Indignate Liberals

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

We, who for the last few months have been attempting to build up the Harvard Liberal Club, wish to express our personal disgust with the bombastic activities and repulsive tactics of the National Student League. We believe that the actions of this radical group will do much to break down all we have done in helping to construct an organization wherein, by free discussion of radical, liberal, and conservative thought, a rational opinion concerning present-day problems Independent undergraduate investigation of political, social, and economic problems, so necessary today, has been discouraged by this organization whose every activity strengthens an illiberal and unreasoning opposition.

The very small, but active, minority of the members of the Liberal Club who are also members of the NSL have been tolerated in the past mainly because, as a continuous opposition, they were beneficial to the preponderance of the more conservative members of the Club. We now believe, if the Club is to continue growing and attracting outsiders, it should be made absolutely clear that there is no connection whatsoever between the programs or activities of the two groups. Whereas all NSL members are pledged to the radical platform of that organization, the members of the Liberal Club are uncontrolled by any outside national or international organization. Indeed, Fascists, Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, and Communists are given full play; and when one realizes that the Communists include only about one-fourth of the total membership in the Club, it may be seen how utterly foolish it is to link the NSL, with the Liberal Club.

We should like to and that these remarks of ours are not official statements for the Liberal Club. They are merely the opinions of a group of the more conservative members, a group whose only desire in the past has been for the reconstruction of the Liberal Club and the growth of liberal opinion in the University. Grinnell Jones, Jr. '36   Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. '36   Charles R. Cherington '35   William W. Sprague '36   Comstock Glasor '35   Dayton Wood Hull '35   John L. Davidson, Jr. '37   Harvey Dawson '37