SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1935. Volume 6. Number 5.

The "Rot" In Capitalistic Art

The "Rot" In Capitalistic Art.

Under Capitalism, either the upper classes deceive themselves as to the condition of the workers or they drug them into passive acquiescence. The opiate of the talkies and the idealisation of the crook in detective fiction illustrated the bankruptcy and self-contradiction of the bourgeois outlook, in whose fiction the gentleman burglar was the logical hero.

Contrasted with this was the simplicity and directness of Soviet artists, whose literature, in particular was stated to be more virile than the decadent, morbid retrospection of writers under Capitalism. The realistic and objective confidence of "Quiet flows the Don" was compared with the sickly wail of "Not Understood"

Mrs. McPherson explained that the anti-religious museums were being used in the fight against the crippling superstition enchaining the minds of the millions.