THE AMBIGUOUS "LEFT"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 26

THE AMBIGUOUS "LEFT"

"Left, right, left, right," is, or used to be, a popular encouragement to soldiers marching, to battle. And Left and Right are now the war cries in the battle of the book clubs at present on in England. It. is a bloodless battle that indicates the change in taste in the English/reading public, and also shows that the Englishman is taking a greater interest in economic and social questions.

Nine months ago an enterprising publisher started the Left Book Club. The club—which has "Left" political '.endencies—has a membership of 10,000, with more joining every month. Now a rival has come into the field, the Right Book Club, the founder this time being not a book publisher, but a bookseller. With messages of support from the late Sir Austen Chamberlain,, and Sir Samuel Hoare, the colour of the club's members is obvious,, And, latest to date, comes the National Book Association, organised by Messrs. Hutchinson's, which declares that it will publish Important Books by Famous Authors and Eminent Authorities for "people of common sense."

• The rules and conditions of membership of the three clubs are similar. Members will receive each month a copy of a special club edition of the book selected by the club selection committee at the price of 2s 6d. The ordinary price of the book as issued to the public may vary from 7s 6d to 18s. The National Book Association's first choice is reported to be a miner's autobiography.

A happy story is told of the Left Book Club. Not long, ago it staged a rally in the Albert Hall, and 7000 of its members turned up. Every seat was sold a month in advance. The Albert Hall directors are apt to be very conservative in granting permission for the use of the building. They were under a misapprehension when they allowed the Left Book Club to hire it. They did not realise that the club had any. political significance/but understood that it was a charitable institution for distributing among poor people books no longer needed by their owners!