LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE RIVAL MINDS Stn,—There must be many weary readers in this weary world who (even before they may have read Mr. Alexander Werth's delightful brochure, Musical Uproar in Moscow) see quite plainly that fundamentally the mind of Karl Marx is incompatible with the mind of historic civilisation (both pagan and Christian). Either one must conquer the other or both must agree to have nothing to do with each other.
It is obvious that up to a point the methods of the Kremlin have much in common with the Vatican: (1) an Index Expurgatorius ; (2) an office of the inquisition ; (3) the claim to educate the child in the faith as the only true faith. But there the analogy ends. One is and the other is not inspired by a spiritual tradition. The Roman Church (of which I am not a member) has found it possible to live fraternally and to exchange free intercourse with a Protestant world, because fundamentally there has been a faith in common. It is conceivable that the same may prove possible in the Marxian civilisation. At the moment Yugoslavia seems to be in the same condition as was England at the Reformation.
But there cannot be any fraternal relationship between the Kremlin and Western civilisation, simply because (as the aforesaid weary readers in a weary world—not being congenital idiots—know), with all His divine understanding and kindness, Christ cannot shake hands or make terms with the Devil. But He never suggested destroying the Devil. "Let him be unto you as a stranger." "Watch and Pray." Surely the advice was wise and might be followed with advantage.—Yours very truly,
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