University Accused of 'Collectivist,' Communist Domination in New Book

Harvard and several other colleges were attacked in a book just published for being under the domination of Communists and other "collectivists."

In "Collectivism on the Campus," E. Merrill Root, professor of English at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, charged that the University came under the domination of the Communist Party during the 1930's and that this influence has not worn off yet.

Quoting President Pusey's statement that there is no present member, of the Party teaching at the University, Root stated that "he is not facing the real issue. Non-Communists often have been so 'conditioned' by the Communist minority of American intellectuals outside the college as well as inside, that they know not what they do."

Root devoted a chapter in his book to discussing how the Party "stealthily invaded" the campus in the '30's. From 1935 to 1938, he charged, a newspaper called "The Harvard Communist" was published by the local branch of the Young Communist League.

Kamin and Furry

Many faculty members, past and present, are mentioned for their "collectivist" views. These include former Communists like Richard Gorham Davis, Daniel J. Boorstin '34, Granville Hicks '23, Helen Deane Markham, Leon J. Kamin '49--no longer associated with the University--and Wendell H. Furry, associate professor of Physics. Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, emeritus, and Harlow Shapley, Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy, are classified as "fellow travelers" by Root.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '38, professor of History, is called "a foremost state liberal"--one who seeks the same ends as Communism by "different, but milder means."

The only University organization that was praised at all by Root, "a radical conservative," is the Harvard Conservative League, formed by Quinlan J. Shea '56, but Root asserted that the organization was "infiltered" by the "collectivist left, a boring from within, a Trojan Horse technique, which helped to disrupt the Conservative League."