HARVARD AND RADICALS

Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist party in America and member of the Third International, addressed a group of Harvard undergraduates Wednesday night. The flag before University Hall, however, remains crimson, not red. On June 18 John L. Lewis will be the principal speaker at the Harvard Business School Alumni Association's annual meeting. This is a "scoop" of the first order, for, next to President Roosevelt, Mr. Lewis is unquestionably the most formidable figure on today's American scene. But we hardly expect that Dean Donham will immediately organize a branch of the CIO on the industrial side of the Charles.

These visits of leading contemporary radicals are distinctly in the Harvard tradition. They show that the old university is vigorously alive to the developments of the day, that it is not afraid to face the new, and that, strong in the learning of the past, it is glad to hear and to appraise the ideas of the present.

As for the possible influence of Messrs. Browder and Lewis on the young, conservatives should not be disturbed. The majority of Harvard undergraduates favored Mr. Landon in 1936, and it is safe to predict that, come weal or Lewis, they will be backing the Republican candidate in 1940.

Some persons, however, may overlook Harvard's possible influence on Browder and Lewis. The survival of England's aristocracy is due, in large measure, to its ability to absorb the popular leaders who come up from below. Although they would probably not admit it, both Mr. Browder and Mr. Lewis may have a more compassionate regard for the old order after their Harvard visits. The Boston Herald   June 6 1937