Violent Salvation

THE LIBERALS--John Hyde Preston--John Day ($2.50).

Literary observers, about equally divided between the alarmed and the content, now acknowledge that the left-wing literary movement during the 30s has gained some able recruits. But even sympathetic observers have been disturbed by the number of left-wing novels which appear, still lumpy with undigested slogans, melodrama, still relying on red flags and broken heads instead of good writing.

The Liberals, first novel by the able author of Revolution-1776, shows far fewer of these faults than some, but still needs a further purge. Author Preston has an attentive eye for present-day intellectuals' dilemmas, an attentive ear for their dialogue, considerable humor. But in pointing a solution, the best he can offer is a broken head.

His new play gone stale, down to his last $391.23, Philip Whitlock abandons his retreat in the Canadian woods, goes to visit the Marstons, owners of the wire factory in a one-industry town in Connecticut, and stays on in their guest house. The fateful Marstons are a gruesome miniature of the capitalist world as left-wing thinkers see it. After seeing a great deal of it, Philip decides this environment is too much for him. But on the day he intends to clear out for Oregon he gets involved in an eviction, lands in the hospital with a fractured skull. In the next long weeks he concludes that "what hit him was more than a nightstick," writes a sensational article on his host's factory. He has what he calls a "mentalpause," and finally joins up for the duration of the Class War.

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