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Paradox, v. 1, issue 2, Fall 1942

Page 7

PARADOX                                                 7

                    SWASTIKA NIGHT
                        a book review
                               by
                        Harry Warner, Jr. 

Swastika Night, by Murray Constantine. Published by V. Gollancz, Ltd,, London; 196 pp.

   I began this book with the belief that it would turn out to be a typical propaganda piece. For that reason, I expected little enjoyment; I've found that written matter meant to extol the merits of something, whether it be Communism, Democracy, Carter's Little Liver Pills, or Madeline Carroll, usually turns out deadly dull and disgusting. The impetus for this belief came from the binding of this volume: bright red boards, with the stamping in large letters: "Left Book Club Edition; Not for Sale to the Public". Furthermore, it was purchased for me by a British correspondent in a store specializing in materials to extol the greatness of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, & Co.
   Therefore, I was greatly astonished when I became intensely interested in it, almost from the beginning, and read it through without a let-down in enjoyment. I don;t know the facts in the case, but can only surmise that it was written merely as a novel of the future in general, and picked up by the British Communists as a novel at once interesting and suitable to the Party Line at that time. It was published in this edition before the recently exploded Russo-German peace pact was dreamed of.
   It isn't a novel in the ordinary sense: there's little action, nothing that actually changes the course of the world's history Most of it is devoted to a discussion of what happens for the next few hundred years, through the mouths of the main characters, one of whom knows and one of whom is just finding out.
   The future in this book is a world completely conquered by Hitler, except for the Japanese Empire. The Jews have been exterminated. The British are allowed to keep their language, and Christianity,in a queerly perverted form, still exists--both in order that the Germans, the Chosen Race, may have something to despise, something to look down upon. There is an armed truce between Germany and Japan: neither country wants war, but militarism is the very life-blood of both nations and war is inevitable within the next few hundred years and probably will come sooner.
   The Germans, having made Christianity a despised thing, have their own religion. Its creed runs like this: "I believe in God the Thunderer, who made this physical earth on which men march in their mortal bodies, and in

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PARADOX 7 SWASTIKA NIGHT a book review by Harry Warner, Jr. Swastika Night, by Murray Constantine. Published by V. Gollancz, Ltd,, London; 196 pp. I began this book with the belief that it would turn out to be a typical propaganda piece. For that reason, I expected little enjoyment; I've found that written matter meant to extol the merits of something, whether it be Communism, Democracy, Carter's Little Liver Pills, or Madeline Carroll, usually turns out deadly dull and disgusting. The impetus for this belief came from the binding of this volume: bright red boards, with the stamping in large letters: "Left Book Club Edition; Not for Sale to the Public". Furthermore, it was purchased for me by a British correspondent in a store specializing in materials to extol the greatness of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, & Co. Therefore, I was greatly astonished when I became intensely interested in it, almost from the beginning, and read it through without a let-down in enjoyment. I don;t know the facts in the case, but can only surmise that it was written merely as a novel of the future in general, and picked up by the British Communists as a novel at once interesting and suitable to the Party Line at that time. It was published in this edition before the recently exploded Russo-German peace pact was dreamed of. It isn't a novel in the ordinary sense: there's little action, nothing that actually changes the course of the world's history Most of it is devoted to a discussion of what happens for the next few hundred years, through the mouths of the main characters, one of whom knows and one of whom is just finding out. The future in this book is a world completely conquered by Hitler, except for the Japanese Empire. The Jews have been exterminated. The British are allowed to keep their language, and Christianity,in a queerly perverted form, still exists--both in order that the Germans, the Chosen Race, may have something to despise, something to look down upon. There is an armed truce between Germany and Japan: neither country wants war, but militarism is the very life-blood of both nations and war is inevitable within the next few hundred years and probably will come sooner. The Germans, having made Christianity a despised thing, have their own religion. Its creed runs like this: "I believe in God the Thunderer, who made this physical earth on which men march in their mortal bodies, and in