FRESH

Hacker News

Malcolm Cowley helped build a golden age of American letters

13 points by samclemens

by mitchbob

0 subcomment

by nephihaha

0 subcomment

Extract: 'Although Cowley’s communism came from a genuine commitment to social activism, he did himself no favors by reflexively toeing the party line. Through almost every one of the crises and exposures that peeled more leftists away from the party—from the show trials to the Ukrainian famine to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact—Cowley sided with Stalin, even if he always remained merely a fellow-traveler.'
A die hard Stalinist/Tankie, interesting. Commitment to social activism while backing some of the most horrific events in the 20th century, doesn't sound like a fellow traveller to me. I don't think Uncle Joe would have approved of Jack Kerouac or Ken Kesey particularly if he'd lived to see them. His literary tastes were far more conservative, and Stalin was a keen reader.