The Hollow Men. By Michael Gold. New York: International The Hollow Men. By Michael Gold. New York: International

Michael Gold originally wrote a series of articles for the Daily Worker under the title "The Great Tradition: Can Literary Renegades Destroy It?" In 1941 these articles were put together and published as a book, under the title The Hollow Men. As with the articles, the book poses the following question: Can literary renegades destroy the great emocratic tradition of American life and literature? Gold's answer is a clear "no," but his answer, nevertheless, dramatizes the obstacles faces by the democratic forces, especially during the 1920s and 30s. During the 1920s, argues Gold, the democratic forces were inhibited by the post–war economic boom. As in Europe, where Nazi–fascism was on the rise, in the U.S. the forces of monopoly capitalism "killed off the spirit of labor; it destroyed the march of a socialist movement that had registered in one election almost a million votes" (Gold: 21). Michael Gold originally wrote a series of articles for the Daily Worker under the title "The Great Tradition: Can Literary Renegades Destroy It?" In 1941 these articles were put together and published as a book, under the title The Hollow Men. As with the articles, the book poses the following question: Can literary renegades destroy the great emocratic tradition of American life and literature? Gold's answer is a clear "no," but his answer, nevertheless, dramatizes the obstacles faces by the democratic forces, especially during the 1920s and 30s. During the 1920s, argues Gold, the democratic forces were inhibited by the post–war economic boom. As in Europe, where Nazi–fascism was on the rise, in the U.S. the forces of monopoly capitalism "killed off the spirit of labor; it destroyed the march of a socialist movement that had registered in one election almost a million votes" (Gold: 21).