. Hutton made an efficientChairman' and introduced those of the Society's lecturers who were present,after which Mr: Archibald Robertson replied, paying a sympathetic tributeto the late S. K. Ratcliffe who was for so long one of our best lovedspeakers.

Dr. W. E. Swinton then introduced the guest of honour, Sir Julian Huxley,who was present with Lady Huxley. Dr. Swinton paid tribute to Sir Julian1sgreat scientific achievements and to his activities in the cause of ethics, alsoto his continuance of the great work done by his grandfather, T. H. Huxley.

In his reply Sir Julian covered a good deal of ground in a short time.He made acknowledgment to the South Place Ethical Society for theirendeavours in maintaining a rationalist platform during difficult times andwas confident that their work would eventually bear abundant fruit. Helaid particular stress on the International Humanist and Ethical UnionConference held at Conway Hall in 1957. This conference he felt to have

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been of the utmost importance in that it• united several countries in themaintenance of sanity in a world of varying supernatural religions. Whilstunity was present among Humanists, other religions in their variety ofoutlook, showed disunity. in-many ways.

Between the speeches, Mr. Frederic Jackson upheld the high standard ofSouth Place music when he played some attractive piano pieces; Beethoven'sever popular Moonlight Sonata was enthusiastically received.

The Bible in Plain EnglishAn English parson was told by a young Londoner that he couldn't

understand the Epistle to the Colossians. "This epistle, guy; we can'tunderstand what it's all about; it reads all funny like". Prebendary JohnPhillips was then inspired to write his own translation of the New Testamentfrom the Greek texts.

Reading one of his translations we fear he will not be without hiscritics. St. Paul's beautiful and poetic passage in the Corinthians beginning"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels- becomes"If I were to speak with the combined eloquence of men and angels Ishould stir men like a fanfare of trumpets or the crashing of cymbals".

Your translation, guy, reads all funny like.But being published at 45s. and in danger of becoming a best seller, we

think that perhaps it may be worth it.Published in the United States on September 15, more than 65,000 copies

were bought by booksellers before publication.

"Vision" of the FutureWe have read a good deal recently of the impact of television on the

home. A news item coming from the north of England serves to underlinethe facts.

A survey of 200 houses in a Yorkshire town showed that only three hadbaths, six had hot water and four with separate w.c.s. Yet 125 of thesehouses revealed the inevitable march of civilisation; they were equippedwith TV sets. A public health inspector commented, ironically we canassume, "We have heard recently about rockets going up 100 miles and ofthe trip from Hong Kong to London taking less than twenty-four hours,yet although w.c.s were first invented in 1724, it seems we have to waitfor over 200 years for one w.c. for one family."

Further comment is unnecessary.

Religion and SuperstitionWriting in the Daily Telegraph, Dr. W. R. Matthews, Dean of St. Paul's

Cathedral, made the astonishing admission that the two words "Religion"and "Superstition" were closely related. This Society has recognised suchfor nearly a century, but it reveals a change of heart for Dr. Matthews tosay so. Remembering the late Dean Inge, of course it might be thoughtthat these sentiments should be expected from the Dean of St. Paul's.

"It is curiously difficult to define the meaning of superstition," says theDean. We find it more difficult to define the meaning of religion, or toput it more definitely, the religion of the churches.

We can understand better Tom Paine's dictum : "The world is my country.To do good is my religion."

1.11.E.11. BulletinThe October Information Bulletin of I.H.E.U. has reports of the Annual

Conferences of both the R.P.A. and the Ethical Union, and of the AnnualReunion at Conway Hall.

The Obituary of S. K. Ratcliffe receives sympathetic notice: "His un-4

faltering eloquence and firm grasp of affairs, which made- him invaluableto the Society, make him irreplaceable." This is a very acute summing-upof our late beloved lecturer.

The PopeThe Monthly Record offers every sympathy for the death of an individual,

yet we find it difficult to explain the hysterical emotion engendered by thepassing of the head of a concern which had been disavowed by Britain over400 years ago; although the immediate reasons were somewhat discreditable,we do not forget that this body had a long and unsavoury history of torture,murder and suppression of freedom. Moreover, during the past war, thisman of peace, as the Press has described him, wavered between the Alliesand the Nazis, the latter having revealed an excess of cruelty comparableto that of the Inquisition, and had not shown finally whose side he favoureduntil he was confident who were to be the ultimate victors. This fact couldlabel him as a man of peace, but there are less flattering descriptions thatcould fit him equally well.

CUSTOS

S.P.E.S. Presents ...Sunday Morning Meetings—I l a.m. Large Hall.A YOUNG MAN in his middle twenties will address us on November 2—Mr.George Hilsheimer, who is in Germany at present with the American forces.When the call-up for National Service came he was Director of ReligiousEducation in the Ethical Society of St. Louis, and assistant to the Leader,Mr. J. F. Hornback (Mr. Hutton Hynd's successor there). The speaker willdescribe a "religious education" situation so different from our own; andhe will give us an outline of the definite programme of ethical and religiousinstructicin sponsored by Ethical Societies and Humanist.Groups in U.S.A.—under the title "Religious Education in America".

On November 9, on the eve of Armistice Day, Dr.• W. E. Swinton islikely to bring us to the more meditative mood when he speaks on "MemoryHold the Door". Memory and meditation may be passive at the momentof quiet withdrawal, but they may inspire the return to creative achievementin personal' and social life.

With minds and nerves preoccupied with the daily routine of survival wemay fail to note the subtle movements of thought and procedure whichthreaten some of the values we take for granted. There is, for example,"The Modem Threat to the lndiyidual" — the subject of the address to begiven by Dr. John Lewis on November 16.

Have we forgotten the recent conference of Bishops held at Lambeth?We should recall the utterances and pronouncements of the Bishops, inorder to be reminded of the modes and manners of thought and feeling bywhich our official "religious leaders" propose to solve some of our frighteningproblems. On November 23, Mr. F. H. A. Micklewright will discuss "Whatthe Bishops Said at Lambeth".

Mrs. Dorothy Pickles, our speaker on November 30, is an authority onFrance; she is not a mere swivel-chair authority—she keeps in close personaltouch with the people of France on the spot. In her address on "BlackAfrica, the Fifth Republic, and Britain", Mrs. Pickles will deal with oneof the most embarrassing yet inescapable issues of our time—our attitude,official and personal, to the awakened millions of the great continent ofAfrica.

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Conway Diseussions—Tuesdays-7.15 p.m.—LibraryHuman is an ambiguous.term, it is true; but having in mind the ethical

and religious Humanism which we profess and uphold, we wish to discuss"Humanism in Everyday Life", on November 4, as an attempt to extricateHumanism from a remote academic highbrowism and bring it to the morerealistic and human levels of ordinary folk in workaday existence—formost of us are just ordinary folk. Mrs. Fanny Lines, a member of the SuttonHumanist Group and of the Ethical Union Council, will introduce thesubject.

November 11: Armistice Day: Remembrance. It is well to take a momentto remember— and to ask again and yet again why so many war victims hadso to die and so to suffer, and whether it can happen all over again. Can wedirect our memories and emotions to constructive ends? This question willengage us when we hear Mrs. Kathleen Tacchi - Monis, in the Large Hall,on "Women, the World, and War". Under this title, we spotted an articleby. Mrs. Tacchi-Morris in The Freethinker of July 11; graciously sheaccepted our invitation to speak; readily The Freethinker gave us per-mission to use the title. Mrs. Tacchi-Morris will speak as a private citizen,and we hope that a large audience of men and women will represent andexpress every shade of opinion regarding war and peace. Our speaker isPresident of the Business and Professional Women's Club, Taunton, andhas represented the Club at international conferences.

Our waterways are in the news again: "London Gets Yacht Basin"at St. Pancras; a former coal basin has been "dredged out and dolled up abit". "We want to see the waterways survive, and the best way to makesure of that is for the public to use them"—for pleasure and recreation;an important point this for the millions who live in the large cities. And sohow timely the illustrated talk to be given on November 18, in the Large

Hall, by the outstanding authority on our waterways, Mr. Robert Aickman,

Founder and Vice-President of the Inland Waterways Association: "British

Inland Waterways; Their Value to the People". This meeting should havea special appeal to "the young of all ages".

On November 25, the Small Hall is likely to be well filled when "The

'Dialectical Materialism' of Karl Marx" is discussed, from opposing pointsof view, by Dr. John LeSvis and Mr. W. H. Carlton—and by the audience!

The Syllabus of Conway Discussions, October-December, is available fordisplay and distribution. Members and friends are urged. to make good use

of it in advertising our meetings.

John Morley : Humanist and WriterB Y

RICHARD CLEMENTS

IN A LEITER written to Frederic Harrison, ten years after Morley hadwon a firm foothold in the literary world, he recalled to mind the hardshipsof his early struggles in Grub Street: "I was a scrawler", he wrote, "whenI first came to town—and I have scribbled many a day before now witha hungry paunch, but 'twas all honest and honourable."

Success was first achieved in 1865, when Morley began to write for theSaturday Review. It was then edited by John Douglas Cook, who was saidto be !illiterate, though he certainly had editorial ability of a high order.He had, for example, a positive flair for finding.jand employing new literarytalent. He gave proof of this when• he agreed to pay Morley and his friend,Leslie Stephen, retaining fees, and thus secured for his journal the- early

6

work of their versatile and vigorous minds.• The two young writers werenot in sympathy with the politics of the Saturday Review and-so they didnot write on public affairs; their business being to contribute -"middle"articles and book reviews. •

About a year later, due mainly to the influence of Cotter Morrison,Morley was appointed editor of the Fortnightly Review, which had beenestablished a few years before by Anthony Trollope and his friends. Its firsteditor was that "prince of journalists?, as Carlyle once described -him—George Henry Lewes. The intentions of the founders of the new reviewwere to eschew party politics and seciarianism, and to let any man whohad something to say, and knew how to say it, write freely accordingto his mind and conscience. But with one proviso: he would have to writewith the responsibility arising.from the simple fact that whatever he wrotewould appear under his own name. This was something of an innovationin those days, though it has since become a more common practice.

The story of this review is a fascinating chapter in the history of Britishjournalism; and Morley's appointment to its editorial chair, when he wasstill 'under thirty years of age, was indeed a stroke of good fOrtune. Herose equal to the occasion and for fifteen years conducted The Fortnightlywith rare powers of judgment, pertinacity and skill. He contributed to itspages some of his own best work, amongst it the series of brilliant essays,later printed in 'his Miscellanies; the chapters of his first book on Burke;and his deservedly famous treatise On Compromise.

He brought to the 'review not only his own splendid powers of literarycraftsmanship, but was successful in persuading a galaxy of talented writersto assist him. Some of those contributions were outstanding in matter andstyle. Let me cite a few examples to drive home the point. In 1869Professor T. 1-1. Huxley's famous discourse on The Physical Basis of Lifeappeared, and the review enjoyed all the advantages of a first class literarysensation. Arthur Balfour wrote on Evolution; Professor John Tyndall onMiracles; and Frederick Harrison in Defence of Trade Unions. GeorgeMeredith contributed Beauchamp's Career and certain of his poems. Swin-burne was represented by both prose criticism and poetry. There was alsoArnold's superb tribute to the genius and work of George Sand. Politicalprestige accrued to the- review from the fact that public figures such asJoseph Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke wrote in its pages.

Morley's valedictory article, a good example of his own dictum: "stylecomes of a brooding over ideas, not over words," appeared in the Fortnightlyfor October 1882, and brought to a close fifteen years' work that haddeepened and broadened the stream of English thought on economic,political, social and religious subjects.

Morley rendered a further service to English literature when, in 1877, he•undertook to edit for Messrs. Macmillan the famous English Men ofLetters series. Every discriminating reader has his own favourites in thatwide and catholic collection. The sound judgment, knowledge and tasteof the editor were shown in the choice of authors to whom the subjects wereassigned and the high standard of scholarship and writing they attained.The venture proved to be the most successful of its kind since Dr. Johnson'sLives of the Poets. Seven years later, in 1884, Morley edited another seriesdealing with the lives of twelve great English statesmen. There appeared inthese collections his own books on Burke and Walpole, two excellentexcursions into the art of biography. Both works .took rank almost at onceas classics.

The General Election of 1880 gave to the. Liberal Party and its veteranleader, Mr. Gladstone, who had just concluded his triumphant Midlothiancampaign, a new lease of life and pciwer. Morley, in common with all who

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shared his radical views, was jubilant, and it seemed appropriate that thechange of government should have coincided with his appointment as editorof the Pall Mall Gazette. This London evening newspaper, which had hada somewhat chequered career, was now secured to the Liberal interest,and under the editorial direction of Morley and his assistant, the mercuriallyminded W. J. Stead, wielded a great influence over the public life of Londonand the leading personalities in the new government.

Morley, who had made two unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament,was returned for Newcastle-upon-Tyne at a by-election in 1883. He wasthen forty-five years of age; and it was clear to the House and the countrythat, though he was not a great platform figure, his firm grasp of politicalphilosophy, his transparent honesty of purpose, and the literary flavour ofhis public speeches, marked him out for early promotion to cabinet rank.He was known to be in sympathy with the aspirations of the Irish NationalistMovement, and later on was credited with having strengthened Mr. Glad-stone's determination that the Home Rule Bill of 1886 should provide forthe separation of the Irish from the British legislature. It caused no surprise,therefore, when in February 1886, after Gladstone's return to office as aHome Ruler, Morley entered the cabinet as Secretary for Ireland.

Then followed the defeat of the Gladstonian forces at the polls and someyears during which Morley divided his time between politics and literature;but, after the Liberal victory of 1892, he was re-appointed to the Irishsecretaryship. Thereafter he played an important part in the tangled Anglo-Irish relations which continued to the close of Mr. Gladstone's life. Inthe complex and sorry disputes which for some years distracted the LiberalParty, he supported Sir William Harcourt in the oppositional policy hepursued against Lord Rosebery.

The last phase of Morley's political life opened with his acceptance, atthe end of 1905, of the office of Secretary of State for India in Sir HenryCampbell-Bannerman's cabinet. In that office he disappointed both Liberaland Labour men in the House of Commons, and some of them were out-spoken in their criticisms. Nevertheless, he opened the door to the new

. India by appointing two distinguished Indians to the Council; a move wasmade in the direction of the decentralisation of administration; and thewhole system of government was remodelled by the introduction of repre-sentative elements into it In all this work he was advised and helped by thegreat Indian statesman Gokhale.

The letters Morley wrote to his Viceroy, the Earl of M into, which canbe read in the second volume of the Recollections, throw a curious lighton the state of mind of the author during those years of power. Thephilosophical Radical is revealed as a man with a marked leaning towardsstrong government ("the first duty of a government is to govern"), and heis also shown wagging an admonitory finger at the Viceroy and the peoplein India who are described as "the excited corporal and the angry planter".This side of Morley's character brings out the peculiar psychological factthat the writer also aspired to be a man of action. He was certainly aman of "dual" personality and this goes some way in explaining his foiblesin practical affairs, once described by one of his colleagues as "spinsterish";his personal attachment to iron-willed characters like Gladstone andChamberlain, in spite of intellectual differences; and his self-willed andautocratic conduct as a parliamentarian and cabinet minister. Only in hisprose creations, the great biographies and literary portraits, was he ableto bring into perfect unity the ,conflicting claims of his nature.

(To be concluded)8

The issue is SurvivalB Y

ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES are the rules of behaviour which man—a member ofthe animal kingdom, the class of mammals and the order of primates,distinguished from other primates by an erect posture, the use of tools,mutual aid, language and, up to a point, reason—has evolved to furthersurvival in the struggle for existence.

It's as simple as that. Ethical principles didn't come down from heaven.They are earth-born. They are not a law for every rational being. We knownothing of any rational beings except ourselves. Whether there are rationalbeings in other parts of the universe, we don't know, and how they livewe don't know. But ethical principles are part of our evolutionary outfit,because without them we shall not survive.

I obviously cannot survive by fighting for my own hand and disregardingeverybody else. Consequently I must consider other people as myself. Thatis what moralists call the golden rule. It is not a divine revelation, but thecommon sense of the situation.

Only it is ambiguous. "Other people"—yes, but how many other people?That, we shall find, has been the trouble all through history and is thetrouble now. We are not born philosophers. We do not think out ethicalprinciples in an armchair and then apply them to life. We learn them fromlife by finding that some behaviour works and some doesn't work. Thenthe philosopher sits in an armchair and tries to make a system of it. Toooften he only makes a mess.

We are taught behaviour by the group to which we belong. That groupis not mankind. It is quite a local group—in the first place our parents, thenour school, then our trade or profession, then the writers of the books andnewspapers we read. Naturally the teaching we get is in our own language.Hence our teachers are in the main people who speak our language. Thosewho speak foreign languages are able to teach us only if their influence hasbeen great enough for their writings to be translated into our language.The Bible, for example, has the influence it has only because people atvarious times were so impressed by it as to translate the Hebrew, Aramaicor Greek original into their vernaculars. The same applies to other writerswhose influence has been great—Calvin, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx,Engels.

Predominantly, therefore, we learn behaviour from people who speak ourlanguage, Not only so, but we learn it from people who live on the whole,in the kind of way we live. The sons and daughters of gentlefolk—i.e. peopleof a certain income level and therefore able to pay for their children'seducation in schools that give a gentleman's education—learn behaviourfrom other gentlefolk. The sons and daughters of miners, railwaymen,dockers and agricultural labourers learn behaviour from their own classor from teachers trained to give the sort of education deemed suitable forthem. There are exceptions. Specially bright children may pass fromelementary schools to grammar schools, public schools and universities. Buton the whole the behaviour necessary to survival is learnt in national andclass compartments. In the past, of course, the barriers were more impassablethan they are today.

This has an inevitable effect on the kinds of behaviour taught. We growup learning not the kind of behaviour necessary to the survival of the humanrace, but the kind of behaviour deemed necessary to the survival of peoplewho speak our language and live our way of life. I say "deemed"; for the

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. world has changed and is changing now very rapidly, and behaviournecessary fifty years ago to the survival of our country and way of lifemay today be not only unnecessary, but positively dangerous.

One assumption on which we were brought up was that Western, i.e.European and American, people were naturally superior to the rest amankind, and (confidently in the last century, less so latterly) that withinthe Western group English-speakers were naturally superior to all others.There was no biological basis for either assumption. The sole basis was anaccident of history, namely that since the sixteenth century Europeans bymeans of technical superiority were able to impose their rule on most of therest of the world, and that in the final spurt for the domination of the worldduring the nineteenth century Britain, owing to naval superiority, got thelion's share. It would never have done to admit that this proved nothingexcept the superiority of Westerners, and Britishers in particular, in theknow,how.of navigation and of the production and use of lethal weapons.A more high-sounding basis had to be invented. So Western hegemony wasattributed to the Christian religion. This involved a contradiction; for theauthoritative writings of the Christian religion enjoin meekness, peace,non-resistance, love of enemies and the renunciation of riches. Moreover,with the advance of scientific discovery in the natural and social fields,informed people began to reject the credentials of the Christian religion.An alternative basis for belief in Western superiority had to be found.Temporarily it was provided by Darwinism, which enabled Westerners toclaim that they had proved themselves the fittest in the struggle for existence.But Darwinism proved a treacherous quicksand when Europeans devastatedtheir own continent and shattered their own economy in two great warsin thirty years. Asians and Africans naturally asked whether such behaviour.proved the fitness of Europeans to rule others, and proceeded in India,Egypt and elsewhere to gisie practical demonstration that it did not.

If the human race is to survive, the behaviour of its members must bebased on beliefs that correspond with fact, not on beliefs that do not. It isnot a fact that any variety of human beings is innately superior to othervarieties or has any unassailable title to rule them. Different nations havetaken the lead at different periods of history—the Egyptians and Babylonians,owing to the fertility diffused by their great rivers, in the ancient East; theGreeks, thanks to absorbing the science of Egypt and Babylonia withouttheir priestcraft, in later antiquity; the Romans on the heels of the Greeks;the Arabs in the great days of Islamic expansion; the Europeans, pupilsof all their predecessors, last of all. But other peoples have acquired theEuropean know-how; and we have to live with them, unless we prefer todie with them. The West must work out its own salvation and stop imaginingthat it can work out that of the East too. And West and East alike mustlearn that they are part of one human race, destined by nature to battlefor a living with their common parent, the earth, and likely to battle better ifthey do not spar with each other.

This, it seems to me, is common sense. The 'fisms", "ocracies" and"anities" which purport to be superior to it seem to Me uncommon nonsense.

The 43cial Roots of Art •

B Y

OTTO WOLFGANG

THE •XISTING DIVISION of labour in modern society with •its progressive specialisatiOn. in every field has tended to create the impression that art is an. abst-ract manifestation, inherent in a. few selected and specialised indi-

10

viduals. As a result our art expressions have tended to grow remote—some-times even estranged—from life. In fact, they have social origins.. In his unceasing quest for food and shelter the savage could not afford towaste time and effort on any pursuit outside this scope. The admirable cavepaintings by Gravettians and Magdalenians of the upper palaeolithic werepainstakingly performed in the belief of their usefulness in magic rites toensure the food supply. Magic results were likewise expected from themaking of "bull-roarers" and certain female figurines as well as the per-formance of mimicking ritual dances. •

The beginnings of song may go back to emotional reciting and inter-jectional cries of anger, fear or satisfaction; sneering or triumphant exclama-tions (as in celebration of great events) are still chanted by children. Pro-fessor Lascelles Abercrombie, in one of his lectures, quoted the followingAustralian Blackfellow song as an illustration:

The kangaroo ran very fast,But I ran faster;

The kangaroo was very fat:I ate him.

Kangaroo! Kangaroo!The inherent excitement of the singers makes them jump and dance at thesame time.

At the next stage we have songs to co-ordinate the efforts in collectivework (for instance when rowing, pulling, heaving etc.); in them rhythm is ofprimary importance. Through close contact with Negro music and dance,the synthesis of sound and measure in our Western music has been upsetand beat again prevails upon melos, even in serious compositions. •

At religious ceremonies, dancing occupies a prominent place, often accom-panied by singing, rhythmic clapping of hands coupled with moVing of thehead and limbs. This mass performance heightens the religious ecstasy neces-sary for the ritual act. Finally, at the attainment of civilisation, chantingwith simultaneous dance movements becomes acting: religion begets thetheatre.

The utilitarian purpose of poetry was twofold: (a) to help the memoryand (b) to inspire. PriOr to the invention of script, religious tradition andtribal law had to be passed on by word of mouth; poetical form .heightenedtheir sacredness and made it easier to memorise the texts. In the othercategory we have war songs, the celebrations of—first c011ective, later indi-vidual—feats worth emulating, and the. like.

In class society we have, quite naturally, two opposite experiences of art:the rulers enjoy their position and pay solely for art productions whichprovide glorification, "pure" entertainment and, finally, escapism. Up toHaydn, composers and musicians were kept by the nobility as paid servants,no better than clowns and monkeys; it was their job through their efforts to"further digestion after meals". Mozart, the unruly, was the first to rebelagainst this position: in defiance he chose freedom and a life of hardshipand starvation as a "free" worker. The advent of capitalism had trans-formed everything—including arts—into commodities. In 1672 a Londonviolinist, John Banister, for the first time gave a public Concert, admissionone shilling: never before had music been sold in the market. Some yearsearlier•Venice, the mercantile centre, had built the first opera house (1629).

Until the emancipation of the•free cities and their burghers the Churchhad been the only employer of artists and buyer of their products; conse-quently religious subjects prevailed. Whcn the aristocracy and -the richmerchants developed cultured tastes and wanted their palaces and mansionsembellished, they demanded secular subjects in the classical forms Of paganantiquity. This, however, was merely the form in which the artists of theRenaissance presented their contemporary contents. •

I I

The Second FallacyAnother erroneous idea .prevails, in that it is generally assumed that the

epoch of greatest social or political attainment brings forth the greatestartists; generally the reverse is true. Hunger and suppression makes menrebellious, whilst the satisfied diner wants to rest. For the former art is theflower that adorns their shackles and makes them forget their plight; as soonas the first cracks show in the fortress of their oppression, their art becomesa sharp weapon in the age-old struggle for liberation. The era of Periclesin Greece as well as that of the Roi Soleil (Louis XIV) in France wereperiods of military disasters and political decline. Lyric poetry flourishedunder the Greek Tyranny and Absolutism in Europe. The Moorish empirein Spain, set up by the Omayads in the eighth century, lasted for nearlythree hundred years, when Cordova was a centre of wealth, culture andlearning. When the Cross at last prevailed, the blight of ignorance andintolerance fell over the whole of Europe: Moors and Jews were expelled tomake room for the Inquisition.

It took half a century until artists arose in Spain too and Velasquez pro-claimed his artistic integrity at the decaying court of Madrid. In HollandRembrandt represented the Protestant spirit of revolt; and Rubens, theleader of the Flemish school, marks the national bourgeois rebellion againstSpanish absolutism at the time when the Netherlands seceded from Spain.Religious subjects were relegated to a secondary place or incidents in anarrative, not as great spectacular facts; reality replaces epic and fantasticromance.

Eighteenth century Germany was but a conglomeration of petty principali-ties, ruled by semi-illiterate but absolute drill-sergeants, jealous of each other;this disunity permitted Lessing, Schiller and Goethe to lay the foundationof a classicist literature. The centralistically governed Monarchy of theHabsburgs, however, created as a military bulwark against the Magyars andTurks in the east, exercised a unified despotism whose strict censorshipprevented the rise of a progressive literature. To talk politics in civic circleswas dangerous, public libraries were banned, publications blue-pencilled andthe police beadle ruled supreme. Unable to live a full life on earth, theauthors transposed their bourgeois ideals into a fairy world, ruled by anabsolute yet benevolent and understanding Spirit King. Bolder spirits turnedto satire (such as Nestroy, author of popular comedies and a comedianhimself who for his biting extempores time and again was arrested andcarried from the stage to prison). Many promising writers (Raimund,Mayrhofer, Lenau), in constant fear of informers and the secret police, wentmad and/or committed suicide.

In this political climate the Austrians turned to music and excelled in it,as it was the only possible means of self-expression without becoming suspect.

Great satirists and witty writers arose among the Irish who have neverbeen free: their secular rulers were replaced by the spiritual dictator of theR.C. hierarchy. When, about 1905, the tsarist despotism showed the firstsigns of crumbling, great Russian writers and composers (from the amazingGlinka to the no less amazing Moussorgski) came into their own.

The art expressions of a moribund class can hardly ever be lasting, be-cause it lacks aim, inspiration and content (this also goes for art underfascism); what it lacks in content, it has to make up in form, which now isconsidered more important than the essence. Because the artists have nothingto convey, they paint' geometrical patterns, play with wire or metal andimitate in sculpture crystal-like arrangements, in short, they reduce art tothe level of a pit-human, because pre-social, reflex. "Art ... is an expressionand a stimulus of the imaginative life, which is separated from actual lifeby the absence of responsive action" (Roger Fry, 1909). The sterile characterof "modern art" began when after the First World War their leaders com-12

pleted their escape from reality into the arid desert of pure form and thevarious brands of neo-mysticism. -

Some exponents of a moribund yet still rabidly kicking class started outby shamming as fighters for social revolt; Richard Wagner and GerhardHauptmann in Germany, Tennyson in this country. In 1842, when the firstindependent political movement of the British workers culminated in thesecond great National Petition presented to Parliament, Tennyson, angryand scared, retired in "God-like isolation" whilst watching

" . .. the darkening drove of swineThat range on yonder plain"

(The Palace of Art); concluding from within his Ivory Tower"And let the world have peace or wars,

't is one to me...."

F. Matthias Alexander("A POET UNSUNG")

"F.M." AS HE was known to his friends and students was not an easy manto whom one can tie a label. In Louise Morgan's book, Inside Yourself,she writes that "he was neither a doctor nor a faith healer, nor a physicalculture expert and he disliked hypnotism and remedial exercises". He had,she says, "rehabilitated approximately fifteen thousand sufferers from allkinds of disease and disability". He was a fine example of his own technique—for technique it is. At eighty-five, "his back was as straight as an acrobat'sand he was putting in a good working day, standing on his feet and addingconstantly to the number who bless his name".

When Alexander commenced the labours which were to develop intohis life's work, he was soon aware that "body and "mind" were not separateparts of the same organism and that it is impossible to separate "mental"and "physical" processes in any form of human activity.

Not being a registered physician he had, of course, his critics but hisresults discounted all their criticism. For nearly sixty years, specialists anddoctors sent their patients to Alexander as a last resort. Louise Morgantells of a woman who failed to recover properly from a serious disease andgradually lapsed into invalidism. Finally she consulted Mr. Alexander.

She arrived for her first lesson, hobbling on a stick."Well, here I am," she announced in a breezy fashion."And only just in time," said Alexander. "My dear young lady yoff are

quite the worst case of harmful use of yourself that I have seen in fifty-sixyears of teaching."

"My dear sir," she replied tartly, "that is not a very complimeniary thingto say to a lady."

Smiling he went on to explain. "I mean that you are one mass of pressurefrom head to foot. Your head is pressing down on your neck and back,crushing the bones of the spine altogether and crushing down the musclesof your back. You have lost inches in height, I can see. Yoff no longerhave any control of your use of yourself. You are pressing yourself downall the time. Pressing down, down, down."

"Well, I never! Tell me more!" she demanded looking very interested.He showed her. He explored her head and neck muscles, turning her

head slightly from side to side.After working in this way for nearly an hour he asked her, "Are you

tired?""Too interested to be tired," she replied.

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A minute later he said quietly, with his hands at the base of her head,"I want you to stand up".

"Stand up," she echoed in a stupefied voice. "I haven't stood up for years.""Never mind. It will be quite all right. When I say stand up, just stand

up. That's all."Almost immediately he repeated "Stand up !- And she rose easily and'

stood on her two feet, beaming with delight and nearly in tears with theshock of happy surprise.

"It's a miracle!" she gasped."Nature is full of miracles," he commented drily.,It was not a miracle, he explained, but the natural result of his bringing

about with his hands a more integrated use of herself. The head was meantto be carried forward and up to control the body muscles, but like so manyother people, she pulled the head back and down.

Inside Yourself, published by Hutchinson, explains the Alexander tech-nique and its uses in everyday life. Among the pupils of "F.M." were suchdistinguished people as George Bernard Shaw, Sir Stafford Cripps, SirAdrian Boult, Robert Donat, John Dewey and Dr. Maurice Burton. Thelate F. C. C. Watts was also an enthusiast for his work and publishedAlexander's books under the imprint of his own company—Chaterson Ltd.

Aldous Huxley has written the foreword to Inside Yourself. Among theproblems dealt with in the book are: wrong breathing or air starvation,as Louise Morgan calls it; carriage of the body; wasted energy; how to sitwith ease and grace; sound sleep. All these are based on physiological andanatomical facts.

One of the books that Mr. Alexander himself has written The UniversalConstant in Living, has an appreciation by Professor G. E. Coghill whosays: "The practice of F. Matthias Alexander in treating the body isfounded, as I understand it, on three well-established biological principles:(1) that of the integration of the whole organism in the performance ofparticular functions; (2) that of proprioceptive sensitivity as a factor indetermining posture; (3) that of the primary importance of posture indetermining muscular action."

Another of Mr. Alexander's books, The Use of Self, has a foreword byProfessor John Dewey and contains some-very intriguing chapters on every-day problems such as, "the golfer who cannot keep his eye on the ball".F.M. remarks that the golfer's habit is to work directly for his ends on the"trial and error" plan without giving due consideration to the means wherebythose ends should be gained. Painstaking and constructive analysis is broughtto bear on the problem. Again, a chapter on "The Stutterer" must be ofgreat interest and use to the sufferers from this distressing malady. In-formation is given on the correct use of the speaking mechanism: tongue,lips and vocal organs. F.M. had . much success in helping stammerers tohelp themselves. •

During his lifetime Mr. Alexander trained many people as teachers of histechnique and a number of these are continuing his good work in Londonand many other parts of the world.

C. K. J. D.

Conway DiscussionAT THE TUESDAY discussion meeting on October 7, Mr. .1. Henry Lloyd,acting Hon. Secretary of the Humanist Council, gave a talk on"Humanism and the B.B.C.", embodying a brief history of the negotiationswith the B.B.C. for a fairer shat'e of broadcasting for the Rationalist andHumanist points of view and some conclusions at which he had arrivedabout the basic problem in this matter.14

These negotiations had been initiated by the Parliamentary Committee forFreedom of Religious Controversy under the leadership of Joseph Reeves,M.P., and with the valuable services of C. Bradlaugh Bonner as Secretary.This body was responsible for organising a deputation to the B.B.C. of lead-ing representatives of the movement led by Bertrand Russell in 1946 whichwas mainly responsible for the very broad policy statement, "The Searchfor Truth", which was issued by the Governors in 1947. The apparentadvance represented by this declaration was, however, seriously weakenedby another statement of policy, given by the then Director General (SirWilliam Haley) at a conference of. the British Council of Churches the fol-lowing year, making clear the partiality of the B.B.C. to the Christianchurches. The ambiguity left by the two statements of policy was pointedout in the communication submitted by the R.P.A. to the (Beveridge) Com-mittee of Enquiry into Broadcasting, 1949, to which the Ethical Unionalso made a powerful plea for opportunities to present its constructive viewof moral values, which was recognised in the report of the Committee as avalid claim.

With the cessation of Mr. Bonner's services as Public Relations Officerof the R.P.A. and consequentially as Secretary of the Parliamentary Com-mittee the conduct of relations with the B.B.C. was in 1954 transferred to theHumanist Council. (Mr. Lloyd took the opportunity at this point of payinga warm tribute to the zeal and ability of Mr. Bonner, whose service hadlaid a firm foundation of respect for the case of the combined movement forbroadcasting justice.)

Mr. Lloyd made his debut as spokesman for the Humanist Council in aletter to the Director of the Spoken Word (Mr. Harman Grisewood) in

•June, 1954, emphasising that the movement was not merely concerned withopportunities for religious controversy but even more for the constructiveexpression of its views. This elicited an invitation to furnish the TalksDepartment with suggestions, which were duly obtained from the constituentorganisations, covering a wide range of forms of broadcasting, topics andpossible speakers and were sent in in November: Unfortunately, beyonda vague promise of "consideration" nothing came of these suggestions and,apart from Mrs. Knight's unexpected talks on "Morals without TheologicalReligion" and the stir they created, little or no progress was made during1955. In July the following year, the Council decided that a fresh "cam-paign" was necessary. This took the form of a letter to the Director Generaldrawing attention to the negative reception of the suggestions which had beeninvited by Mr. Harman Grisewood, followed by a public meeting at theCaxton Hall in October with E. M. Forster and Margaret Knight as speakersand an impressive list •of "supporters" including Bertrand Russell and J.Bronowski and others. The resolution passed at this meeting is worthrecording as emphasising the constructive purpose of our pressure:

"This 'meeting regrets that the Governors of the B.B.C. have failed toprovide adequately for the needs of a large body of secular opinion whichwould welcome the expression of fundamental humanist convictions. It callsthe attention of the Governors to the recommendations of the BeveridgeCommittee in this respect and asks that they be implemented."

An unexpected and welcome outcome of the letter to the Director Generalwas an invitation from the Assistant Controller of Talks to discuss theHumanist Council's case with him at Broadcasting House which led to auseful informal interchange of views and was followed at a later date bya further and fuller discussion when Mr. Lloyd was joined by Messrs.Burall and Hawton and Mr. Thornton was accompanied by several col-leagues. This opportunity for frank explanations on both sides, the recogni-tion of policy and technical difficulties in the framing of programmes,especially in the field and of the type with which we were concerned, was a

15

valuable education as to the practical obstacles in the way of achieving ourdesires.

As a relative side issue there emerged at this second discussion the sug-gestion of some widening of the scope of School Broadcasting in the talksto upper forms on Religion and Philosophy. This took effect in the autumnof 1957 in a series of talks on "Belief and Unbelief", concerning which Mr.Lloyd felt bound to make some protest at the misrepresentation of Human-ism in one of the talks, apart from the unsatisfactory situation of the casefor Humanism being presented by an opponent. It was, however, necessaryto recognise that School Broadcasting was subject to even more specificrestrictions than broadcasting in general, being governed by the EducationAct 1944 which is based on the observance of the Christian point of view.

The most significant and controversial part of Mr. Lloyd's address wasits final passage where he summed up his conclusions about the basicobstacles to the free treatment of religion on the radio which we desire.This he found in the "unspOken assumptions" in the situation of the B.B.C.—that complex body of ideas summed up as "the Establishment"—thechurch, the upper social circles and the public schools which feed them.This vague conception is rarely formulated in words and appears nowherein the Charter and is for the most part as unconscious in the minds of theB.B.C. Governors and staff as it-is in the leaders of the churches and society,but it is resistant to the challenge to tradition and established social practice.So far as it affects broadcasting, Mr. Lloyd's remedy was to bring theseassumptions into the open for public discussion and decision on their merits,for which purpose he had drafted three clauses for a revised B.B.C. Charter,as follows:

The Board of Governors is directed to pursue as their highest dutyof British broadcasting the search for truth in its manifold forms, recognis-ing that while paying due respect to Christianity and other established viewsthis must involve a fundamental impartiality to all views and the broadcast-ing of conflicting views, while ensuring that the affirmations of differentbeliefs are constructively made and their discussion conducted in such amanner as to avoid wounding reasonable people or transgressing the boundsof courtesy and good taste.

(Mr. Lloyd had an open mind as to the future of the Religious Broad-casting Department, whether it should be merged in the Talks Departmentor transformed by widening its view of religion. To leave open both alterna-tives he suggested the following clauses.)

In the discharge of the foregoing responsibility, the Governors maymaintain such special departments for its discharge as they think fit, pro-vided that they take steps to ensure that the personnel and administration ofany such department are such as to ensure its operation in the spirit of theforegoing policy of impartiality.

Further to assist the Corporation in its discharge of the foregoingduties and in pursuance of Clause 12 [the clause in the present charter dealingwith Advisory Councils] the Governors shall recast the membership of theReligious Advisory Council to ensure that representatives of substantialminorities of non-theistic religious views and of other theistic religions thanChristianity are included as well as the Christian churches.

J. H. L.

16

CorrespondenceTo the Editor of the Monthly Record

ShakespeareDear Sir,

"That's the humour of it." Yes: the humour is that Mr. Robertson, Mr.R. C. Churchill and Mr. Ivor Brown completely ignore all the argumentsthey cannot answer.

I have debated seven times on this Shakespeare issue and none of thethree writers mentioned touch my arguments.

Here are three I would like them to deal with.How is it that in 1635, nineteen years after the death of their Shakespeare,

some of the fellow-actors, petitioning the Earl of Pembroke, one of the"incomparable pair" who fathered the Sixth Folio, referred to him simplyas "a deserving man". This was indeed damning with faint praise were hethe dramatist. Fancy alluding to Bernard Shaw today as "a deserving man"!

How is it that in the dedication of the sonnets the poet is said to be "everliving"? This is a phrase applicable to a dead man. The Earl of Oxforddied in 1604; the sonnets were published in 1609. I heard Sybil Thorndike,at a meeting of the Royal Society of Literature, refer to Bernard Shaw as"ever living" a few months after his death.

What is the meaning of the line: "Every word does almost spell my name-in one of the sonnets? Oxford used to sign his name "E. Vere".

Mr. Robertson has the courage of his convictions on paper but ,not on aplatform. He declined to debate with me several years ago. The same remarkapplies to Mr. Nor Brown. The offer is still open.

Yours faithfully.WILLIAM KENT

Mr. Robertson writes:"Mr. Kent complains that I ignore his arguments. I might as well say that

he ignores Mr. Churchill's. Mr. Kent naively assumes that phrases used inthe seventeenth century bore exactly the same shade of meaning as thesame phrases bear in the twentieth. So much for the Shaw parallel. To showhis slipshodness, he misquotes Sonnet 76. If only such people would readShakespeare!"

Colour Bar and Social CreditDear Sir,

It is just as well that -"The views expressed in this journal are notnecessarily those of the Society", since this member finds himself in disagree-ment with some of the views. It is good that you allow conflicting viewsto be "heard" in your columns, because a free (for all!) platform can bestimulating.

The remarks of Custos about the "Colour Bar" are not, I feel, those ofone who has thought deeply about the subject, nor are they particularlyethical or humanist. He (he says, "we") confesses himself "unable to followthe mental processes—if any—of young people who chase coloured men...."My father told me, when I was a boy (when I reported that someone hadcalled him an "agitator"—because he was a T.U. official etc.) that anagitator can get small results if there is nothing about which to agitate.

The mental processes of these "young people" are reacting, subcon-sciously, to their rotten environment, their slum conditions, their badschooling, and similar factors. "Colour" is the scapegoat, where it was

17

(sometimes still is) the Irish, the Roman Catholics; the Jews, even us Scots!Those who should be in gaol now are the persons responsible for allowing

slum conditions to remain, here and in the home lands of the colouredimmigrants.

Were we living in a sane social-economic system, that ensured the benefitsof modern abundance—available and/or easily made available throughoutthe world—there would be little, if any, colour conflict.

Living, as I do, in one trouble area, and knowing what does happen whenimmigrants "pour" in, I am able to appreciate the• resentment of the native"victims", which, at first, is not itself organised. I have several non-whitefriends and, without exception, they do not want to be here. Bad conditionsat home have forced them to escape, to try their luck elsewhere. They longfor the sun they have left, to start with.

We should give a lead on such problems, by getting down to basic causes.Custos gives a good example of shallow thinking, unworthy of us!

Another good example of surface searching is the statement by G. I.Bennett, that "... a governed world has become the most vital desideratum(clever word, that!) of our time". He is apparently fully un-conscious of thetruth, that the world is now over-governed, right down to the private lifeof every individual, by the world financial monopoly. It is less governmentof men over men that is the "desideratum" (excuse my borrowing yourborrowed word, Mr. Bennett!). The solution of the international problemthat Mr. Bennett has approached, in a purely orthodox way, is, in truth, anational one.

Every nation, every individual within every nation, has to become free

from the now anachronistic money system. Excuse my mentioning it—nointention to scare any of your readers—but the solution is known and iscalled: Social Credit.

Sincerely,. J. W. LESLIE

Custos and the Colour Problem

Dear Sir,Custos' Notes are always very interesting, vital and perspicacious, and I

heartily endorse his paras. in the October Monthly Record: "Colour Bar"and "Christianity and Colour".

However, I suggest it would be more mercifully humane to dissuade thecoloured folk from leaving their kith and kin and their salubrious climateto come to our chilly wetness and smog, amongst a people with totallydifferent ethnolOgieal traits, a strange confusing. type of civilisation vastlydifferent, although not in every respect superior to theirs.

We have had coloured medicos settled in private practice and on ourhospital staffs for half a century and school-children of various races playingtogether uninhibited and unrestrained. Despite our kindly courteous wel-come, it will be many centuries before the various races and religions areintegrated into communal, fraternal friendship.

/vloreover, if our population continues to increase at the ratio of the lasthalf century, the consequences will be disastrous. We will be obliged toconfine immigration to those that have a birthright passport, also vastlymore birth control must be practised with the assistance of the HealthService.

Our policy should be more aid for otir coloured Colonials ni enable themto livu happily at home.

• A. C. ALLEN

18

South Place NewsThursday Evening Socials

On October 9, a very successful opening to the new season of ThursdayEvening Socials was initiated by Miss D. Walters when she read two shortplays.

A Creel of Trout by Neil Grant was a playlet with an atmosphere ofsomewhat eerie Scottish mistiness that ended with an unexpectedly humoroustwist.

Olivia and the Duke, an amusing theatrical sketch portrayed an actress ofexperience and ability bemoaning the lack of public support to a fellowactor, and announcing that she would definitely retire from the stage. Witha lack of feminine modesty, she proposes marriage to the embarrassed actorwho is overcome by the honour accorded him. A telephone call comesthrough before such a joyous outcome, or, if you will, tragedy, can occur.Their joint manager gives news of exceptional bookings and the actresshastily makes plans to continue to woo her public.

W. C. KeayThe obituary notice of W. C. Keay printed in the September issue of

The Monthly Record was, of necessity, a brief account of one of our best-loved members. We now pay a fuller tribute to the man whose death leavessuch a regrettable gap in our Society. It would be wrong to say "we ne'ershall see his like again", for our hopes are that many such another willjoin us to supply the same friendliness and good humour that was Mr. Keay.

With many a laugh would he cheer our social gatherings: the traditionaljokes against Scotsmen would always evoke his mirth. Should anyone needencouragement, Mr. Keay would be at hand: he was never-failing in hispraise for the good work done by members. To say that he will be missedis a distinct understatement.

Activities of Kindred SocietiesOrpington Humanist Croup

November 9, at 7 p.m. at Sherry's Restaurant, High Street, Orpington. Dr.Lloyd Franklin: "The National Peace Council."

Sutton Humanist GroupSunday, November 16, at 7.30 p.m. Red Cross House, Park Hill, Carshal-

ton Beeches. Brains Trust, Joseph Reeves. M.P., and other speakers coveringArt, Sciences, Education, Humanism.

Secular Religious EducationUntil recently the Ethical Movement was largely identified with a belief

in secular education and had fostered the Secular Education League toadvocate this end. However, recently the League has ceased to function.and the Ethical Union has seemed to be more interested in co-operating withChristians for greater honesty in facing the religious problem in the schools.Is then the case for Secular Education no longer valid? Also, if changedconditions call for a modification of the traditional policy of the movement,what kind of adjustment is needed, and what should be the policy ofHumanists on the question of ethical and religious education? This questionwill be discussed by R. Benjamin. J. B. Coates and F. H. Amphlett Mickle-wright at a meeting at Conway Hall on Friday, November 7 at 7.30 p.m.

19

Society's Other ActivitiesConway Discussions. (Tuesdays at 7.15 p.m.)Nov. 4—"Humanism in Everyday Life." •

Mrs. Fanny Lines, B.Sc. (Member. Sutton Humanist Group.)Humanism—high-brow's interest or housewife's choice? Why

• not both?Nov. I I—Armistice Day. "Remembrance—Is It Enough?"

"Women, the World and Wat."Mrs. Kathleen Tacchi-Morris (President, Business and Profes-

sional Women's Club, Taunton).Chairman: J. Hutton Hynd. Meeting in Large Hall.

Nov. 18—"British Inland Waterways—Their Value to. the People."Robert Aickman (Founder and Vice-President, Inland Water-

ways Association). •Film-strip illustrations. Meeting in Large Hall.

Nov. 25—The 'Dialectical Materialism of Karl Marx."For It— John Lewis, Ph.D. Against It — M. H. Carlton.Meeting in Small Hall.

Dec 2—"The Ethics of Food."Ronald Lightowler (Secretary, The Vegetarian Society)

Sunday SocialOn November 16, in the Library at 3 p.m.: Miss Gladys Farnell: Lenin-

grad and Moscow in colour slides. Summer visit, 1958.

Thursday Evening Socials in the Library at 7 p.m.November 6—No meeting.

13—D. A. Sandapan: "The Nautch Girls of Mdia".20—Whist Drive.27—Victor C. Thurdin: Film Show.

The Library, Conway HallThe Librarian will be in attendance on Tuesday and Thursday evenings

and Sunday mornings.

RamblesSaturday, November 29, at 6 p.m. A visit to the Sunday Express, Fleet

Street, E.C.4. Meet at 5.45 p.m. outside the Sunday Express, offices.

DancesHeld in Conway Hall on Saturdays, December 27, January 31 and

February 28 from 7.30 to 11 p.m. Members, friends of the Society andkindred bodies are cordially invited. Please book these three dates.

ObituaryWe greatly regret to announce the death of William Peat. He had served

on the General Committee and it was a great loss to them when he had toreturn to Edinburgh. He was:occasionally of assistance at social functions,as, for example, when he shoWed a series of colour slides.

Mr. Peat has bequeathed 1200 to the Society to be applied for generalpurposes. .• •• .

Services available to members and associates include: The .NamingCeremony of Welcome to young children; the Solemnisation of Marriage;Marriage and Funeral Services:

For full particulars of membership, meetings etc. apply to the Secretary.Conway Hall, W.C.1.

Farleigh Press Ltd. (T.U. all depts.), Beachwood Rise, Watford, Her:,