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LWD)Vol. 74, No. 5 MAY 1969

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL: EUTHANASIA . 3

RENAISSANCE HUMANISM 4by Lord Sorensen

ROBERT INGERSOLL 6by Richard Clements, 0 B E

AGGRESSIVE SPEECH AND WRITING . 10by Prof. T. H. Pear

ETHICS AND THE CITY . 12by J. Stewart Cook, B.Sc.

CONWAY DISCUSSIONS: DEBATE ON RHODESIA 14

BOOK REVIEWS:

DYNAMIC ETHICS . 16by Kit NIMBI

THE REVOLUTIONIST'S HANDBOOK . 17by David C. Flint

To THE EDITOR . 19

OFF THE RECORD 21

SOUTH PLACE NEWS 21

Published by

BO_ MA= =CAL warnConway Hall Humanist Centre Red Lion Square, London, WC1

SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS :

Secretary: Mr. H. G. KnightHall Manager and Lettings Secretary: Miss E. Palmer

Hon. Registrar: Miss E. PalmerHon. Treasurer: J. W . Blundell

Editor, "The Ethical Record": Miss Barbara SmokerAssociate Editor: Martin Page

Address: Conway Hall Humanist Centre, Red Lion Square, London, W.C.I (Tel. CHAncery 8032)

SUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS, 11 a.m. (Admission free)

May 4—Lord SORENSENSacred RealityBass solos: G. C. Dowman

May 11—DAVID TRIBEHumanism and the Protest MovementTenor solos: Derek Wilkes

May 18—RONALD MASONThe Novelist as ProphetSoprano solos: Jean Adams

May 25—(No meeting)

June 1—Dr. JOHN LEWISThe Changing Face of Marxism

CONWAY DISCUSSIONSwill resume on Tuesdays at 6.45 p.m. from October 7

The 79th season of SOUTH PLACE SUNDAY CONCERTS

will open on October 5 at 6.30 p.m.

The Objects of the Society are the study and dissemination of ethical principlesand the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment.

Any person in sympathy with these objects is cordially invited to become amember (minimum annual subscription 12s. 6d.). A membership application formwill be found on the back cover.

THE ETHICAL RECORD(Formerly 'The Monthly Record')

vol.74. No. 5 MAY 1969

The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society

EDITORIALEuthanasia

As EXPECTED, the Voluntary Euthanasia Bill sponsored by Lord Raglanwas defeated — but that is not to say that it achieved nothing. As LordRaglan admitted at the Annual Dinner of the National Secular Societya few days after the Bill's defeat, he himself had doubts about some ofits details, and his hope was that the widespread discussion it hadengendered would result in a new improved Bill before long.

In any case, voluntary euthanasia covers only part of the euthanasiaproblem: there are also incurables who are too young or whose brainsare too badly damaged to take the decision for themselves. A recenttelevision programme showed a boy who, as a result of severe braininjury sustained in a road accident, had lain for 18 months in ahospital bed, permanently incapable of even partial consciousness, sincethe higher centres of his brain are dead. But as the involuntary part,controlling the heart and lungs, is :able to function, the doctor in chargeof the case said that he could not decide to terminate this life —thouah,in fact, it is non-life. So the living corpse is turned every hour to preventthe formation of bed-sores; sustenance is trickled in, and excretapumped out. This could go on for another 18 months, for 18 years,or even perhaps for 80 years, before the body dies. It certainly suffersno pain, but the whole procedure is not only wasteful of valuablemedical resources (for lack of which curable illnesses are often leftuntreated till too late), it is also a continuing distress to the boy's familyand an affront to human dignity.

Surely we should give legal sanction to the doctor who terminates a"vegetable" existence of this kind (which has in fact been created bymodern medical science) or who induces death in a seriously defeetivenew-born before it enters human society. It is unthinkable to involve insuch decisions the next-of-kin, with all the implications of a personalrelationship and the aftermath of guilt feelings; so only the doctor candecide. And many, of course, already do. The high proportion of "still-births" among the thalidomide babies showed this quite clearly — butthere were enough doctors with religious scruples or a fear of leealrepercussions to permit many malformed babies to live.

One of the best things to come out of the debate in the House ofLords on Voluntary Euthanasia may in fact have been the irrelevantconfession of one peer in the medical profession that he had been"guilty" of killing a seriously defective baby at birth. The fact that noprosecution has followed this disclosure may put courage into someof the doctors who have been too timid to take similar humane decisions—though we will still be left with those governed by inflexible religiousdogma.

3

Renaissance HumanismBY

LORD SORENSEN

F,THICAL HUMANISM and Scientific Humanism have common roots that rundown to Renaissance Humanism and deeper still to Greek Humanism."Humanism" is a term not singular to our own age, unlike "agnosticism",a word invented by Thomas Huxley, though even that had an antipatheticrelationship with the "gnosticism" of early Christianity which claimedesoteric divine knowledge. While "Humanism" may belong to the samefamily as Agnosticism, Secularism, Freethought, Naturalism, Materialism,Positivism and Atheism, it is perhaps warmer and more comprehensive thanthe others because it embraces the whole of human experience.

Until comparatively recently, "Humanism" denoted the character of thehistorical period known as the Renaissance. Its French and Latin derivationtranslates Renaissance as "a new birth" and, according to the dictionary,"the revival of arts and letters, the transition from the Middle Ages tothe Modern World".

The Fifteenth Century

In the Middle Ages Christendom was philosophically one vast monasteryenclosed by thick dogmatic walls. Within it, burbling murmurs of dissent

• or heresy were sternly suppressed or compelled to remain in murky cells,thus making hypocrisy a virtue. No totalitarian system, whether theologicalor political, can last unless its subjects pretend to think alike, for freethought can shatter dxplosively the thickest walls. In course of time, thoughperhaps a very long time, the human spirit will explode and demolish thedogmatic restrictions. Dormant human curiosity ultimately awakes and sets

forth to acquire knowledge. This is happening in present totalitarian statesof which Czechoslovakia provides recent evidence. The convulsions in theRoman Catholic Church give further evidence.

The fifteenth-century Renaissance came to fruition as a result of manyconvergent factors. Indirectly the revelation of Arabic scholarship throughthe Crusades and the fall of Christian Byzantium to the Turks must havestimulated consciousness of another culture, but a desire in Italy to exploremore fully the content of its.own ancient Roman civilisation had a greaterinfluence; thc reports of. new territories beyond Europe also had a cumu-lative effect, including the adventures of that remarkable man, Marco Polo,whose stories of remote Cathay in the thirteenth and fourteenth centurieswere at first received with incredulity. Columbus, partly inspired by MarcoPolo, sighted America in 1492; conflicts between secular and spiritualauthority and peasant revolts also contributed to resentment against theChurch; economic acquisitiveness and wealth promoted physical enjoymentand intellectual -interest, alien to religious teaching, which encouragedspeculation about the physical universe; printing with movable type, adoptedby Gutenberg in 1454/55 and by Caxton in Engand in 1476, made books

containing new ideas available for circulation.Such diverse elements increasingly pressed against the walls of the medi-

eval monastery. Initially, the Revival of Learning (or Renaissance) wasobsessed with classical Rome to the extent of sterilising creative potency.Nevertheless, because it challenged ecclesiastical despotism by its avidinterest in a pagan world, it eroded medieval metaphysical domination.The impact of other geographical and cultural sphercs assailed predominanttheological pretensions. Christian theologians and schoolmen had disturbingrivals who enticed human minds into wider reflections. This has been known

as "Humanism" since it denoted an emphasis on direct human thought and

4

activity, in some measure distinct from the prevelant absorption in dog-matic, despotic supernaturalism. Different as Renaissance and ModernHumanism may be, they have in common an emphasis on the centrality ofpurely human thought and need.

Leading Renaissance FiguresIn one way or another there were many pre-Renaissance figures who

contributed toward Renaissance Humanism. Even Charlemagne did so inthe eighth century; so did Roger Bacon in the 13th, and Wycliffe, Huss,Boccaccio and Petrarch in the 14th. It was Petrarch who declared

Once Rome! Now false and guilty Babylon!Hive of deceits! Terrible prisonWhere the good doth die, the bad is fed and fattened.Hell of the living! . . .Sad world that dost endure! Cast her out!

In the Renaissance period itself, pre-eminent stands Desiderius Erasmus,born in Rotterdam in 1466 and dying in 1536. After becoming an Augus-tinian Canon, he left the priesthood and often sojourned in England. In hisPraise of Folly he attacked bigotry. pompous authority, superstitions,clerical fanaticism, and irrationalism. He remained within the Church.possibly as an expedient, but also because he detested Lutheran dogmatismas much as he did Papal intolerance. He was a friend of Thomas More,whose religious outlook was strikingly different, and though he was chargedwith timidity and inconsistency, nonetheless this humorous, tolerant manmay have been more influential than his contemporary Luther in promotingthe spirit of rational thought and humanism.

Renaissance Humanism may evoke the judgment that it was not trueHumanism as we know Humanism today, but only a tinctured ecclesiasticalopiate. I believe it was far more than that, because it undermined the foun-dations of metaphysical authority, even though Erasmus did not appreciatefully what he did. It regenerated the spirit of man by encouraging intellectualenquiry, and, above all, toleration for diversity. Contemporary with Erasmuswere Leonardo da Vinci, Luther, Copernicus and Frederick II ("the Wise"),each of these directly or indirectly assisting in the task of setting men freefrom obscurantist Rome. Thereafter, in the 16th and 17th centuries, camesuch seminal figures as Vesalius, Tycho Brahe, Servetus (burnt with the con-nivance of Calvin), Francis Bacon, Galileo, Kepler, Harvey, Hobbes, Des-cartes, Bruno, Spinoza, Locke, Pascal, Leibnitz and Newton —all men ofnew thought building up new knowledge of the natural world or re-interpreting it independently of ecclesiastical dogmatism. Nor should weforget our Shakespeare and Milton.

If Modern Humanism is more specific, nonetheless Renaissance Human-ism, I submit, was its nursery. Modern Humanism has a vast world toexplore, many problems to solve, and many discoveries to make respectingboth man and his universe. Human nature can still be bigoted, retro-gressive, despotic, corrupt or callous, as surely as it has been in the past.The struggle to overcome and vanquish atavistic deterioration is continuousif freedom of thought, mental honesty, and rich human values are to besupreme. Our modern context is different in some respects from that ofthe Renaissance but, within limitations, the essential issue in the Renaissancewas that of today: to ensure that the authority of man means the authorityof free man, at his best and not his worst.

(Summary of a lecture given on January 5)

Once men have assaulted the barriers of religion, they cannot be stopped.After they have turned their menacing looks against the sovereigns of theskies, they will direct them against the sovereigns of the earth.

— D. DIDEROT (in a letter to a friend, 1771)

5

Robert IngersollBY

RICHARD CLEMENTS

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, lawyer, orator, and devotee of the fine arts, was in

Moncure Conway's words, "the great apostle of Freethought in the New

World". Certainly his influence over men's minds on the north Atlantic

continent has been immense. During his life-time, and since, his writings

have been widely circulated and read in this country and in other parts

of the English-speaking world. There have also been numerous translations

of his addresses and essays into foreign languages. The American Agnostic

has thus become a symbol of the intellectual strength, courage and honesty

of modern Rationalism.The story of the life and struggles of this pioneer rebel against con-

ventional religion is both instructive and inspiring. It shows him to have

been the human embodiment of the nineteenth-century discovery that,

for the first time in history, man had within his grasp the scientific and

technological knowledge to enable him to create the great "Republic of

Man" on earth. The instrument for bringing this transformation about was

reason; the spirit that was to animate the whole enterprise was humanistic;

and the science and art of human relationships would become of deep

significance in the life of such a society. Ingersoll derived morality not

from a supernatural source, but as a product of man's earthly life. His

ethical Humanism was built upon his belief that moral purpose was not

inherent in the universe, but arose out of man's intellectual, social and

spiritual insight and strivings. "Our knowledge," as he wrote in his Art

and Morality, "is confined to the relations that exist between the totality

of things that we call the universe and the effect upon ourselves . . .

Actions are deemed right or wrong according to the experience and the

conclusions of reason".

Boyhood of a Rebel

Ingersoll was born at Dresden, then a small village in the State of

New York. His father, the Rev. John Ingersoll, began his life's work as

a preacher in the Congregational church, and later become a Presbyterian;

he was an honest and kind-hearted man "who believed in the Bible from

cover to cover". In common with other orthodox Christians in the United

States in the 'thirties of last century, he believed it was his duty to save

the souls of his fellow men from the wrath of a God of infinite mercy.

This frightful doctrine darkened his own life for many years; and despite

his good intentions, made life solemn and gloomy for those around him.

The boy's mother, Mary Livingstone, who died when Robert was two,

was a splendid woman. Her intelligence, good temper and warm-hearted

nature made a lasting impression upon all the members of the family. The

story is told that on her death-bed she sent for her daughter, then ten

years of age, and said "Mary, watch over your two brothers, Robert and

Clark". Thereafter, the young girl became veritably "the little mother of

the household": a role she seems never to have abandoned during her life-

time.Acting upon his father's instructions, Robert became a diligent student

of the Bible, but his reading gave rise to grave doubts about the claims

based upon holy writ. The more he read, the more he doubted. This son

of the manse early became a rebel against the fetters of orthodoxy. The

boy, healthy-minded, lively, given to fun and fond of company, naturally

revolted against the orthodox creeds as then taught from the pulpits and

the Sunday Schools. The Rev. John Ingersoll, in spite of his gloomy

6

religious beliefs, had the good sense not to impose them by authority uponhis son. •"Be true to yourself," he told the boy; "tell your honest thought;never be a hypocrite".

Father and SonThe last point is important, for it has been widely assumed that it was

his father's intolerance and harsh treatment which drove Robert intounbelief. But Robert himself firmly denied this. For many years, in spiteof Robert's growing recalcitrance and scepticism, his father tried to per-suade his errant son to accept the old beliefs, but their endless discussions,though heart-searching and intense, remained amiable and tolerant.

Mrs. E. I. Wakefield, Ingersoll's devoted granddaughter, thus describesthe end of the long struggle between father and son:

The delicacy and pathos of his father's dilemma in later life were fullyappreciated by Robert, who used all the tender affection and imaginativeunderstanding of his nature to transmute the potential tragedy into rewardingserenity and peace of mind. 'Hie quiet climax of this personal drama cameat the death-bed of John Ingersoll when the brave old spiritual warriorrequested Robert to read, not from the Bible, but trom Plato on The Deathof Socrates.,

Student and TeacherWhen his father went to live at Greenville, Illinois, in 1851, Robert

was a youth of seventeen. Of formal education he had had but little exceptfor instruction from his father and another preacher. Later on, at an"academy" at Greenville, Robert was recognised as an exceptionally ablestudent — talented as a story-teller and conversationalist, skilful in theexact use of language, possessed of a good memory, and quick to graspthe essence of whatever subject he studied.

It was decided he should "teach school". So, under the somewhat free-and-easy method of recruiting school-teachers at that time, he presentedhimself for examination, was granted the necessary certificate, and took uphis new duties in a succession of small schools. Then, before he wastwenty, he opened his own school.

It soon became known that his views on religion were unorthodox, andhe was sometimes "imprudently witty" when pressed for assurances onsuch matters. For example, when pestered by certain Baptist ministersand elders about his views on baptism, he laconically replied : "Well, I'llgive you my opinion : with soap, baptism is a good thing". This ledto the withdrawal of support for his school, and for a short time Ingersollhad to teach elsewhere.

The Lawyer

Towards the end of the summer of 1854, Robert and his brother, ClarkIngersoll, began to study law and were formally admitted into the legalprofession on December 20. 1854. The two young lawyers made rapidprogress in their professional work, and soon Robert Ingersoll "rode thecircuits" as an attorney, in an area comprising "a dozen or more coun-ties". He early gave proof of a good knowledge of law, thanks in partto his practice and study in the office of Judge William G. Bowman — aman of rare intellectual, legal and political attainments. He had much incommon with Ingersoll: both were Rationalists and both were book-lovers.Judge Bowman had built up a splendid library, to which he generouslygave Ingersoll ready access. Here he first read the great poets, historians,philosophers and scientists, and thus laid the foundation of his intellectuallife.

The Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll ed. with a biographical Introduction byEva Ingersoll Wakefield (Philosophical Library; New York), p. 11.

7

Politics and WarWhen the American Civil War broke out in April, 1861, Ingersoll was

a steadfast supporter of thc Union and a Liberationist on the question ofslavery. From that time onwards he was a Republican in politics. AbrahamLincoln was, in his judgment, "the grandest man ever President of theUnited States".

In February, 1862, Ingersoll married Eva Parker, "a woman withoutsuperstition", and it proved to be a happy and durable union. But theAmerican Civil War cast a temporary shadow upon their happiness; and,six weeks after his marriage. Ingersoll, who had been commissioned Colonelof the 1 1 th Illinois Cavalry, moved with his men into the battle zone.Being a man revolted by violence, he was unlikely to make a modelsoldier, but he was long remembered by his comrades in arms for hiscourage, intelligence and kindness. He returned to civilian life in June,1863, to resume, in partnership with his brother, Clark, his brilliant legalcareer. At the age of thirty-four he became Attorney-General of Illinois,an office he held for some two years.

Both Robert and Clark Ingersoll were keen politicians and it wasconfidently believed that they would hold high offices in public life. Thisexpectation was not wholly realised. The difficulties experienced by Robertwere illustrated by two incidents which happened in the course of hiscareer. At the Republican State Convention held at Peoria in May, 1868,a delegation, representing a majority of its members, waited upon himto suggest his nomination for the governorship of the State, but he wastold that to secure his successful election some pledge would be requiredof him to abstain in future from criticism of orthodox religious beliefs.He declined the nomination on such terms. "My religious belief," hefirmly declared, "is my own. It belongs to me, not to the State of Illinois.I would not smother one sentiment of my heart to be the emperor ofof the round globe". From this position he never receded. "But for hisheresy," commented Moncure Conway, "he would have been Governor.Nay, but for orthodox animosity Ingersoll would no doubt have beenPresident of the United States. No man of his ability ever occupied thatoffice."2

Then, again, when President Rutherford B. Hayes suggested that Ingersollshould be sent as the United States Ambassador to Germany, there wasanother outburst of intolerance on the part of the orthodox religionists.To relieve the President from the embarrassment thus created, Ingersollcalled upon the Secretary of State and informed him that he would notaccept that or any other governmental post.

The Agnostic' Ingersoll's work as a lecturer and writer on Freethought covered someforty years of his life. In those years he travelled far and wide in theUnited States and Canada, spreading the gospel of Humanism amongst themasses, liberating men's minds from superstition, liberalising the minds ofclergy and laity, and proclaiming the rights of all men to liberty, justiceand happiness. He was an outspoken Agnostic in matters of religious belief.and in his famous polemics with William E. Gladstone and CardinalManning he defeated both champions of authoritarian Christianity.

His first published Freethought lecture was entitled "Progress"; andit was given to an audience in Pekin, Illinois, in 1869. It was the beginningof a series of lectures and addresses which, in many respects, are as per-tinent today as they were when first published; they include such titles as"The Gods"; "About the Holy Bible"; "The Liberty of Man, Woman, and

2 Article on "The Death of Ingersoll" in South Place Maeazine, September. 1899.

8

Child-; "The Ghosts-; "Some Mistakes of Moses"; and "Why Am I anAgnostic?". The essence of modern Rationalism has never been moreeloquently and attractively stated than in those writings. It was a paragraphin "The Gods" which drew from Georg Brandes, the Danish critic, theexclamation: "In Ingersoll, common sense rose to genius".

I quote the following passages in support of this statement from "WhyAm I an Agnostic?", and also because 1 hope they will whet our readers'appetite for more:

If we arc to follow the religion of our fathers and mothers, our fathersand mothers should have followed the religiOn of theirs. Had this been done,there could have been no improvement in the world of thought. The firstreligion would have been the last, and the child would have died as ignorantas the mother. Progress would have been impossible, and on the graves ofancestors would have been sacrificed the intelligence of mankind.

We find now that the prosperity of nations has depended, not upon theirreligion, not upon the goodness or providence of some god, but on soiland climate and commerce, upon the ingenuity, industry, and courage of thepeople, upon the development of the mind, on the spread of education, onthe liberty of thought and action; and that in this mighty panorama ofnational life reason has built and superstition has destroyed.

Let us be honest with ourselves. In the presence of countless mysteries;standing beneath the boundless heaven sown thick with constellations; know-ing that each grain of sand, each leaf, each blade of grass, asks of everymind the answerless question; knowing that the simplest thing defies solution;feeling that we deal with the superficial and the relative, and that we arefor ever eluded by the real, the absolute — let us admit the limitations ofour minds, and let us have the courage and the candour to say: We do notknow.

Devotee of the ArtsThere is another side to the man's life and york : his lectures and writings

on literature, music, and the other arts. In these fields the Americanorator made notable contributions. Among these writings may be men-tioned his "Shakespeare": "Humboldt"; "Abraham Lincoln"; "ThomasPaine"; "Robert Burns"; "Voltaire"; and "A Testimonial to Walt Whitman",a speech Ingersoll delivered in the presence of the poet on the latter'sseventy-first birthday. The lecture on "Shakespeare" is considered to beIngersoll's masterpiece in literary criticism. It concludes with this glowingtribute:

Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean, whose waves touched all the shoresof thought; within which were all the tides and waves of destiny and will;over which swept all the storms of fate. ambition and revenge; upon whichfell the darkness of despair and death, and all the sunlight of content andlove, and within which was the inverted sky lit with the eternal stars; anintellectual ocean towards which all rivers ran, and from which now theisles and continent of thought receive their dew and rain.

The second of Ingersoll's literary idols was Robert Burns, and when,in 1878, he visited the little village of Alloway, in Ayrshire, he wrote aninspired poem on Burns, which, beautifully printed and suitably framed,has today a place of honour in the birth-house of Scotland's national poet.

Ingersoll was also a music-lover. He spoke of Richard Wagner as "thcShakespeare of music-, thus bringing together literature and music, the twoarts which gave him so much joy and inspiration. But in music, as in thcother arts, his tastes were catholic and exquisite, and he admired andenjoyed the works of Beethoven —particularly the Fifth and Sixth sym-phonies —and those of Mozart, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Schubert.

(Summary of a lecture given on January 19)

9

Aggressive Speech and WritingBY

PROF. T. H. PEAR

THE widespread current use of the words "aggression" and "aggressiveness"(how did we get on without them fifty years ago?) is more noticeable thancriticism of this fashionable usage, which tends to attribute to man asingle, simple instinct of aggressiveness. There is reason to believe that inearly times aggression had two meanings: (a) taking a step towards, and(b) doing this with intent to hurt or harm.

Man's PrerogativeIn sophisticated communities, behaviour that is aggressive in the second

of these senses often takes thc form of speech or writing, whether theaggression is between (I) persons; (2) groups; or (3) nations. Extended torefer to (2) and (3), the word becomes slippery: e.g. when nations accuseeach other — inevitably — of aggressiveness and acts of aggression. Whatare the exact equivalents of "aggression" in Russian and Chinese? Dothese nations use equivalents of our question-begging word?

In the Ethical Record, December 1968 (Vol. 73, No. I I). it was suggestedthat human aggressiveness should be considered at different levels of com-plexity. I will now consider some high-level instances of human aggressive-ness which seem to be man's prerogative: the use of words in speech orwriting, so as to conquer, injure or destroy. In time, or even now, speechmay become much more important than writing, as Marshall. McLuhanemphasises.

Paralinguistic AccompanimentsUnder "speech", paralinguistic accompaniments—e.g. facial expressions,

gestures, postures, as well as aesthetic and affective implications of thesevisual and auditory patterns —should be considered: they are ignored inthe customary specialised treatments of Speech, Language, and even Com-munication.

I venture to consider these aspects under thc crude term speech - plus:this facilitates discussion of the effects of radio and television upon simple,even non-literate communities, and millions of members of literate nations,who no longer need derive their information from print.

Aggressive uses of words have been discussed for centuries, but writershave naturally tended to concentrate on scripted as distinct from oralcommunications. Of the latter, reliable recordings have been available onlyin the last half century; a fact which ought to bother the historians morethan it does. At this high level of communication, the fascinating effortsat speech made by monkeys and porpoises seem almost irrelevant.

Between the speech-ways of the lower and higher educational strata inEngland today there are important differences—e.g. in the initiation andreception of "speech-plus". A busy mother in a small kitchen may conveyMeanings to small children in monosyllables emphasised by pats, pushesand slaps, while a middle-class mother may habitually accompany many ofher prohibitions with explanations: "If you do, you'll hurt yourself,because . .2. Even the answer "Because I say so!" may seem to the childgentler than a slap, especially if it is heard only infrequently from areasonable, loved parent. With leisure, paralinguistic accompaniments suit-able to the individual child may be artistically developed. It is importantto realise that a child who, over a period of years, has received no explana-tions of restrictions on his behaviour may, when adult, react to frustrationswith violence, which seems to him perfectly reasonable.

10

Boasting

A simple form of verbal aggressiveness, though in an educated person

it can soon become subtle, is boasting. It occurs in Britain in significantly

different forms at different social levels: some of these forms are approved

and disapproved by typical inhabitants of other countries. The U.S.S.R.

and the U.S.A. boast about their space-travel exploits in contrasting for-

mulae. "Britannia, Rule the Waves"— imperative, not indicative — was not

always a joke to be sung at the "Proms".A public relations officer or speech-writer is often employed to boast

vicariously. A social climber may advance his prospects by modest, though

- frequent, speech and writing, especially if they reflect considerable erudition

(-backing shyly as usual into the limelight")..In boasting speech, the "plus" may be more important than the sounds.

Hitler's bawlings were supported by organised crowd slogans, processions

and lights: thc technique has not been outmoded. A politician, getting

worked up as he declaims on TV a corny script with gestures which ought

to have been left behind at his debating society, may contrast with a quiet,

academic-sounding deliverer of an unquiet exhortation to violence.Much aggressive speech is deliberately malevolent. An obvious form is

sarcasm. The word derives from the Greek sarkazein, meaning "to tear flesh

like dogs". To succeed, this form of attack needs receptive hearers. In

World War I, as a distinguished serving soldier recounts, a certain platoon

reduced a sergeant almost to tears by never seeing the point of his

blistering jokes, which, up to then, had always worked well. Sarcasm is

often underlined by a snarl and a sneer: one TV performer is said to have

modified both after their effects were criticised. On the radio a successful

technique is the alternation of gentle pedagogic sarcasm with irony.Irony (from the Greek eiron. "dissembler") is defined as "feigned

ignorance, designed to confound or provoke an antagonist . . . pretended

willingness to learn from others, assumed for the sake of making their

errors conspicuous by means of adroit questioning". Irony sometimes

employs under-statement, which the hearer is assumed to comprehend and

interpret. It is not always effective if used in a country other than the

speaker's, especially if the two are "divided by a common language".

Aggression in Entertainment

Satire is "the use of ridicule, irony, sarcasm, etc. for the ostensible purpose

of exposing and discouraging vice or folly". The term has recently been

used to designate certain well-paid techniques, in speech and writing. In

the definition just quoted. the adjective "ostensible" is significant. If "satire"

is becoming les§ popular, this may be because mere nose-thumbing at

public servants can eventually bore the public. It is sometimes suggested

that a real satirist retains some love for the institution or person he is

apparently attacking: the gentle touch of Flanders and Swann is worth

the attention of a psychologist.Obviously wit is often aggressive: a witty remark is always likely to

hurt someone. The successful witticism often pleases the hearer because

it assumes that he can guess at its unconscious sources and unwrap some

half-hidden meanings.Humour may be aggressive or benevolent, and there is evidence (or was.

until the mesoeratisation of speech on the radio and TV) that types of

humour differ with region and class in the same country. Much humour is

still insular — in both senses.

In the afternoon's discussion, relations betwcen stubborn perseverance

and aggression were examined.

(Summary of a lecture given on January 26)

I I

Ethics and the CityBY

J. STEWART COOK

IN THE course of a working day, a farm labourer produces more realwealth than the City of London as a whole has produced in the past 100years. This is not necessarily a criticism: the same is true of the teaching,medical and legal professions, not to mention the clergy. The City is notconcerned with producing but with buying and selling, borrowing andlending, profit and loss, Its business is money.

The Bank of England, a nationalised institution since 1946, is the nation'sbank, the Government bank, and the banker for all the other banks. Itissues Treasury bills and currency notes, exerting important financial con-trols in the national economy of which thc most important is the BankRate. The Stock Exchange is the capital market and is, perhaps, the nearestthing in existence which corresponds to the academic economist's conceptof a perfect market. It is also a gambling den. The commercial banks, inwhich most peole who have bank accounts keep their money, are sufficientlywell known to require little description. There are also the merchant banks,which deal largely with industry, the financing of international trade andcapital issues. Discount houses borrow money at relatively low interestTates and use it to discount Bills and higher rates, thus making their profits.Then there are the insurance companies, now a significant factor in theworld of finance, and the building societies— which, of course, neveractually build anything but lend others the money to do so., The City, then, is a vast complex of organisations, some large andpowerful, others small but significant, which deal in practically every aspectof the money business. What ethical considerations arise in these activities?

The City has its own code of ethics. In the main, its affairs are con-ducted with meticulous honesty by men of probity who honour theirpromises and meet their obligations, and whose actions are governed bya strict set of rules. But how far is the City's ethical code just a meansprotecting its mutual interests and how far does it extend to protecting theinterests of the nation and the people as a whole? Secondly, since the Cityproduces no real wealth at all but renders service to those who do, andto the community, in the sphere of finance, are its rewards commensuratewith those services? Thirdly, is the element of gambling — which un-doubtedly exists to a substantial degree— really in the national interest?In particular, is the growing practice of thc "take-over bid" socially andethically defensible?

What Is Money?Let us first clarify our minds on the subject of money. If any rational

person was marooned on a desert island, with no possible hope of escapeor rescue and was offered the choice of a million pound note or a canof beans to take with him, he would choose the beans. Money is merely atoken of exchange, useful and valuable only to the extent that it is freelyand universally accepted in an organised community. But, in such a com-munity, it represents the essential basis of freedom— to eat, to live, totravel . . . to do almost anything. I am legally free to go on a world tourtoriffirrow. But my actual freedom to do so depends on how much moneyI have in my possession.

Moreover, in the involved and complicated civilisation in which we livetoday, our concern with money has a time factor. You want a TV set youcannot afford out of your current earnings. But you don't wait until you'vesaved up enough to buy one, for a flourishing hire-purchase industry will

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linance' the transaction so that you can have your TV right away, thuspromoting trade and suiting your own convenience. You want a home.A building society will loan the money to purchase it, and you spend mostof the remaining years of life paying off the mortgage. Or you arc concernedto provide for your old age or for your dependants if you die. The insurancecompanies offer you a wide and almost bewildering variety of ways inwhich you can do so.

None of these bodies, however, has the least interest in your welfare orconvenience. The essence of their relation with you is that they make moneyavailable to you at the time you want it and on conditions which suit you.and they charge you for that service at a level which produces a profit forthem. Money is not merely a means of exchange; it is a "commodity" whichcan be bought and sold, hired and used. The City of London is the placein this country where this "commodity"' is both manufactured and sold.

Of what does "money" really, then, consist? The answer is, beyond doubt,to use the words of the late Sir Dennis Robertson, that money consists of"bank deposits subject to cheque" — deposits which exist mainly as aresult of loans and investments made by the banking system itself. TheCity decides, within limits, how much money is going to be put into cir-culation. Ultimately the real value of bank money depends on the generalpublic, in particular on how much it is prepared to save.

• Profit Is the GodLet us now revert to the ethical questions. Does the City's code of

ethics merely protect itself — or does it serve the interests of the nation?One example will suffice for an answer. In evidence given to the Bank RateTribunal in 1957, a letter was produced from a well-known merchant bankerto one of his colleagues, advising him on financial matters. The writer, Mr.W. J. Keswick—a man of wide interests and unquestioned integrity—adviseda colleague in Hong Kong to switch his funds into American bonds, andadded the following significant words:

Again, this is anti-British and derogatory to Sterling, but, on balance, if oneis free to do so, it makes sense to ine.

In short, profit is the god: the national interest is a bad second. Makeno mistake, either: this is no minor matter. Have we not all seen —andsuffered from — currency speculation and similar activities in recent yearsand months?

Another instance of the City's ethical outlook may perhaps be found inits attitude to the law. Many people in the City make their whole livingsby advising people who are far better off than most of us how they canlegally avoid paying their proper share of taxation. There was, up to 1958,a regulation which prohibited a company from borrowing more than£10,000 without Treasury permission. This was part of the so-called "creditsqueeze", imposed in thc national interest. In 1959, a gentleman namedHarry Jasper was interviewed and asked how he managed to be a Directorof no fewer than 450 companies. He explained that "if you wanted toborrow £1,000,000 you had to form 100 separate companies to do so," and

he added "Everyone is doing it".

Getting a RiseWhat of the rewards which those in the City get for their conduct of

our .financial system? This is not an easy question to answer. There ismuch secrecy. However, we can reasonably estimate that, today, the grossprofits made in the City are at least 1750 million a year.

It was recently announced that the Chairman of a well-known MerchantBank had his salary increased by several thousands a year as a reward for"increased productivity". As the Duke of Wellington once said, "If youcan believe that, you can believe anything".

And what of the take-over bids of which we hear so much today? They

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represent almost gladiatorial contests between rival groups for the favoursof the shareholder. Indeed, it is only when take-over are On 'the agendathat the ordinary shareholder ever has any real say in the affairs of thecompany of which he is legally a part-owner. The City has its code ofethics for take-overs. Without examining it in detail, it can be said to beprimarily concerned with ensuring certain elementary standards of honestyand truth and the protection of shareholders against being misled. But itdoes nothing to prevent an undesirable private monopoly or to protect thestaffs of companies taken over.

To sum up, the mcn of the City are rich and powerful. They enjoy theprivilege, which few of us can have, of being virtually able to decidetheir own remuneration. And every penny of it comes from the rest of us.The rate of interest affects council-house rents, mortgage repayments, localrates, and thc prices of nearly everything we buy. If ever a sct of humanactivities needed vigilant attention from an ethical standpoint, it is surelythat of the money-changers and money-lenders in the square mile knownas the City of London.

(Summary of a lecture given on February 9)

Conway DiscussionsDebate on Rhodesia

(March I I )

Sir Archibald James (Anglo-Rhodesian Society):

Rhodesia is a country with a tine climate, fertile land and rich mineralresources. It has a high standard of living: the cost of living is about halfthat in Britain; and it has a low taxation policy. Since 1926 it has beena self-governing colony composed of some four-million Africans—in twomain tribes, opposed to each other — and 250,000 Europeans. The term"colour-bar" used against the Smith Government is both unfair and mis-leading, because separation is on economic and cultural grounds, not onthose of colour. Indeed, there are many wealthy Africans who are freeto move anywhere: no colour-bar operates against them.

The Government allocates 9 per cent of its budget to African education.Legislation is not discriminatory, for it enables everyone with minimaleducational or financial qualification to vote. The trouble is, the Africanis not interested in politics; he does not trouble to register or vote. In 1956,of thc 15,000 on the "A" Roll, only 1,654 troubled to register; of thc50,000 on the "B" Roll, only 4,280 registered. At the last election less than10 per cent voted.

International "sanctions" have proved a total failure. In common withall other Rhodesian farmers and businessmen, I am making more profitthan ever before. The only people to suffer have been the Africans them-selves and the tobacco farmers. Sanctions have cost Britain £30-million moreto buy American tobacco. Is it any wonder that the U.S.A. and most othernations ignore the sanctions policy? Just spend a day in Salisbury and youwill see businessmen of every nation of the world as busy as ever. TheUnited Nations is guilty of imprudent and improper acts in agreeing tosanctions, which have been condemned as illegal by some leading Britishand Amcrican

Mr. Smith is, unlike the picture painted here, a moderate; he and hisGovernment have thc overwhelming support of the voting population, andit is a pity that the British Government has not the sense to see it. Becauseof this Government's actions, Rhodesia will unfortunately become an in-dependent republic outside the Commonwealth, and nothing can be doneto stop it.

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Mr. Humphrey Berkeley (Chairman, United Nations Association):

Sir Archibald James is, like a riumbei- of other Rhodesians I know, a

kindly, paternal man, but quite incapable of seeing the real purpose of the

Smith régime, or appreciating that to have first- and second-class citizen-

ship is both morally wrong and charged with danger. Smith and his

Government are not Moderates. Their constitution has been specifically

devised to ensure that Africans can never attain majority rule and will

always remain second-class citizens. By what criterion do they decide

that Rhodesia should be different from other African states? If they

object to majority rule in Rhodesia, then why not in Botswana and

Swaziland? If they contend that Britain is a white country, to be ruled

by the white majority, how can they argue that Rhodesia should be ruled

by a white minority? If we agree this is a white man's country, how can

we say Rhodesia is a white man's country? Particularly when a large

proportion of the quarter-of-a-million whites have settled in that country

only since thc last war. The act of U.D.I. is one of unbelievable folly,

foisted on the country because of an avowed intention to keep the Africans

as second-class citizens, and, unless corrected, it must inevitably lead to

a blood-bath.; To suggest there is no colour discrimination is to ignore the facts. There

is discrimination on the right to vote, on the standard of education, on the

jobs that can bc held, on thc locations in which Africans can live. It is

even carried to the absurd length of building a magnificent house in the

African sector for a Government Minister who, because he is African,

must not live in the town with the whites. The level of African wages

ensures that Africans can never qualify to vote on wealth, and their educa-

tion is virtually restricted to primary education, to ensure they do not

qualify educationally. Discrimination is Government policy, and, although

it is not yet full apartheid, this is only a question of time.

As for Africans not voting, it is for reasons completely the opposite to

those advanced by Sir Archibald James. It is because they are politically

conscious that they follow the advice of their political parties and abstain

from voting in what they know to be fraudulent elections. Whichever way

you look at it, there is a small white minority determined to impose its

will upon the great majority. To do so, this minority must, by the very

policies it has approved, keep thc Africans badly educated and poor. It

is thc height of folly to assume that, with thc emancipation of the African

in so many bordering states, this discrimination can continue unhindered.

Sir Archibald and his colleagues are living in a fool's paradise, a paradise

that will be shattered within a few years. and I hate to think of the horrible

consequences that will flow from it. Smith and his Government need some

wisdom and a change of heart before it is too late. Rhodesia will come

under majority rule, with or without the consent of the white population.

Heaven forbid it should be the latter!

Discussion:An African teacher f rom Rhodesia pointed out that, whilst the expectation

of life might be 70 for Europeans, it was only 40 for the Africans. As

for discrimination on account of colour, he was a teacher with the same

education and qualifications as a white teacher and doing the same teaching

job, but he received (E20 per month while the white man received £.85 per

month. H.G.K.

Thc law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep

under bridges, to beg in the streets, to steal bread.

- ANATOLE FRANCE : Le Lys Rouge

15

Book ReviewsDynamic Ethics

Individual Morality, by lames Hemming (Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.. 1969;261 pp.; 42s.)

"THE natural history of man is at a crucial stage," writes Dr. Hemming,and sets out to examine some of the problems and possibilities confrontingus. He outlines the different patterns of moral order which have led upto our modern "dynamic moral system based on generally acceptcd prin-ciples and individual moral insight". Man is for the first time free of the

."rigid conformities of static society, and is beginning to shake off thelimitations of sectarian thinking". And new freedoms demand adjustmentand readjustment.

Dr. Hemming is optimistic: "Our role is to explore, to use, to develop;our act of faith to believe that it is all worthwhile: our reward, the joy ofeffectiveness, fulfilment, and wholeness of being; our frustration that wehave to settle for uncertainty about the ultimate questions. The warmthand excitement come from sharing the mystery and the search". Whether'or not this brimming confidence will tend to make the cynic, the frustratedand unfufillcd even more cynical, or convert them, I cannot say.

The value of life lies in our degree of consciousness, Dr. Hemmingsuggests, and few would disagree with that; but, then, so too does ourcapacity for despair. It is all a question of how thick the skin has to growto make some of our perceptions bearable. I would have liked more com-ment on this aspect of awareness. This book prompts questions, andstimulates us to re-examine and check our calculations and conclusions.It prompts us to ask "Is that really true?" and "Isn't humanity just a littlemore complicated than that?" and "Why do some people crave certaintyanyway?". And humanism is nothing if not constantly re-examined andquestioned. Dr. Hemming gives us a wealth of practical guidance, common-sense and understanding.

ChristianityI must diverge, however, from some of his attitudes to Christianity.

What he calls "bad patches" in its history seem to many of us as theinevitable consequences of a religion, based on those particular myths, scrip-tures and characters, and when he suggests that Christians are thinkingfreely about their faith for the first time he is surely ignoring, or atleast under -estimating, the vigour of dissent down the ages. He writesof Jesus's "acute sensitivity" and "quick sympathy": even if I could nowa-days accept him as a real historical character (rather than as a composite,possibly historical-cum-fictional hero) I would question this, on aesthetic,intellectual and emotional grounds. It is Jesus's lack of awareness andsensitivity that strikes me now that I have escaped my childhood con-ditioning. Nor do I see him any more as a person of "incomparable moralgenius". But Dr. Hemming is only one of many of our eminent humanistswho retain a near reverence for the traditional Jesus figure while rejectingthe organised faith that has been built around him. This emphasises forme the dangerous adhesive qualities of Christian propaganda in this country.

Christians who read this book and still believe that the humanist wayof life is somehow sterile and deprived will believe anything! Humanistswill find in it their basic principles about education, the individual andsociety supported by good evidence and sound argument. Those who seeman as a failure in a increasingly corrupt society will find nothing toconfirm their fears. "Imperfect we are— inevitably; foolish we are — veryoften; rank bad —frequently. But worse we are not. There never was a

16

golden age. The pessimists who denigrate the present should read morehistory". Hear, hear to that! This book should be read by all parents,teenagers, and educationalists.

CreativityAbove all, Dr. Hemming stresses the fact that man is driven by. the need

to be creative, pointing out (as did Lucretius) that if our constructivenesswere not more powerful than our destructiveness we would not be here atall. "The unleased potentialities of man are totally incalculable. To attemptto freeze them to any pattern would be destructive. This is why Utopias areout, elites untrustworthy . . ." What man has to do is to choose: lifeor death, stagnation or progress, isolation or communication. Whatever wedo or don't do, we influence. That is our responsibility, but it is also ourpurpose, our security and our hope for the future. What threatens us, ifwe do not care enough how we choose or influence, is not 1984 as Orwellsaw it, but, Dr. Hemming warns, the comfortable degradation of a "lollipopsociety", and we have to reject this "not because it lacks virtue, but becauseit lacks the stuff of dynamic life; raw vitality, creativity, adventurousness,discontent, nonconformity, a sense of purpose, the search for more abundantlife". Dr. Hemming gets us thinking, and for that I am very grateful to him.

K IT M OUAT

The Revolutionist's HandbookOhvolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative, by Daniel and Gabriel Cohn-

Bendit. translated by Arnold Pomerans. (André Deutsch Ltd.. 1968; 255 pp.: 25s.)

"WARS and Tumults are best to read about," said Jeremy Bentham, andhere, indeed, is an account of such things. And it is, I believe, an importantbook — not only for the insight it gives into the ideas behind the Frenchinsurrection of May 1968, but also for the challenge it poses. It is, inaddition, clearly and forcefully written, and is the best recent statement fromthe extreme Left.

SpontaneityThe first, and largest, section of the book is an account of the events of

last May. The origins of the student movement are traced in detail, as arethe occupations of Nanterre and of the Sorbonne. The authors believe thatthe general strike, which was precipitated by the student revolt, was develop-ing into a revolutionary situation which could have lead to a truly socialistsociety. They point to the spontaneity which was such a marked featureof the whole movement and which testifies to the ability of the masses tochallenge both the capitalist state and the bureaucratic unions and partiesof the orthodox Left. In their belief that Revolution can only spring fromthe masses, and especially from the proletariat, the authors stand in thetradition of classic Marxism. The idea that the revolution must be leadby a conspiratorial, possibly illegal, party 'of "professional revolutionaries"was primarily due to Lenin, and it is this view that they reject.

The authors continue their argument by describing officialdom's reactionsto the revolt and they stress de Gaulle's impotence in the face of the strike.They argue strongly that for a brief period there were no forces, neitherarmy nor police nor fascist groups, that could have resisted a final insur-rectionary upsurge. Why then was there no Revolution?

A double explanation for this is suggested: first, the counter-revolutionarytactics of the Communist Party and of its trade union, the ConfederationGenerale de Travailleurs: and, second the respect still given to such leader-ships by the masses and even by the students.

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Revolution versus Communism

In the third section of the book, the history of the Communist Party(P.C.F.), and more particularly its vacillating and counter-revolutionary linesince the 1920s, is given. (A more theoretical analysis is given by J. M.Vincent in New Left Review 52.) The Cohn-Bendit view that P.C.F.'sactions in May were no more than a continuation of its usual policy seemshard to refute. On the more significant issue of why such leaderships shouldbe so well established, and why so much notice should be taken of them,the Cohn-Bendits are curiously silent. It is true that bureaucracies havea quite general tendency to self-perpetuation, but it is not clear why aworking class that has both been betrayed by the P.C.F. and is capableof an insurrectionary upsurge, as was apparently the case in May, shouldbe so persistently deceived by the Communists and so willing to ally itselfwith them. Indeed, the prevelance of "false consciousness" (in Marxistjargon) has become a central issue in modern sociology.

In the final section, the authors disbuss briefly some features of the earlydays of the U.S.S.R. that are relevant to their views on "vanguards ofthe proletariat". Here again, they arc successful in challenging many fondillusions about the need for a revolutionary party. Yet, from their ownaccount, an established leadership could have brought the May disordersto a head. The Cohn-Bendits do not suggest a resolution of this problem;indeed, they do not seem to recognise it.

In conclusion, the authors urge upon their readers a revolutionary com-mitment —not in any Judaeo-Christian sense of self-sacrifice (their ownphrase), but: "Because it's the best way to live — it's for yourself that youmake the Revolution".

DAVID C. FLINT

You don't need to be persuaded that humanism makes sense;you know it does.No one could say you're not a Humanist; you could showthat you are.Nor does it need to be pointed out to you that real Humanistsjoin with others in supporting a Humanist organisation whichgets things done. You already •know it.No.Your only problem is that you keep forgetting to join us.So the B.H.A. is publishing this little reminder that yourfirst subs are long overdue, and that you should send forour free literature immediately.

British Humanist AssociationDepartment XER /1, 13 Prince of Wales Terrace, W.8

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To the EditorLecturer's Reply

It is a pity that Mr. Flint (April letters) did not read on to the end ofmy summary, "Is Science Superstition?". Had he done so, he would havefound, in .paragraph after paragraph, the many characteristics of manthat distinguish him from the lower animals fairly exhaustively set forth,considering that space allowed only a brief summary of an hour's lecture.If man were only an animal he would not "learn and profit by the know-ledge which gives us the responsibility of making and remaking society'',and so on.

The denigration of man has gone far enough. It is not being enlightenedand modern to reduce him to a mechanism, or to a collection of chemicalactivities. It is this reductionism, this philosophy of "nothing but" thatbrings rationalism into total disrepute with philosophers and all thinkingmen.

Mr. Flint also objects to the use of abstract nouns such as "thought-,and, presumably, "knowledge", "courage", "intelligence", "beauty". Heseems to imagine that for these things to be real they would have to beexistent essences. Mr. Flint should have a look at semantics. Foolish peoplesometimes do reify abstractions, but that does not mean that they in-evitably imply reification and should never be used. Mr. Flint, I am sure,uses abstractions all the time. Flow can we think if we do not? "Thought"is a great dcal more than a "private perception".

JOHN LEWIS

London, N.I0

Meditation and MysticismI felt a shot in the arm when I read J. M. Alexander's letter in the

March Record. After many years in the wilderness as an unbeliever, Ijoined S.P.E.S., hoping to find among its members my own attitudes ofunbelief, anti-supernaturalism, and anti-slavery of mind and body. But theletters of some active members left me disillusioned and disappointed. Ofcourse, we should welcome a wide range of opinions, but I find it difficultto accept as progressive a society which provides facilities for people todabble in meditation and mysticism. Some, perhaps with advancing age,seem to feel they must hang on to some form of religiosity before dis-solution of the body.

My own advanced age, as well as impecuniosity, prevent me from takinga more active part now at Conway Hall, as Mr. Knight suggests, but it maybe that the onlooker sees most.

HERBERT S. BINYON

London, N.W.3

Ridiculing Every EffortShame on Mr. Alexander and others for belittling Mr. Knight's worthy

efforts, and for the impertinent manner in which they dare to question ouraugust Secretary. In an age so beset by cynicism and doubt, such niggardlylittle minds will be found ridiculing every effort for the betterment —andultimate salvation — of mankind.

"By their fruits ye shall know them"— and the fruits of meditationare visible to all in Mr. Knight's direct, yet temperate, reply to Mr.Alexander.

THOMAS A. KELLY

[Was it sheer coincidence that this letter was dated the 1st April? — Editor]

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Membership

We seem to be generating a good deal of heat in the columns of theER. on the question of who ought, and who ought not, to be members ofthe Ethical Society, and how they ought to be recruited.

This is continually a problem for humanist organisations. We want to beopen and tolerant; yet we want to have some sort of corporate identity.I do not think that citing the aims and objects as sacred texts helps verymuch. They are usually vague, often outdated, always hard to change. Thebest way, I believe, is to admit to membership anyone who feels he or shcwould find membership enjoyable or rewarding. As most people do notenjoy being in an unsympathetic environment, this serves to exclude many.If, for instance, the lady who believes in etheric duplicates enjoys being amember even though (I imagine) 99 per cent of other members regardthis view as nonsense, I would not try to turn her out. On the other hand,we may be at fault if potential members do not have a clear idea of whatwe have to offer, and from this point of view a careful scrutiny of adver-tising copy at frequent intervals, and adequate publicising of what we do,are essential.

A Society like ours defines itself not so much by what it says as by whatit.does. The General Committee is elected by members to run the Society,and in this sense it is continually deciding what sort of Society we are. Thepresent G.C. has promoted close relationships with other humanist bodies,notably the British Humanist Association, and has by so•doing expressedthe view that the Ethical Society is humanist in the B.H.A. sense— i.e.this-worldly, scientific-rationalist, socially concerned. The nature of thepublic meetings we have held confirms this view,

GRAHAM T. KINGSLEYHatch End, Middx.

Funny Fellows

I find it riotously funny that Miss Una C. Finnegan and I should befellow members. One of us has obviously strayed into the wrong society.But which?

As a humanist, I am quite willing to believe that it is I, since, althoughI am in favour of a rational sentiment free from theological dogma, arational religious sentiment free from all theological dogma sounds nonsen-sical to me. Perhaps I should resign?

WINIFRED M. MAW/SONHorsham, Sussex

Corresponding Tone

The content of The Ethical Record, although maintaining its generallyhigh standard overall, is being somewhat marred by the tone of manyof the letters which you are currently publishing. The Record, and thecorrespondence section in particular, is an excellent medium for the freeexpression of opinion, provided that such opinion is constructive or in-formative or likely to be of general interest to potential readers, but pettybickering between individuals and thinly veiled insults are not worthy ofour journal —and the same must go for a few of your own comments,dear Editor.• If correspondents could be encouraged to state their opinions on mattersconcerning the Society, the State, the human race, and the world at large,without reference to the character and actions of fellow correspondents, thiswould not only do the Record a power of good but would also give abetter impression of the character of the writers themselves. And 'there isalways just a possibility that the other chap may be right, after all!

C. E. BARRALETDorchester-on-Thames, Oxford

20

Off the RecordThe Squatters

The thousands of homeless families in Britain (a number which has beensteadily increasing during the past twenty years) could actually be housedimmediately — without a single additional house being built — for thenumber of dwellings in this country exceeds the number of households bysome 400,000; but about a million habitable houses are empty. Making iteasier for people to buy their own houses would bring many of these emptyhouses into use. But this would still leave the huge number owned bylocal authorities, who, pending some planned re-development in the nebulousfuture, have bought them up, re-housed the owner-occupiers, and thenleft the houses to rot — for five, eight. or even ten years — rather thanallow them to be occupied temporarily by families living in damp, over-crowded hovels or in prison-like institutions for the homeless. Why? Forfear of being considered responsible for re-housing these families whenthe development projects actually begin. Several charities for the homelesshave offered to take short leases on such houses, promising to find alter-native accommodation for the temporary tenants when the time came fordemohtion. But their resources are limited, and still the councils drag theirfeet.

Many a desperate family would have risked "squatting" in an emptyhouse, were it not that this requires organisation and know-how, not tomention a defence force (night and day) against evictors. So, a few monthsago, the London Squatters came into being, to help with this form of directaction, and had soon expanded to more than a dozen active groups. Inspite of such set-backs as police violence, arrests, and fines, the campaignhas achieved amazing successes. Three families who were installed in ahouse the G.L.C. was keeping empty (for a re-development plannedfor the 1970s) were, only six weeks later, recognised by the G.L.C. aslegitimate tenants and issued with rent-books. In February, the LondonSquatters successfully installed seven families in five Ilford houses ownedby Redbridge Council, whose first reaction was to make .all their otherempty houses uninhabitabIe by ripping up the floor-boards — but thisactivity provoked such adverse publicity that the Conned not only acceptedthese squatters but, on March 19, offered other London boroughs the useof empty houses in Ilford as temporary accommodation for homelessfamilies.

B.S.

South Place NewsNew Members

We are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Society:Mrs. P. Balls (Henley-on-Thames), D. M. Barry (S.W.I8), Miss M. Bellos(Southend), Mrs. C. E. Booth (Richmond), P. J. Bray (N.W.5), Miss S. B.Cheetham (N.S.W., Australia), A. Cook (Newcastle-on-Tyne), A. F.Embleton (Wellington, Shropshire), MisS M. McGill (S.W.12), V. K. Myhill(Victoria. Australia). Grazia Rothman (S.W.I4), Mrs. E. M. Salazar (N.W.8),Miss J. L. A. Seigel (N.W.I I), Lord Sorensen (E.17), P. A. Victor(Vancouver, B.C., Canada). E. Wood (Manchester).

DeathsIt is with deep regret that we have to report the deaths of two members:

John Cheetham, of Australia — a member of long standing — and RitaSangar, a New Zealander living in London, who was Secretary of theHumanist NurSes' Organisation and initiated the hospital visiting servicefor humanists. She had joined S.P.E.S. fairly recently.

Annual General MeetingOur A.G.M. will be held in the library at Conway Hall on Wednesday,

May 28, at 7 p.m. There are seven vacancies to be filled on the GeneralCommittee (not eight, as given in error last month). Nominations for thesevacancies should have reached the Secretary by April 27 (as stated in ourlast issue), and, once accepted, may be withdrawn only by or with theagreement of the candidate nominated.

In order to be eligible to vote at the meeting, members must be paid upfor the current year (calculated from the beginning of the month followingthat in which they first joined the Society), but subscriptions may be renewedup to the time of the meeting.

Assistant TreasurerThe General Committee is seeking an Assistant Hon. Treasurer, possibly

to take over the job of Treasurer later in the event of Mr. Blundell's goingto live abroad. The duties are estimated to require regular attendance atConway Hall for several hours a week and involve some book-keeping.Accountancy experience would be advantageous. Expenses are payable.Offers to undertake this necessary and important job would be greatlyappreciated.

S.P.E.S. VisitsSunday, May 4— A ppivate visit to the William Morris Museum, Lloyd

Park, Walthamstow (which can be reached by the new Victoria Line orby bus 38), has been arranged jointly with three other societies. Meet inthe house entrance at 3 p.m.

Saturday, May 10— Visit the Gardening Centre, Syon Park, LondonRoad, Brentford. Meet at 2.30 p.m. at Brent Lea Gate bus stop (buses117 or 267). Visit Woodland Garden. Flora's Lawn, and walk by lake:see the Great Conservatory, and Shaded Walk. (Admission to Garden 5s.)Leader: Mrs. L. L. Booker (tel. 743 3988).

Kindred OrganisationsThe Humanist Housing Association has arranged for the official opening

of Rose Bush Court to take place at 3.30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7, andthe ceremony will be performed by the Minister for Housing and LocalGovernment, The Rt. Hon. Anthony Greenwood, M.P. Admission will haveto be by ticket only as numbers will have to be limited to the accommoda-tion. Tickets may be obtained on application to the Secretary, HumanistHousing Association, Rose Bush Court, 35 Parkhill Road, London, N.W.3.A stamped addressed envelope would be appreciated.

Having an ever-increasing demand for flats for the elderly, the Associationhas now acquired a property adjoining Rose Bush Court, so as to buildan extension, which will provide more two-person flats as well as some one-person flats with more space than the existing ones.

The Humanist Housing Association is using its second collection oftrading stamps to get some light-weight garden chairs, to replace some ofthose much used at Burnet House. Trading stamps are still wanted. Pleasesend them to: Margaret Siddall, 2 Hutchings Road. Knotty Green, Beacons-field, Bucks.

The British Humanist Association is holding a weekend course on"Marriage and the Family" in June at Pendley Manor, Tring, Herts.Speakers include James Hemming. Connaire Kensit and Peter Price. Theapproximate inclusive cost will be £5 which should be sent with applicationsto the Secretary, Pendley Manor, Tring, Herts. (Tring 2481). The coursewill begin with dinner at 7 p.m., Friday, June 13, and end at teatime,Sunday, June 15. Enquiries should be addressed to the B.H.A.

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Coming at Conway HallSaturday, May 3

11a.m. to 8 p.rn.—London Music Competitions FestivalSunday, May 4

11 a.m.—S..P.E.S. lecture* by Lord Sorensen2.15p.m.—Discussion of morning lecture

Wednesday, May 77.30 p.m—Central London Fabian Society : Cohn Beever (Commission

for Industrial Relations) on "European Trade-Unionism"Friday, May 9

7 p.m.—Young Communist League: Jazz and Poetry ConcertSaturday, May 10

2 to 10 p.m.—Welsh Children's EisteddfodSunday, May 11

10.30 am. to 5 p.m.—Young Members' Organisation of the London Co-operative Society: Conference on "Drugs in Society", withSteve Abrams, Caroline Coon, Professor W. D. M. Paton,Michael Schofield and C. J. F. Ringrose (Admission 3s.)

1 I a.rn.—S.P.E.S. lecture* by David Tribe2.15p.m.—Discussion of morning lecture

Wednesday, May 147 to 10 p.m.—Women's Police Choir Concert

Thursday, May 157 p.m.—S.P.E.S.Whist Drive in Me library. Light refreshments will

be served. Members and friends welcomeFriday, May 16

12.30 to 2 p.m.—National Peace Council luncheon-lecture : Stan More(Australian journalist) on "Peace and the Press", I p.m.(Light refreshments from 12.30)

Sunday, May 18II a.m.—S.P.E.S. lecture* •by Ronald Mason

2.15 p.m.—Discussion of morning lecture3.00 p.m.—S.P.E.S.Sunday Social in the library. Tea will be served at

3.30 p.m., after which Mr. G. C. Dowman, Miss JoyceLangley and friends will entertain with a programme ofmusic. Members and friends welcome

5.30p.m.—Bridge Club: practiceWednesday, May 21

7.30 p.m—Central London Fabian Society : Peter Shore, M.P., on"The Big Corporations"

Thursday, May 227 p.m.—S.P.E.S. Thursday Social. Miss Violet Hassid will give a

selection of prose and poetry readings. All welcome. (Lightrefreshments will be served)

Saturday, May 247 to10 p.m.—Pakistani Cultural Evening

Tuesday, May 277 p.m.—London Natural Health Society : P. Clavell-Blount (Chair-

man, London Anti-Fluoridation Society)Saturday, May 31

7.30 p.m.—South London Jazz Society and Jazz Journal "HumphreyLyttleton returns to the Conway". (Admission from 7s. 6d.)

Sunday, June 111 a.m.—S.P.E.S. lecture* by Dr. John Lewis

* See inside front cover for details

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South Place Ethical SocietyFourvorri in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement which today advocates anethical humanism, the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism,and the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment free from all theological dogma.

We invite to membership all those who reject supernatural creeds and find themselvesin sympathy with our views.

At Conway Hall there are opportunities for participation in many kinds of culturalactivities, including discussions, lectures, concerts, dances, rambles and socials. Acomprehensive reference and lending library is available, and all Members and Asso-ciates receive the Society's journal, The Ethical Record, free. The Sunday EveningChamber Music Concerts founded in 1887 have achieved international renown.

Services available to members include the Naming Ceremony of Welcome to Chil-dren, the Solemnisation of Marriage, and Memorial and Funeral Services.

The Story of South Place, by S. K. Ratcliffe is a history of the Society and its interes-ting development within liberal thought

Minimum subscriptions are: Members, 12s. 6d. p.a.; Life Members, £13 2s. 6d. (Lifemembership is available only to members of at least one year's standing). It is of help tothe Society's officers if members pay their subscriptions by Bankers' Order, and it is offurther financial benefit to the Society if Deeds of Covenant are entered into. Membersare urged to pay more than the minimum subscription whenever possible, as the presentamount is not sufficient to cover the cost of this journal.

A suitable form of bequest for those wishing to benefit the Society by their wills is tobe found in the Annual Report.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

To 'DIE Horv.REGISTRAR, SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY.

CONWAy HALL HUMANIST CENTRE, Rrn LIONSQUARE, LONDON, W.C.1

Being in sympathy with the aims of South Place Ethical Society, I desire to become a

Member and enclose entitling me (according to the Rules of the

Society) to membership for one year from the date of enrolment.

NANIE (BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE)

ADDRESS

OCCUPATION (disclosure optional}

How Dm YOU HEAR OF THE SOCIETY?

DATE SIGNATURE

The Ethical Record is posted free to members. The annual charge to subscribersis 12s. 6d. Matter for publication should reach the Editor, Miss Barbara Smoker,6 Stanstead Grove, S.E.6, by the 5th or the preceding month.

David Neil & Company, Dorking, Surrey