BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 19 DEC. 1939
BRACERS 19808. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

212 Loring Avenue, Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A.1
Dec. 19, 1939.

Dearest Colette

Thank you very much indeed for your letters2 and for all the cuttings from newspapers. I have been very glad to know your mood and also that of people in general. One is terribly cut off here. I realized what you must be feeling about Finland. How very admirable the Finns3 have been! I can’t help wishing our Govt. would take on the Russians as well as the Germans — they are so much worse. It is all just what one might have expected from the impression I got in 1920.4 All these years our friends have been pretending the Bolsheviks were admirable — I suppose now only Shaw5 and the Webbs6 go on thinking so.

Why did Mrs Swanwick commit suicide?7 Was she suffering from cancer? I admired and liked her profoundly.

It is a comfort that John8 and Kate9 are here. He goes to the university at which I teach,10 and Kate will soon. They don’t like America, and I think would rather be in England even now. But it would not be good for them. Peter11 is worn out, particularly with the difficulty of getting permission from the American Govt. for us all to stay here. I have been so busy I have had to leave it to her.a I have been so busy I have had to leave it to her. Whenever I have dealing with governments I become half convinced of the case against all government. But I know anarchy wouldn’t really do.

There seems to be no gusto about this war, as there was about the last. People here all hope we shall win, but won’t do anything to help beyond taking our money as long as it lasts. We are all depressed by war and exile, except Conrad12 — it is difficult not to prey on his good spirits. One longs for old friends. — Much love and gratitude.

Your
B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200814.

• 2

  for your letters She had written a number of  letters (some lengthy) since BR acknowledged her letter of 1 September: 3 November (BRACERS 98415); 14 November (BRACERS 98416); 20 November (BRACERS 98417); 26 November (BRACERS 98418); 2 December (BRACERS 98419); 5 December (BRACERS 98420); 10 December (BRACERS 98421).

• 3

  admirable the Finns Finland declared its independence from the Soviet Union on 6 December 1917. It was attacked by the Soviet Union on 30 November 1939 after refusing to cede territory that the Soviet Union wanted to use to protect St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad). Despite strong resistance, the Finns failed to repulse the Soviets. The Treaty of Moscow, 12 March 1940, formalized the take-over of the territory although Finland retained its sovereignty.

• 4

  the impression I got in 1920 BR travelled to the Soviet Union at that time. He wrote a book about it, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism (B&R A34).

• 5

  Shaw Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), playwright. See BRACERS 19800, n.5.

• 6

  the Webbs Sidney (1859–1947) and Beatrice Webb (1858–1943) were old friends of BR, but he disagreed with them over the Soviet Union. Fabian socialists, they founded the London School of Economics.

• 7

  Mrs Swanwick commit suicide BR is responding to Colette’s comment in her letter of 26 November 1939 (BRACERS 98418) that Mrs. Swanwick had committed suicide; she “left a letter saying so”. Helena Swanwick (1864–1939), UDC member and activist in the peace movement, had become isolated from the mainstream of the peace movement. Her husband had died in 1931. She committed suicide on 16 November 1939. In Colette’s reply to this letter, 17 January 1940 (BRACERS 98425), she writes: “I think Mrs Swanwick had been ill on and off for a long time; and then, in her tiny bungalow at Maidenhead, she had two evacuated children dumped upon her: I expect she felt she just couldn’t cope with illness and the children all at once”. Working-class children were moved out of London to the countryside once the war began.

• 8

  John John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921 to BR and his wife Dora.

• 9

  Kate Katharine Jane Russell, born 29 December 1923 to BR and his wife Dora. Her surname became Tait upon her marriage.

• 10

  the university at which I teach The University of California at Los Angeles.

• 11

  Peter Patricia (“Peter”) Russell, née Spence (1910–2004). She and BR were married from 1936 until 1952.

• 12

  Conrad Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, born 15 April 1937 to BR and his wife Patricia.

Textual Notes

• a

  I have been so busy I have had to leave it to her. inserted