Blundered Blast

It is not easy to call Professor Elliott wrong. But when a man of his standing ponders out loud the worth of the most promising extant venture in student cooperation and comes up with the wrong conclusions, it is all the more important he be answered.

If he has done nothing else in bestowing his pre-Christmas gift on the University's delegation to the Chicago Conference, Professor Elliott has made it abundantly clear that much more than the collegiate whims of a few students is involved in the formation of a National Students Congress. He has demonstrated that the clash of political philosophic can be just as important and just as acute in such a setting as the full dress ideological battle being played today on the national and international stage.

Professor Elliott has been observing the political scene for a good number of years, and when he advisors the American delegation to pull out of the International Union of Students right away, his words must admittedly cary weight. In spite of a certain preeliction to see pink nearly anywhere, his judgments can neither be parried lightly nor "ridden out," as a boxer would handle a potentially damaging punch.

There is, fortunately a basic flaw in his charge, and it can be found in the omnipresence of the word "naivete" in his allegations. If what Professor Elliott says is true--the all Western liberals are hopelessly naive--there can be but little hope for any of us, and certainly no sense in groping forward. The fact is that liberals have ever been called naive, and the fight has not yet been lost. It is just possible, then, that naivete is not as prevalent as Professor Elliott thinks and that the American delegates, having spent a good fraction of their time thinking about and preparing for such contingencies, may be able to see the contemporary currents a good deal more clearly than a remote observer, whose information comes to him second-hand and through prejudiced channels.

No clear case has yet been made for American withdrawal from the I.U.S. To "pull up stakes" so early in the formative stages of the game--merely on the strength of such allegations--would be almost to admit to Professor Elliott's charge of naivete. Months ago the charge of "walking out" on the U.N. was levelled at Russia. Had the Soviet left U.N. then, no progress in international cooperation could have been expected. It would be ironie if the American delegation to the I.U.S. should take the same foolish stop.

At all events, the burden of proof has now been placed on the delegates and on the Conference which opens in Chicago eight days hence. It is a tricky row they must hoe to prove themselves, avoiding the pitfalls of hysterical red-baiting on one side and fearful inertia on the other. But show themselves to be hard-headed they must.