An Editor Resigns

RADICALS An Editor Resigns When Pulitzer Prizewinner Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (The Age of Jackson) returned from Europe in 1945, he brought his publishers, Little, Brown, an English edition of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Schlesinger was much impressed by this satire on Communist Russia--a parable of animal totalitarianism in which all the animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Sure that the staid old Boston firm would want to publish the book, Schlesinger was shocked when they turned it down. He noted especially the opposition of Head Editor D. Angus Cameron.

Since the death of Scribner's Maxwell Perkins, many people considered Cameron the foremost U.S. book editor. But Cameron had never been bashful about his politics, and Schlesinger had no trouble discovering that Cameron belonged to many pro-Communist organizations.*

Schlesinger wrote to the late Alfred R. Mclntyre, then president of Little, Brown: "Each day increases my sense of shame at ever having been associated with your house. I would never have signed up in 1939 if one of your leading members had been an active pro-Nazi, and I have no intention of being published by Little, Brown today when one of your leading members is [pro-Communist]." The letter was never answered.

Schlesinger canceled his contract, and Little, Brown continued to publish Howard Fast (The Proud and the Free), Anna Seghers (The Dead Stay Young), Richard O. Boyer (The Dark Ship) and Albert Maltz (The Journey of Simon McKeever). Unmoved by criticism, Little, Brown claimed to be unconcerned with an author's politics, interested only in the quality of his work.

Scattershot. Criticism continued. In January the American Legion Magazine published an article alleging Communist infiltration into book publishing and book reviewing. Cameron's name was high on the Legion's list of suspects. Last month, testifying before a Senate subcommittee, Louis Budenz, admitted ex-Communist, branded Cameron a party member. Last week the anti-Communist weekly, Counterattack, took up the cry.

With scattershot technique, it fired a broadside that was bound to hit at least part of the target. Listing 31 Little, Brown authors whom it accused of being "fellow-travelers and front supporters," Counterattack suggested that Little, Brown itself had become a "front" organization and that Cameron was largely responsible for the change.

Goaded into answering at last, the publishers responded with an open letter to the book trade. They pointed out many inaccuracies in Counterattack's charge (i.e., one of the accused authors wasn't even on their list, one had merely been a translator of two French novels, one the co-lyricist of a musical comedy, two authors had been dropped, three had yet to be published). The objectionable (to Counterattack) writers still in print, said Little, Brown, represented 4% of Little, Brown's list. The firm's letter failed to mention D. Angus Cameron, who had in the meantime quietly resigned.

Good Hunting. Cameron, by then, had some complaints about Little, Brown. He shrugged off as "hot air" the "Budenz lies" and the accusations of the "black-hand . . . newsletter, Counterattack." Little, Brown, said Cameron, was no longer living up to its policy of judging manuscripts by content alone. The company was considering "an author's beliefs or alleged beliefs."

When Little, Brown got around to announcing Cameron's resignation, they said it was caused by "a difference of opinion over editorial and administrative policies," and had nothing to do with political views. Cameron didn't agree. "If I stayed," he said, "I would have had to submit my outside offices for their approval ... a requirement that no free publishing house ought to require of its editor."

With that, Angus Cameron, who two years ago shot the eighth largest caribou on record, got ready for a hunting trip in Colorado. Counterattack reloaded for more blasts at Communist influence on the book-publishing business.

-Sponsor, Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy; Sponsor, Waldorf "Peace" Conference; Director, Progressive Citizens of America.

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