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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 5. April 28th, 1948

No Half Measures

No Half Measures

There is a fight on today. The light between the forces that are interested in maintaining moribund and predatory capitalism, and the forces that are looking towards a society where the people will control their own destiny. There is no standing halfway in this fight. Those who claim to be on neither side are acquiescing in the present inequitaable state of affairs. Day Lewis has answered them admirably:—

"The red advance of life
Contracts pride, calls out the common blood,
Beats song into a single blade,
Makes a depth-charge of grief.

"Move then with new desires,
For where we used to build and love
Is no man's land, and only ghosts can live
Between two fires."

The intellectual individualist, attempting to maintain his "integrity" in a world of two amassing forces, is in an impossible position. Either he must openly prostitute himself to reaction, or he must sink his self-centred infantility in the common yearnings of the people.