Cambridge communists
Sir: Mr Wheatcroft's account of why intel- lectuals were glamourised by Stalin (Murderous charm', 28 May) omits one factor of some significance. Why did those eminent communists — Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Blunt — emerge from Cam- bridge, rather than Oxford? I have always thought it was partly because at Oxford we had a strong, middle-of-the-road Labour Club, which was loyal to the Labour Party. At Cam- bridge their club was a small affair, and those bright intellectuals — partly out of snobbism too — turned to communism pour faute de mieux.
It emerges from the discussions about Philby that the Marxist economist, Maurice Dobb, was a recruiter for the Communist Party. I knew him well: I suppose he was making eyes at me, with his friendly invitations over to Cambridge.
All the same I was surprised to see a memorial tablet to him in Trinity College Chapel. Wasn't that carrying the tolerance of that famously tolerant college a bit far? And would Maurice, with his Marxist beliefs, appreciate it?
A. L. Rowse
Trenarren House, St Austell, Cornwall
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