BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [3 FEB. 1919]
BRACERS 19427. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Garsington>

My Darling Love1^, 2^, 3

No letter from you today, as it is Monday. I was sorry to write you such a scrap yesterday, but Sunday post goes early. Mrs Hamilton4 was agreeable, and had a good deal of information tending to show the virtue of the Bolsheviks. You saw that Kropotkin,5 whom they killed (in the newspapers) some time ago, has now joined them. Gorky6 is in charge of education, and they are doing wonders in elementary education. Sassoon7 came to lunch, but had to go immediately after, as Massingham8 has sent him to Glasgow to report on the strike.9 Belfast developments10 are exciting. The Bishop11 came to tea and amused us immensely by mimicking a Bishop’s Conference — I had never seen him so witty. — This morning I have been writing an article on C.O’s12 for the Labour Leader in reply to a special request. — Your letter yesterday13 was full of interesting things — I am glad you like your part14 — I am longing to see you in it. It is sad you have such a cold.

I sent a MS to Wrinch15 to be typed yesterday — Now I have another book to review,16 during which I shall accumulate more stuff to write — You wouldn’t believe the difference it makes to me having some good work actually done. I feel so happy now about you and me. If we can have holidays like Lynton17 from time to time, so that my work prospers, I shall keep loving and kind. And I do hate not being kind, Dearest. — I am quite wonderfully fit — I never feel tired, sleep like a log, and find my brain always in working order, with the grip and mastery that it used to have but hadn’t had since the war began. God be praised —

Dear Heart, you have a firm hold of my love and all my instinctive feeling — more than I knew. I believe that if our love sooner or later comes to an end I shall not again feel deeply for any one — I love you because you are kind and gentle and long-suffering, because you feel love and are slow to resentment. Dear One I want to stroke your hair and tell you I wish your happiness.

B.

Later Darling, your deara letter of yesterday came this afternoon — such a lovely one — But how awful about the Attic?18 Is Wrinch sleeping à la belle étoile?19 1000 kisses, Beloved — Post going.

• 1

  [document] Document 200417.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 34 Russell Chambers | Bury Street | LONDON W.C.1. Pmk. GARSINGTON OXFORD | 3 | 19

• 3

  [date] The date is taken from the envelope’s albeit incomplete postmark.

• 4

  Mrs Hamilton Mary Agnes (“Molly”) Hamilton (1882–1966), politician and broadcaster, one of the original members of the Union of Democratic Control.

• 5

  Kropotkin Pyotr Alekseyevich Kropotkin (1842–1921), Russian revolutionary who believed in anarchistic communism. After escaping from prison in 1876, he fled Russia. He did return following the 1917 revolution, but had a falling out with the Bolsheviks, denouncing their dictatorship, and retired to the countryside outside of Moscow. In writing that Kropotkin had joined the Bolsheviks, BR was misinformed. A few days after BR wrote this letter, a letter to the editor appeared from Alexander Berkenheim, conveying the news that Kropotkin “now, as always, ... remains far from the seat of any political activity, and is occupied with literary work” (The Times, 13 Feb. 1919, p. 11).

• 6

  Gorky Maxim Gorky (1868–1936), eminent Soviet writer. He supported Lenin despite the authoritarian ways of the Bolsheviks.

• 7

  Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), poet. Sassoon served in the military in 1917; that year BR was involved in a campaign to draw attention to Sassoon’s anti-war protest. For further information on Sassoon, see BRACERS 19182, n.12.

• 8

  Massingham Henry William Massingham (1860–1924), journalist. He was editor of The Nation from 1907 to 1923.

• 9

  Glasgow to report on the strike The strike was called by the Clyde Workers’ Committee in late January 1919. Its main objective was to achieve a 40-hour work week which would help to allow demobilized soldiers re-enter the work force. On 31 January tens of thousands of strikers gathered in George Square were confronted by the police; a riot followed and the day came to be known as “Bloody Friday”. English troops were sent into the city, and on 10 February the strike was called off without the 40-hour work week being achieved (“1919: The 40-hours strike” [libcom.org/history|peopleshistory.co.uk]).

• 10

  Belfast developments The strike in Belfast had not turned violent as it had in Glasgow, although the strike committee had threatened drastic action according to TheTimes (3 Feb. 1919, p. 11).

• 11

  The Bishop Charles Gore (1853–1932), Bishop of Oxford from 1911. He retired in March 1919. He has been called “the most fascinating and influential bishop of the Church of England in the twentieth century” (DNB).

• 12

  an article on C.O’s “Why are the C.O’s Not Released?”, published only 3 days later on 6 February (B&R C19.05; 104 in Papers 14).

• 13

  Your letter yesterday There is a letter dated 1 February, with part of it written “later” (BRACERS 113172).

• 14

  I am glad you like your part In her letter of 1 February Colette had written that she did not much care for the Tagore as it was “too graceful, mild and poetic”, but that she was doing her best with it (BRACERS 113172).

• 15

  Wrinch Dorothy Maud Wrinch (1894–1976), mathematician and theoretical biologist; one of BR’s logic pupils in the autumn of 1916.

• 16

  another book to review Since a review by BR of F.J.C. Hearnshaw, Democracy at the Crossways, was published on 8 February 1919 (B&R C19.06; 1 in Papers 15), this may be H. Wildon Carr and J.S. Haldane, ed., Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume: Life and Finite Individuality, a review of which was published 1 March 1919 (B&R C19.07; 64 in Papers 9).

• 17

  Lynton BR, Colette and Clifford Allen had spent the Christmas season there at the Cottage Hotel.

• 18

  awful about the Attic In Colette’s letter of the same day, she had written that the Attic roof had fallen in (BRACERS 113173).

• 19

  Wrinch sleeping à la belle étoile When Colette had moved out of her flat, nicknamed the Attic, it had been sublet to Elizabeth Russell who in turn let Dorothy Wrinch stay there. Wrinch moved out after the roof catastrophe.

Textual Notes

• a

  dear Underlined three times in a continuous stroke.