The Left Review And Communism

Analyse one or two items from The Left Review, situating these texts in relation to the journal’s broader political and cultural concerns.
Established by Writer’s International, the Left Review desired to “ally themselves more closely with the class that will build socialism” , thus concerning themselves primarily with the working classes who, throughout the 1930’s, found themselves to be drawn towards the political ideals of Communism. The political position of The Left Review is, of course, stated in its very title, informing the reader from the outset that its contents will be of a constitutionally left wing opinion. This political position is confirmed further by the quote placed beneath the publication’s title, which reads
And this
The inclusion of this quote in such a prominent position establishes the political stance of The Left Review, albeit in an indirect way. This indirectness of true political affiliation in the first issue of The Left Review can be found throughout, and is perhaps due to the fact that the Left Review was “charting completely new territory” . With no other Marxist literary criticism in the English language to follow on from, the Left Review would have been, understandably, unsure as to how to go about making their views known in their debut publication in a way that was direct and yet not so direct as to appear unappealing. This hesitation was forgotten in later issues as the Left Review became more “politically engaged” , but reservations can be found in texts such as Stefan Zweig’s The Tower of Babel, featured in the October 1934
With its primary cultural concern being to “ally themselves more closely with the class that will build socialism” , the Left Review not only connects with the working classes on an comprehensible level in The Tower of Babel, but also shifts their views towards Socialism thus fulfilling the very point of the Left