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137, High Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester, 13. June 25th, 1946. "PAIR DADENI." To the Editor of Wales." Dear Sir, In his study of modem civilisation-Wales, June-Mr. Powys has raised an interesting question. I do not, however, find either his examination or his diagnosis very satisfying. There is no doubt that the present social framework is crumbling under all kinds of stresses, and that it is becoming progressively more difficult to bolster up the disintegrating structure. This disintegration-caused by the vast changes in technical progress, and by the relentless development of capitalism until it must swallow the world or burst-is reflected in the spiritual crisis of our day. The old ethical standards have proved inadequate. The ideology of the corporate state has developed into its last and most extreme form, fascism, the negation of the individual, and by so revealing itself, has made clear the need for a new attitude to the rights of the common man. Moreover, it has shown the need for an active and dynamic philosophy, and the poverty of a merely negative liberalism, or more precisely, anarchism. This spiritual poverty has been vividly depicted in The Open Mind," a recent novel by Georges Bernanos. Over the little Boullonnais village, which is the setting of the book, hangs a miasma of all pervading incomprehensible evil-evil not definable by the old standards of Good and Bad-but something crooked and senseless. The village has become drab and oppressed by mean cares, terrors and greeds. The happy Clochemerlins have been defeated by the peering spinster it is they and not her who have become crazed their glorious monument-symbol of utilitarian progress-has become rusty and offensive the good earth and the good wine have become sour. And this view of ingrowing evil and frustration is characteristic of the decay of a social order. This social change is likely to be hastened by the latest developments of applied science-the atomic bomb, bacterial warfare and so on. For if we do not control these, they may well lead to the destruction of most of the human race. Therefore, insofar as any new social system depends on our survival, it is necessary to end forthwith the senseless capitalist fight for wider markets, and its logical conclusion of war. This is the first step out of the chaos, but, implying as it does the fundamental rights of the individual to have an equal opportunity to benefit from his labour, and to enjoy his leisure, it is a very great step and one that will need all our resources. It will need also a new set of spiritual values. The first of these is responsibility as a citizen of the world and a rejection of the I'm all right, Jack, you attitude that the rugged individualism of the nineteenth century developed. It calls also for a recognition of the brotherhood of man and a rejection of class and caste. The philosophy of Communism answers this need better than any other, and it does more than this, it activates us to obtain the material situation in which these values can be realised. It is for this reason, that in the inevitable clash of ideologies we should support it to the utmost. Already the Old Order, in the form of the Church, is'making its counter-attack, disguising its inadequacies with vague humanistic claptrap. And already we can see how these social theories have born fruit by comparing the progress of socialist Russia or Czechoslovakia with the church-state, Portugal. At the same time it must be recognised that all the time the social change is taking place, a continual interaction is going on between the social and economic relationships on the one hand and the ideological and spiritual values on the other. And to this, and only this, extent do I agree with Mr. Powys when he echoes Jose Ortega y Gasset's thesis that a new order is coming into being in which the old communist- capitalist terms of reference will be meaningless. This is, however, mere speculation. The important fact at this nodal point in history is that we must not only create for ourselves new spiritual values but must act upon them. This is our rebirth, and the frustration and spiritual strife which all of us are suffering are symptoms that the old values are being torn away by the same storms that shatter the old society. The new society, Socialist for want of a better word, may well carry within itself the seeds of further change, but until it has been achieved, it would be folly abounding to expect that development. I notice, leaving the main argument, that Mr. Powys claims for us Celts a peculiar extra sense of sympathetic understanding-projection of feeling. To me, this is a logical outcome of the historical development and the environment of the Welsh people. The Welshman-miner or mountain man- has always been close to Nature, struggling with her moods. This developed the speculative bent which naturally led to a strong instinct of curiosity. Second, the Welsh have not the English superiority complex, they are not too proud to see the other persons point of view. Third, culturally and philo- sophically, we are far more independent than the English who are continually looking towards London. Last, we are more interested in personality and emotionally we have not suffered so much from the stuffy atmosphere of Victorianism. But I do not believe in this mystical communion of the secret blood that is attributed to the incoherent dumb, and suffering masses of Mr. Powys. Yours, etc., DONALD Hockenhull.