Waugh aims
Sir: It is entirely appropriate that The Spectator should spring to Mr Tolstoy's defence, but is Evelyn Waugh quite the right witness? Such was Waugh's detesta- tion of communism that he expressed views about the Nazis which perhaps qualify your remark that he had no fondness for them. His diary entry for 26 May 1942 reports a row with Duff Cooper over Waugh's asser- tion that Waugh 'could see little difference between Hitler's new order and Virgil's idea of the Roman Empire'. On 13 Febru- ary 1944, reflecting on Russia's plans for Germany, Waugh stated, 'It is a fact that the Germans now represent Europe against the world.'
At least Evelyn Waugh never set himself up as a public commentator. For your editorial to claim that the Nazi tyranny was defeated by 'a tyranny equally monstrous', and to hint that another way could be found, is to make a lazy parallel and ignore the context of the time. Once Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, his eventual defeat and the subsequent occupation of eastern Europe by the Red Army were inevitable. If you are trying to • – I'm suing — they've called me the new Dennis Potter.' suggest that Britain fought on the wrong side, then please say so.
M. MacCarthy Morrogh
6 Kennedy Road, Shrewsbury
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