Political Writings

Editorial Note

EDITORIAL NOTE The corpus of Dreiser’s political writing and social criticism comprises more than two hundred editorials, articles for magazines and newspapers, essays, broadsides, and speeches, and much or all of four books, Hey Rub-a-Dub-Dub (1920), Dreiser Looks at Russia (1928), Tragic America (1931), and America Is Worth Saving (1941). With very few exceptions, these works have been long out of print. This edition presents selections that have been newly edited from published work and from Dreiser’s private papers, preserved at the Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania (abbreviated to DPUP throughout). Selections are assembled in chronological order of composition, divided into four periods. Detailed historical commentaries put the selections into the context of Dreiser’s times and his other output, principally his fiction. Each part also contains a list of additional writings by Dreiser that could not be included for reasons of space. The aim throughout has been to make available the core of Dreiser’s political writing, to demonstrate its range and depth, and to provide the resources for readers to make their own judgments on debated issues. For the most prominent of these debates—over the significance of Dreiser ’s close relationship with the Communist Party after 1930, and the accusation of anti-Semitism first leveled by Hutchins Hapgood in the 1930s—see the historical commentaries to parts 3 and 4. Alternative views on Dreiser’s communism can be found in Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination: Essays on Literature and Society (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1950), 11, and W. A. Swanberg, Dreiser (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965). For a different view of Dreiser’s alleged anti-Semitism, see Donald Pizer, American Naturalism and the Jews: Garland, Norris, Dreiser, Wharton, and Cather (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 31–49. All of the texts in this edition were intended to be public documents and have therefore been edited as such. (Dreiser’s 1933 letters to Hapgood constitute a partial exception, since they originated as private letters, but Dreiser later acceded to Hapgood’s request to publish them, providing him with fair typewritten copies.) Texts have been newly edited from Dreiser’s final typescripts, where these are extant, with reference to the published versions. Each selection is introduced by a headnote that gives the place of first publication, and each is followed by a textual note giving further information. xxviii • Editorial Note Typographical errors have been corrected. Spellings and punctuation have been silently standardized to contemporary American usage (for example , sweater-shop to sweatshop; to-day to today; moralic to moralistic; co-operation to cooperation; Roumania to Romania; Marti to Martí; Tchicherin to Chicherin; Czar to Tsar). Where capitalization signifies a particular political conceptualization, notably when referring to Communists/communists, Communism/communism, and Fascism/fascism, Dreiser’s usage, or that of the editors of his chosen publication, is retained. Where Dreiser uses alternative forms in different places, these have been silently standardized (Lao-tzu for Lao Tze and Lao-Tse). Expressions of number have not been normalized; rather, the variety of original forms of publication has been respected. Where substantive differences occur between published versions, or between a published version and the latest typescript, efforts have been made to ascertain Dreiser’s intentions with reference to his general objectives at the time of composition. Significant differences are indicated in the notes and the textual notes to each selection, and in the headnote if particularly important. A full list of emendations is lodged with the Dreiser Papers at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Pennsylvania. Incidental factual errors, such as the misattribution in “American Idealism and German Frightfulness” of the Panama Canal Zone to Bolivia rather than Colombia, have been corrected. Dreiser occasionally, as in “American Idealism and German Frightfulness ” and Tragic America, made disputatious use of statistical information. In such cases Dreiser’s formulations have been retained while further information is cited in notes. Some material has been cut to avoid repetition and for reasons of space. Cuts of less than one paragraph are indicated by a row of three points. Longer cuts are indicated by a row of four asterisks (* * * *). The notes identify specific people, events, works, allusions, and quotations when these are not part of common knowledge. For example, President Woodrow Wilson is not identified, but members of his administration and specific policies or speeches are identified and explained. In order to avoid repetition, such notes are provided only for the...