21 MAY 1927, Page 28

The readable study of More by the veteran German Marxist,

Herr Kautsky, is typical of this branch of Socialist propa- ganda. The author frankly admits the difficulty of fitting the Tudor Humanist into the part for which he is cast. It is indeed amusing to notice how Herr Kautsky's party spirit and historic conscience strive for a compromise in such sen- tences as this : " More's communism is modern in most of its tendencies and unmodern in most of its expedients." . Utopia and Russia or Mexico have sadly little in common. A cynic might observe that if all the literary Utopias are to be treated as working models of Socialism there is no need for Conservatives to be alarmed, since none of these models eouP possibly work. However, Herr Kautsky shows a sincere appreciation of More's genius, even if he misunderstands it, and Mr. Stenning's translation is neat and clear.