The ISSN 0014-1690 Ethical Record Vol. 92 No. 10 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1987

EDITORIAL A feast of music attended on the The Annual Reunion feast of reason, as well as excellent refreshment under the aegis of IN THE LIBRARY at Conway Hall, JEAN BAYLISS and ALICE the Annual Reunion* was a stand- MARSHALL. MICHAEL GIFKINS ing-room-only and memorable played CHOPIN, BRAHMS and Jorq:IN afternoon of song, wisdom, mild with verve and sympathy. He also exhortation and 'fellowship. ERNEST accompanied the beautiful and SEELEY, of the Progressive League, versatile voice of JANET LINCE, gave a distilled and far-reaching who sang a choice range of songs, talk on "The Basis of Humanism". including BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S and For the British Humanist Asso- NOEL COWARD'S best. ciation, MARTIN HORWOOD set out On behalf of Humanist Holidays, a general strategy for developing GEORGE MEPHAM gave a succinct the influence of a rational/secular and appetite-whetting address. worldview in Britain, and he also More informally, the work of the held out the prospect of a united Humanist Housing Association was umbrella of "kindred organisa- explained by DOROTHY FORSYTH. A tions" sharing a humanist shading final delectation was TERRY to agnostic shading to atheist philo- MULLINS' speech, as representative sophy. NICHOLAS HYMAN, newly of the National Secular Society, appointed Secretary of the South complemented by an address from emphasised Place Ethical Society, the Honorary Representative of how relatively dire — no pun in South Place, BARBARA SMOKER. tended on the newspaper—the With a more open plan aspect to times may be. The inevitability of the Library, the spectrum of progress seemed very much in ques- opinion on the platform and in the tion, and what can and should be participatory audience augured well done in 1987-2000 needed to be for the immediate future of South calmly and unapocalyptically Place Ethical Society—and, inci- appraised. dentally, for the rich programme of • September 20. meetings through 1987-8.

CONTENTS Page Coming to Conway Hall 2/20-22 Ole Own Dear Queen Revisited: PIERS BRENDON . . 3 Review by SUZETTE HENKE of "The Handmaid's Tale" by MARGARET ATWOOD 5 The History of Ideas: H. J. BLACKHAM . . . . 7 Isaac Newton's Achievement: NORMAN BACRAC . . 9 Viewpoints: Solon and the Athenian Brothels by WENDY WELLS. Also CYNTHIA BLEZARD, BOB AWBERY, JIM ADDISON 12

The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY CONWAY HALL, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON WC1R 4RL SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY -The Humanist Centre, Conway Hall 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Telephone: 01-831 7723. Hdl Lettings: 01-242 8032.Lobby: 01405 4125. Appointed Lecturers: H. J. Blackham, Fenner Brockway, Richard Clements, OBE,T. F. Evans, Peter Heales, Richard Scorer, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe, Nicolas Walter. Trustees: Harold Blackham, Christine Bondi, Louise Booker, John Brown, Anthony Chapman, Frank Hawkins, Peter Heales, George Hutchinson, Ray Lovecy, Ian MacKillop, Victor Rose, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe. Honorary Representative: Barbara Smoker. Chairman General Committee: Norman Bacrac. Deputy Chairman: Louise Booker. Honorary Registrar: Alice Marshall. Honorary Treasurer: Don Liversedge. Secretary: Nicholas Hyman. Hall Manager: Geoffrey Austin. Honorary Librarian: Sam Beer. Editor, The Ethical Record : Peter Hunot. COMING TO CONWAY HALL PROGRAMME OF EVENTS NOVEMBER 1987 — JANUARY 1988 Sunday (morning) Meeting (Free—collection) (Afternoon) Forums and Socials (Free) South Place Sunday (evening) Concerts (tickets £1.60) All the Society Meetings, Forums and Socials are held in the Library (unless othenvise indicated) Concerts are held in the Main Hall See Separate Leafletfor Fuller Details Sunday November 1 at 11.00 am RICHARDSCORER will discuss the report of the World Com- mission on Environment and Development (set up by the United Nations) and on the idea of a Council for Posterity. at 3.00 p.m. Special Event: The Society has decided to re-name the Small Hall THE BROCKWAYRoom 011FENNER BROCKWAY'S 99th Birthday, which is on this day. Among those coming to the naming will be STANNEWENS, MEP and the Mayor of Camden, JERRYWILLIAMS, as well as South Place Ethical Society Honorary Officers and Fenner Brockway himself. This historic occasion (near to Fenner Brockway's lively statue* in Red Lion Square—which also contains the bust of BERTRANDRUSSELL) will attract many persons of goodwill. at 6.30 pm Concert:Bochman String Quartet. HAYDN, MARTINU, FRANK BRIDGE and SCHUBERT. Sunday November 8 11.00 am NICOLASWALTER will speak on: A Century of Remem- brance. 3.00 pm Forum: Southern Africa. Details to be announced. 6.30 pm Concert: Vanbrugh String Quartet. HAYDN, JANACEK, BEETHOVEN. * Sadly knocked over and damaged in recent storms. Wontinued on page 20 The Ethical Record is poste free to members. The annual charge to Subscribers is gel. Matter for publication should reach the Editor, Peter Hunot, 17 Anson Road, London N7 ORB (01-6092677) no later than the first of the month for publicationin the followingissue.

Printed by St. Peters Press Ltd., 65A St. Peters St., St. Albans, Herts ALI SEA. Telephone: 0727 51345 OUR OWN DEAR QUEEN REVISITED PIERS BRENDON Summary of the Lecture to the Society on Sunda October IL 1987 I'LL TAKE AS MY TEXTS—in what seems to be something of a secular sermon —familiar quotations from two major figures who helped to create the the climate of opinion in which the South Place Ethical Society was founded. These are Kant's remark that "Enlightenment is man's release from self- imposed tutelage" and Diderot's observation that "Scepticism is the first step towards truth". In Kant's view the great xviiith century movement of the philosophies was a sign that mankind had reached maturity and had "dared to think". And no one illustrated that daring, that determination to break away from the intolerance, superstition, dogma and fanaticism of the past, better than Diderot, editor of the famous Encyclopaedia. For Diderot smuggled into that great compendium of knowledge and opinion new ideas and moral principles which made it "the Trojan horse of the ancien regime". Enlightenment principles are as relevant as ever and it is essentially on them that I base my case for objecting to those vestiges of the ancien regime which remain today—in particular the English monarchy, the subject of this talk. It is a symptom of how deeply engrained our national prejudice about this institution is, that merely to criticise it, let alone to avow republican prin- ciples, in contemporary Britain is considered shocking. But as it happens British republicanism has a long and respectable history and, though now the faith of a minority sect, it is by no means defunct. Furthermore in global terms, even in Commonwealth terms, republicans are in the vast majority. And republicanism is the wave of the future, a mature form of government. As Victor Hugo said as long ago as 1848, "Kings are for nations in their swaddling clothes". Monarchy Makes Nonsense of the Democratic System Why is monarchy undesired by so many round the world and undesir- able as part of the British constitution? Fundamentally because it makes nonsense of the democratic system, which is elective and egalitarian, to have at its centre a hereditary institution dating back to feudal times. The feudal element indicates that monarchy is out of tune with modern times; as Austin O'Malley said in 1932, "A modem king has beconie a vermiform appendix— useless when quiet, when obtrusive in danger of removal:" The hereditary element is a guarantee that the monarchial system cannot work because it will inevitably mean that idiots, or rakes, or rogues or numskulls are going to inherit the throne. As the history of the House of Hanover illustrates, sovereigns have borne out Mark Twain's view that "kings is mostly rapscallions". A brief survey from George III to Elizabeth II scarcely reveals royalty in a flattering light. A number of counts against the monarchy, touched on from a historical point of view, deserve to be further emphasised: I. It is invariably an entrenched foe of progress. It not only supports con- servatism, it saps the moral fibre of the left. It encourages outdated love of caste, social deference, elitism, sycophancy. It legitimises artificial excellences based on birth and "breeding" instead of real ones based on worth and achievement. It glamorises un- earned privilege and affluent parasitism. And it fosters delusions of grandeur about Britain's place in the world. It encourages the press and the mass media to act as touts for royalty and to betray their calling which is to keep the wells of knowledge pure. This is the modern treason of the clerks.

Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 3 It breeds secrecy at the centre of affairs because the way in which the royal preprogative is used cannot be revealed without threatening its exis- tence. As Acton said: "Everything secret degenerates; nothing is safe that does not show it can bear discussion and publicity". It treats citizens as subjects, and subjects as superstitious savages—as (in Tom Paine's words) "a herd of beings that must be governed by fraud, effigy and show". It blinds men's understandings. "It is the popery of govern- ment, a thing kept up to amuse the ignorant and quiet them into taxes". It replaces open government in the public interest by a rigmarole of pomp and circumstance, of ritual, incantation and fantasy. It narrows down patriotism to loyalty to a dynasty. There are perfectly good alternatives to monarchy and people could be educated to see the benefit of constitutional reform along rational lines. This would give us a written constitution, a bill of rightS, a freedom of infor- mation act, an elected second chamber in place of the present tragi-comic upper house and some form of presidential figurehead who could lay founda- tion stones and act as a political long-stop in an open government. To quote Tom Paine again, (whose Right of Man embodied so many of the principles of the Enlightenment and must have contributed to the imnulse which founded the South. Place Ethical Society two years after its publication): "Monarchy would not have continued so many ages in the world had it not been for the abuses it protects. It is the master-fraud which shelters all the others". Today, at the very least we should be prepared (in Kant's snirit) to dare to think about, and (in Diderot's spirit) to be sceptical about the fetish of monarchy. Otherwise we shall not be able to take the first step towards truth and enlightenment—release from our self-imposed tutelage and emancipation from a corrupting orthodoxy. 0

Bertrand Russell's "Liberal Decalogue" A Suitable Case for SPES? Perhaps the essence of the Liberal otitlook could be summed up in a new Decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandment's that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows: ID Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. 0 Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness. First published in the New York Times, 1951 4 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 Review We Are Living in Gilead We Are Not SUZETTE HENKE Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (New York: Fawcett Crest, 1987, and Virago Press 1987, £3.95) . "Gilead: its genius was synthesis" (389). "Better never means better for everyone . . . It always means worse, for some" (274). We are living in Gilead. We are not. "Well, thank God, at least it hasn't gone that far! " the (female) reader thinks as she devours Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, with such intellectual avidity that she feels like someone gulping down a piece of rich (forbidden) chocolate cake—with a mouthful of castor oil at the end. The sensuous delight evoked by the text becomes purgative, cathartic. "At least", the reader reflects silently, "I am not she. Not yet, anyway". And maybe, though agnostic, she even adds the words "Praise be", echoing the fundamentalist "newspeak" of the Gileadean society. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood offers us a fantasy of deli- berate anachronism—a dystopia, a "women's society" based on adoration of female fertility, the festishization of women's wombs, and the purchase of women's "labour" in scenes of ultimate psycho-sexual coercion. This is a totalitarian regime in which the State regulates the most private of sexual interactions, leaving "no toeholds for love". Women are reduced to "two- legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices" (176). Men in turn, become robotized inseminators, manipulated by the domestic economy to their wives and by the powerless despair of their enslaved mistresses. "You wanted a women's culture. Well, now there is one. It isn't what you meant, but it exists" (164). "Unwomen" Are Sent Off to the Colonies - In the "future society" of Gilead, women are pampered for their repro- ductive possibilities and "saved by childbearing"—or damned by infertility and barrenness. Those "unwomen" who rebel, who cannot or will not reproduce, are sent off to the Colonies to clean up nuclear waste until they themselves waste away and die. No use worrying about them, the militant feminists of former times, whose hair (once brown or red or blond) and habit (overalls and a mauve kerchief) have simultaneously turned grey. "In the Colonies, they spend •their time cleaning up. . . . Sometimes it's just bodies, after a battle. . . . The other Colonies are worse, though, the toxic dumps and the radiation spills" (322-23). It was so easy for the ruling male regime to seize power. The computers did it all—cut females off from economic solvency, appropriated their bodies and their labour. An individual who cannot own property becomes property. Economically disenfranchised, women not only lost the ability to function in the dominant society; they forfeited their individual autonomy, as well. Consigned to the protection of males, they were psychologically castrated, infantilized, and disempowered. "We are not each other's anymore. Instead, I am his" (236). Woman becomes a hole, a zero, a nought, to be "filled" and given identity by the male "commander" who feeds, protects, and inseminates her. Or tries to. With no identity of her own, woman shrinks to an appendage of her male protector. She is perpetually alien, existing liminally "on the margins" of a dominant society, the better to reproduce, the exalted image of a central, powerful, tumescent male, whose patriarchal authority gives him permission "to do anything". Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 5 Women must consent—or kill themselves. Self-destruction is the only exit, the only mode of revolutionary behaviour. There is, of course, a secret police, a Gestapo that will kill, torture, or imprison with the slightest pro- vocation. Lascivious or self-willed females function as a parody of porno- graphy, living dolls who caricature temptresses and tease the Commanders in pantomimes or titillating passion. Scapegoats are maimed, tortured, or torn •to pieces in a bizarre ritual of savage "particicution". Terror reigns. Ripeness, and obedience, are all. Of course, one must consider the alternative—the corrupt and decadant society of the 1980's, against which the founders of Gilead rebelled. Remem- ber the demeaning "meat market" and the desperation of women who "starved themselves thin or pumped their breasts full of silicone, had their noses cut off. Think of the human misery" (284). And what price healthy babies? In the 1980's, they used to sell for ten thousand U.S. dollars— about six thousand British pounds. And women were desperate enough to "rent" their wombs for that, for less than the minimum wage. But what else could poor women do? Prostitution was on the wane, industrial labour robotized, and unemployment high. No wonder the men of Gilead were able, so easily, to seize political power. They created a society with a "genius for synthesis"—a polis that amalgamated American imperialism, Nazi fascism, Russian totalitarianism, and religious fundamentalism. With the "new right" gaining ascendance and AIDS on the rise, the populace was eager for a return to puritanism and muscular Christianity, to a patriarchy in which every man could act out the psycho-sexual fantasies of a John Wayne or a Rambo. One recalls George Orwell's 1984—another fascist regime, a dystopia or modern England, a festivity of sadism and disinformation. History revised, rewritten. The narrative recast politically, and 'individuality snuffed out. Love driven underground, or openly betrayed. Fear dominates in a world where no one can hide from Big Brother's rats. In Gilead, the Eye sees and knows all. Michel Foucault's panoptical vision becomes a political principle. Perception valorizes identity, which is malleable, transferable, and slippery. Only the male masters are named, identified, and "authorized" to be indivi- duals. Women exist as pleasure-machines or seedbeds, to be ploughed, pene- trated, fertilized, and discarded. "What male of the Gilead period could resist the possibility of fatherhood, so redolent of status, so highly prized?" (394). We are living in Gilead. We are not. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is an amazingly provocative book about future possibility and present malaise. "Are there any questions?" asks the narrator (395). Questions abound. Answers, of course, are somewhat farther to seek.

Did You Know? ANDREW CARNEGIE, industrialist and philanthropist, was born Novem- ber 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland. Carnegie is best known for his funding of 2,800 free public libraries. Less well known is that he described himself as an agnostic who abjured "all creeds". In 1912, he wrote a state- ment of his lack of faith which was later printed in The Truth Seeker of August 23, 1919. from American Atheist, November 1985

Monteverdi 1567-1643 On September 4, BBC3 described the composer MONTEVERDI aS. a humanist, a disciple of PLATO rather than Jesus, concerned to move our affections rather than to seek salvation. On September 5 we had a programme on ETHOLOGY and learnt that slugs change sex when times are hard. 6 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 THE HISTORY OF IDEAS H. J. BLACKHAM Summary of the Lecture to SPES on Sunday, September 27,1987

HISTORY IS A RECORD OF EVENTS, and of their sequence and interconnections —a casual inquiry. Ideas may be a main- cause of momentous events. LENIN'S audacious entry into Russia that enabled him to seize the initiative for the Bolsheviks and control the 1917 revolution gave effect to the ideas formed in his brooding years in Zurich. Historically, the most formative ideas have been formed out of a people's perception of their past, by which they are oriented to project and seek their future. The classical case is the Bible. The OT is not history and is rather far from it; this records a legendary past in which the children of Israel learned to recognize their origin and destiny, and which gave them a unique place in the world and an historic identity. It was a past indelibly recollected by constantly repeated reminders. .Although non-historical, it was more historical in the sequel than the actual history. This is an extreme case of a pattern of national behaviour that has been normal in European history. An important aspect of it has been that univer- sality is claimed for the ideal which a people project as their own destiny; it is to involve the whole of humanity. This universality has had a religious or a political or a cultural form. Each of these is evident in European history, and each was represented in the sources of European culture: Greece, Israel, Rome. A case might be made that only the semitic religions have been historical, in the sense: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation". Islam conquered half the world in ten years—which excited NAPOLEON'S enthusiasm for it. By contrast, Hinduism is notable for hospi- tality. The ideological force in Islam and Christianity has made history. Their clash in the Crusades was forced by the claim to universality of rival projective ideas in action. The Idealized Perception of the Republic Rome most prominently represented the political claim to universality. Their ideal, Romanitas, was formulated when AUGUSTUS at the end of the civil war following JULIUS CAESAR'S assassination, reorganized the Republic as a Principate, in effect, the Roman Empire. The conception of Romanitas embOdied an idealized perception of the Republic, in terms of constitutional liberty and civic duty, given classical form and expression in VIRGIL'S Aeneid, HORACE'S Odes, and Livy's History: all three were intimate with Augustus; so that actual policy and exalted propaganda were integrated, with unique spontaneity: Rome was given a legendary and prestigious origin and destiny by Virgil, and as a matter of real history was through its imperium to provide civil engineering and civil law, and to prescribe civic duty. Embodied in the "pax Romana", this was the infrastructure (security, stability, prosperity) for a universal civilization. Hellas had already provided the universal culture, which Rome had assimilated. After the decline and fall of Rome, the Northern tribes learned to perceive themselves as heirs to Rome, rather than seeking and finding their origin and destiny in tfieir own ancestral myths and legends. This was pos- sible because of Rome's fame and prestige, but mainly because Rome was still present in the Roman Church, and particularly because its bishops had brought about the conversion of the tribal kings. This perception of the past was projected in the ideal of a Holy Roman Empire, a restoration of the Empire as the Kingdom of God. This even seemed feasible when CHARLEMAGNE practically conquered Europe, and was crowned Emperor in

Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 7 Rome by the Pope in 800. He was the Christian monarch, and modelled himself on King Josiah of the OT, determined to instruct his people in the true faith; which he systematically proceeded to do, with the help of ALCUIN OF YORK. The feasibility of the idea gained evidence with the success of OTTO THE GREAT and then FREDERICK BARBAROSSA, later emperors. Barbarossa's remarkable grandson, FREDERICKII (Stupor Mundi), was the last emperor to show the futility and fatality of the idea in about 1250, the time of his death. The idea lingered in nominal recognition till 1804. Although it lapsed in absurdity, it was the cause of grave historical events. The German kings elected as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire neg- lected thz territories of their proper jurisdiction to make good their imperial title, chiefly by trying to subdue the Italian cities, which embroiled them with the Popes, jealous of their own territorial foothold. Thus, while Britain and France had established stable monarchies, able to exploit discoveries of the New World and explorations elsewhere to build up real empires, Germany was left a conglomeration of more than a hundred independent principalities by emperors trying to make good a titular pretension. Consti- tutional development there and in Italy was delayed till the xixth century; and the delay had later consequences, in our own time.

A Perception of the Past Roused by Nazts The Nazis, addressing themselves to the regeneration of Germany, suffer- ing from six million chronically unemployed, shrinking trade, and political faction, sought to revive the national spirit by rousing the perception of the past. GOEBBELS wrote in his Diary: "The Old Holy Roman Empire was the greatest political creation of the post-Roman era. It took its European character from the Roman Empire, and we shall assume that mantle now. Because of our organizational brilliance and racial selectivity, world domination will automatically fall to us". MUSSOLINI in an article on Fascism in the Italin encyclopedia wrote: "The Fascist State is an embodied will to power; the Roman ideal is here an ideal of force in action . . . It must be thought of as an empire .. . Fascism has henceforth in the world the universality of all those doctrines which, in realizing themselves, have represented a stage in the history of the human spirit". The Greeks had thought of themselves as expanding and developing human culture, in terms of progress in civilization; and they made this explicitly their claim to universality. At the end of the xvilith century, European nations thought that they had at last drawn level wih classical culture of the Augustan Age. They were historically conscious, explicitly of cultural progress in civilization. CONDORCET summed up the Enlighten- ment in his Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (1795). They were also equipped to exploit their powers and opportu- nities. The textbook for this was ADAM SMITH'S The Wealth of Nations (1776). It was said of this book: "In a few years it began to alter laws and treaties: and has made its way through the convulsions of revolutions and conquest to a due ascendant over the minds of men". It initiated the era of SMILES' Self-help, CARNEGIE'SThe Gospel of Wealth, the "almighty dollar" (the "American Dream"). This pattern of history, universal claims and pursuits of peoples inspired by a conception of themselves derived from their perception of their past, ended with the big bang that ended the war at Hiroshima. It is the claim of a progressive culture to be moving humanity towards a universal civilization that has been justified, in comparison wth the religious and the political claims. The claim, however, is highly conditional. What has happened is an explosion of knowledge, that has spread world-wide. With 8 Ethical Record, November/December 1987 that knowledge, rapidly increasing, goes a steep rise in human capability, to an extent that justifies the premature dictum: Man makes himself. Mastery of the means to master the environment, and modify the human condition, even genetically, increases daily. Also, the last phase of history, under the rubric "The Wealth of Nations", is seen to have been exploitive on a scale that seriously threatens human survival. In this sense, history has taken over, and ended the old pattern I have been describing. The shape of the human future is now clearly determined in certain inexorable imperatives, related specifically to protection of the environment, the management of resources, international security, redress of the global balance of provision and need. KANT'S categorical imperative forbidding the exploitation of man by man

anticipated a general moral imperative that over - rules laissez - faire.

'Isaac Newton's Achievement: a Look at the Newtonian Worldview on its 300th Anniversary NORMAN BACRAC Summary of his Lecture given on June 21, 1987 LIKE MANY PUPILS WHO WERE EXPOSED TO A BIT OF PHYSICS at school, I acquired, more or less, a few concepts of Newtonian origin. As to the true extent and scope of the work of the great SIR ISAAC NEWTON, the archetypal scientist, I shared with many, I suspect, an abysmal ignorance combined with awe. Now the popular imagination avoids intellectual heights and finds refuge in picturesque stories. So Newton's equal in the ancient world, ARCHIMEDES, is commonly remembered as having leapt from his bath and run down the street shouting "eureka". With Newton it was the apple. It was alleged that he first had the thought that there might be a mutual attraction between all bodies in the universe (now called "universal gravitation") while, sitting in his garden, he pondered the fall of an apple. If this is true, it occured in the Autumn of 1666, when Isaac had returned to his mother's home from Cambridge University, which was shut down owing to the plague then sweeping the country. Physics students are introduced to Newton's three laws of motion because they're still part of the foundation of physics. They learn how Newton demonstrated, using glass prisms, that all the colours of the rainbow are already present in every beam of sunlight; that he invented a novel telescope using not a lens but a mirror to form the image—the basis of today's giant telescopes. Those of us who went on to study physics in the sixth form may have encountered a few more of his accomplishments. He was able to calculate with remarkable accuracy what we nowadays call the "wavelength" of light by measurements on "Newton's rings", the tiny coloured circles just visible where a lens touches a glass plate. This required exceptional practical skill and Newton's ingenious theory of light combining waves and particles (a duality that was lost sight of in the xixth century, only to reappear with a vengeance in the xxth). Then there was his single-handed development of the calculus, a powerful mathematical tool, enabling anyone to calculate such hitherto impossible things as the distance covered by a body whose speed is varying. Newton also used it to find out how his formula for gravity, the famous inverse square law, would succeed when applied to the large bodies of the solar system. It worked beautifully. We also knew he'd written a book, in latin, called Principia Mathematica, that none of us had ever clapped eyes on, let alone read. (That's because Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 9 there had been no English translation since Motte's of 1729.) It was exactly 300 years ago that, having urged Newton to finish writing it, the atheist astronomer EDMUND HALLEY then edited it, printed it (at his own expense), and distributed copies to the world's scholars and places of learning. Halley did all this in the belief that the world needed Newton's masterpiece; in the hopeful words of his dedicatory Ode: Matters that vexed the minds of ancient seers, . . . now are seen in reason's light, the clouds of ignorance dispelled at last by science. Newton began by showing that the idea proposed by DESCARTES of the sun as the centre of a giant vortex which carried the planets around with it could not possibly work as the mechanism of the solar system; it conflicted with Kepler's Laws of planetary motion and these were based on observa- tions and accepted as true. Newton then derived Kepler's Laws from his own Newtonian principles. These also successfully accounted for such phenomena as the paths of comets (hitherto regarded as omens); the tides ("the flux and reflux of the sea arise from the actions of the sun and moon"); and the earth's equatorial bulge (which Newton predicted before it was known— he calculated aright that this would cause the earth to wobble like a spinning- top every 26,000 years. This result -neatly explained a stellar phenomenon that had first puzzled the ancient Greeks.

No Explanations of Gravity Were Correct

,The Principia was a virtuoso performance, a tour de force that gradually won over the initially sceptical Europeans, although they didn't like his refusal to explain the cause of gravtity. In this, Newton was right to affirm that none of the then profferred explanations of gravtity could be correct— it was not to be until 1915 that such a theory (Einstein's) appeared. What then of Newton, who said: that if he saw further than other men it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants and that he seemed like a boy playing on the seashore finding a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him? How are these conventional, if nicely put, expressions of humility to be regarded? The difficulty here is that it's only in the last few decades that the "great ocean" of Newton's "undiscovered" thought has begun to be methodically uncovered. In an earlier period this would have caused a feeling of national embarrassment, as Newton wrote about four million words on alchemy and ancient chronology—hardly proper subjects to occupy so much of the time of the premier scientist of the age. Researchers, mainly in the USA, are now delving into all this largely unpublished writing and secret correspondence, much of it in code, but we are' still far from having readily available any- thing like a complete edition in English of Newton's writings. Perhaps the following annotation in his own hand will show that there was an alternative Newton: "Alchemy tradeth not with metals as ignorant vulgars think, which error had made them distress that noble science; but she hath also material veins of whose nature God created Handmaids to conceive and bring forth his creatures ... This philosophy is not of that kind which tendeth to vanity and deceipt but rather to profit . .. inducing ye way to find out true medicines in ye creatures . . . This philosophy both speculative and active is not only to be found in ye volume of nature but also in ye sacred scriptures . In ye knowledge of this Philosophy God made Solomon ye greatest philosopher in ye world".* Newton sought out, acquired, copied, and minutely examined every alchemical paper, treatise, and compilation he could get hold of—and there were many hundreds. He tested the procedures they advocated (often work- ing in his (sic) "elaboratory" late into the night for weeks on end) to see if they did indeed yield any of the products said to be stages towards making 10 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 the philosopher's stone or elixir, which would enable the initiate to turn base metal into the finest gold. As an old man, Newton confided to his nephew Jomq CoNourrr (who inherited and preserved his voluminous private papers): "They who search after the Philosopher's Stone are by their own rules obliged to a strict and religious life". For Newton this meant celibacy. In spite of his diligence and devotion the nearest Newton got to producing the longed-for bright red elixir was the crimson velvet with which he covered his windows, chairs and bed. His undoubted metallqrgical talents were employed with much more devastating effect when, as Master Of the RoYal Mint, he supervised the reform of the coinage and ruthlessly hunted down forgers. When he rho ed '.rnitside the areas of mathematics and physics, Newton's thinking suffered from a fatal flaw, apparent in the lines marked * above. He believed in an ancient esoteric wisdom, the more reliable the older it is, mediated and understood only by such legendary figures as SOLOMON, HERMES, PYTHAGORAS (and perhaps by himself?). Hence his rejection of the Trinity as a later corrupt addition to the original simplicity—his secret heresy. Hence the urgent necessity to study old texts and scripture and— with God's assistance—extract the hidden truth about the world contained therein. In due time, he would reveal all. Hence also his ambivalent attitude to publishing his interim conclusions. His Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) was published a year after his death, and even his Opticks (1704) could have been printed 20 years earlier. His failure to publish in 1671 his important mathematical advances in algebra and calculus led to the bitter priority dispute with Leibniz, who had invented his own calculus. Newton believed himself to be and of course was intellectually superior to his contemporaries but several of them, including the clever physicist HOOKE and the hard-working astro- nomer FLAMSTEED, felt he's not given due public credit for their contribu- tions to his work; they .were left deeply aggrieved.

Newton's "Pseudo-Science" In assessing Newton's own contribution to thought. I shall deal first with his pseudo-science. By this I mean all he took as axiomatic from the still credulous and religion-centred culture of his times. The bible was absolute truth—every word in it had significance, which if not immediately obvious could in the end be found; "giants" of the past were privy to the secrets of chemistry and one might come across these in any one of the scraps of alchemical lore that had survived, so nothing could be overlooked. All Newton's efforts in these fields are of antiquarian interest only. In fairness to Newton, it has to be said that there were big gaps in the scientific world-view; to be agnostic was tough. Chemistry was a shambles; everything to do with the biological world (physiology, disease, etc) was a mystery: Newton asked: Didn't God have to start all the planets in their motions round the sun and intervene from time to time to keep them in order? Must not the animals have been created as all their parts work so well together? LAPLACE and DARWIN were to answer those particular ques- tions. Tough? yes, but not impossible; read LUCRETIUS! With Newton's mathematics and physics were are in a different dimension. That will survive as a towering monument to the creative power of homo sapiens. The tragedy is that many who can savour literary or musical genius cannot gather any aesthetic satisfaction from a geometric theorem or scientific argument. But we shall not listen when the blind decry the wonder of the dawn. 0 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 11 Viewpoints About Those Athenians

At the meeting last Sunday, when HAROLD BLACKHAM SpOke on the History of Ideas, I made a comment indicating some possible blemishes in his very favourable views of the Athenians, reflected by many humanists, It was about their institutionalising of prostitution of which I was critical. The audience seemed to be very sceptical of my views on the matter. So I have given the editor a copy of an article by WENDY WELLS which appeared in the November 1978 SPARE RIB (pages 44-46) on the subject from which he may care to quote, confirming my criticisms. CYNTHIA BLEZARD,London N5 (6/10/'87) (Note from the Editor: This short article seemed worth reproducing, which is done below with the kind permission of the Editorial Committee of SPARE Rm. It was called Solon and the Athenian Brothels. In conversation with Cynthia, she stated "Even over the question of demo- cracy the Greeks based their ideas on elitism—a feature. paralleled in the world today as TONY BENN made clear answering questions on LBC today"). At the head of the SPARE RIB article,Demosthenes is quoted: "Now we have courtesans for the sake of pleasure, but concubines for the sake of daily cohabitation and wives for the purpose of having children legitimately and of having a faithful guardian of all our house- hold affairs".

PROSTITUTION HAS A HERSTORY; one that has often been distorted, re-written or simply ignored. Historians have examined prostitution either .as a nefarious evil perpetrated by evil women, or as a healthy outlet for healthy males. It is assumed to have always existed, to have always been the "necessary evil". Mercenary prostitutionthe selling of a woman's body—was first institu- tionalized in ancient Athens in approximately 594 BC. as a government-run enterprise to finance the building of the Greek military. Previously, prostitu- tion operated under the guise of hospitality—giving a wife or daughter to a house guest—sexploitation of slaves, forced marriages and "religious" services to Aphrodite. ' The first Athenian brothel was staffed by Asian slaves, prisoners of war and women cast. out by their families who were kidnapped or bought from slave traders—historians call it "recruited"—then "educated in erotic cajolery". They were sent to Athens, harbour settlements, or Corinth, a city based on trade and prostitution for the sailors and merchants. None of the slaves (called deikteriades by historians of prostitution) were allowed on the street during the day, and they could not attend religious ceremonies or enter temples; all were forced to wear a special multi-coloured garment invented by Solon the Athenian law-giver, and dye their hair with saffron to "attract the attention of the guardians of the law"J They could not legally refuse a customer. The deikteriades lost the few rights they might have had as citizens; their children were absolved from the duty to support them, and male children were not given citizenshiji until they performed an unspecified act of bravery, could not inherit, associate with other youths or address an assembly. The brothel was operated by a government-licensed pornobosceion who lost all rights as a citizen but gained a very lucrative business. Many regis- tered brothels under assumed names. The proceeds from the very small entrance/sexual fee went to the government through a series of tax collectors who were notoriously corrupt and wealthy; while the customers were expected to give each woman a present before each trick, she seldom amassed 12 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 any savings and could rarely buy her freedom; .she was considered the lowest member of society. The door of the brothel was always open, but business did not begin until after 4 pm "So as not to keep young men away from their exercises".2 Meanwhile, the women sat on benches playing games or lounging along the walls, dressed in diaphanous scarves and thick make-up. A man entering the brothel was safe from police, creditors and his wife but the deikteriades were virtual prisoners. The business was incredibly profitable for the state, financing the ships and guns of the government, and to ensure steady revenues each woman in the brothel was forced to obtain a formal licence to leave the city and had to offer "acceptable guarantees" of her return. Sea trade also contributed to the rise of the brothels. It was becoming increasingly important and the growing numbers of sailors away from wives, too poor to support concubines and separated from young boy "favourites" demanded sexual satisfaction. The temples of Venus (Aphrodite) and the state-owned brothels were situated in ports and near gambling districts to service them. The brothels also served direct political ends. Concubines had long been a sign of wealth; a man's status depended in part on how many women he could support in his home or donate to the gods in return for luck on the battlefield or in game. The price of a deikteriade was extremely low and the law establishing the brothels was part of a group of statutes limiting dis- plays of wealth. The brothels were provided as an alternative to keeping• courtesans: "be content to embrace the women in the brothels and not to spend the inheritance of your children on vanities" advised Athenaeus. Go to brothels where "you may buy pleasure at a moderate cost".

Brothels for Men: Women's Adultery Punished Most importantly, though, it -was to directly service the patriarchy by strengthening the patrimony and the nuclear family that Solon started the brothels, The majority of Solonian legislation dealt with the family, outlining inheritance rights, adoption and the question of women. The brothels were started to strengthen monogamy by providing all men—not just men of wealth—with sexual gratification on demand, free from the fear of creating heirs, or worse still, daughters. Simultaneously, adultery by women was severely punished; the laws against adultery were stronger than those against rape because while a raped woman may conceive an illegitimate heir to her husband's or father's wealth, she hates the rapist and retains her loyalty to the clan; the adulteress, on the other hand, had presumably transferred her loyalty from her husband's to her lover's clan. The rapist was forced to pay a fine but the male lover faced death at the husband's hands. Brothels further served the patriarchy by dividing women—dividing them into castes in the eyes of men, and separating them from each other. "A fully realized female tends to engender anxiety in the insecure male. Unable to cope with a multiplicity of powers united in one 'female, men from antiquity to the present have envisioned women in `either-or' roles."3 Women were separated geographically, living in separate parts of the city, prohibited from attending the same religious ceremonies, barred from visiting each other or even walking on the streets. The differences in dress made obvious the distinctions between the castes of women. The church fathers would later add concepts of guilt, shame and sin to the male-serving morality but the divisiveness caused by sexism existed in ancient Athens. Perhaps the brothels also combatted any challenge offered by homo- sexuality to the patriarchy and the military hierarchy. Homosexuality and lesbianism were tolerated, encouraged in many ways, but were dealt with sharply when men and women rejected the nuclear family or gave their loyalty to their lovers rather than the military authorities. Greece was a

Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 13 warring country; it required the production of soldiers and for those soldiers to be isolated from each other, responsive only to the power structure. Lujo Basserman, in his history of prostitution, contends that the suppres- sion of homosexuality and the rise of the brothel were "especially important in preserving the solidarity of many military units and indeed the warlike spirit of whole nations". The brothels were offered as the alternative to homo- sexuality for soldiers and sailors denied the opportunity to make liaisons with their peers. The only other possibilities would be rape or adultery—both considered assaults on other men's "property". Solon was heralded as "the saviour of the state" for setting up the brothels, He was praised by his contemporaries as a "benefactor", a man "who averted great mischief and inevitable disorder". His innovation proved so successful that the profession splintered into three distinct groups: the deikteriades, auletrides (musicians and dancers) and the hetaerae, recognized for•their intelligence and wit. The auletrides played the flute, zither or drums at banquets and festive occasions clad in flimsy garments. They were also accomplished dancers, tumblers and gymnasts and their performances were such important parts of any festivity that men competed to hire the most talented, best-known artists. The women were usually slaves brought to Athens from Asia and were auctioned off for sex to the male guests after their performance. While sometimes they were free to choose their customers, mass rape and beatings occurred if they refused the drunken guests. Basserman relates an incident when: "enraged revellers, disappointed in their expectations, fell upon the flute- players with their fists, tore the costly and flimsy robes from their bodies and smashed their instruments". In spite of this, auletrides had more independence than the brothel slaves; they lived where they chose, were better paid and were free to have long affairs if they wished. While the deikteriades were hated by everyone except, perhaps, some of their sister prostitutes, the auletrides were very popular. The Athenian women with the most exalted position and the most freedom were in the third group of prostitutes—the hetaerae. They were intelligent, witty, articulate and educated, the only women in Athenian society allowed to manage their own financial affairs, stroll through the streets anywhere at anytime. They were free to attend the plays, ceremonies and speeches, to speak with whomever whenever they pleased, to share the intellectual activities of Greece. They could take the sexual or romantic initiative with men, frequently were "faithful" to one lover for months or years. As the auletrides were talented musicians, the hetaerae were accomplished conversationalists, the intellectual equals of the men they entertained. They were herbalists and midwives, the mothers and lovers of kings, statesmen, artists and poets. The famous Aspasia was a philosopher with a following and a classroom of her own: "In the life of almost every important personality prominent in the history of Hellenism, the influence of well known hetaerae can be proved . . . Portrait statues of such women were set up in the temples and other public buildings by the side of meritorious generals and statesmen". (Henriques, Prostitution and Society: A Survey.) They demanded enough money for their sexual services to keep themselves and the prostitutes in their homes ostentatiously, erect monuments to the gods and their native cities. The freedom of the hetaerae contrasted sharply with the seclusion of Greek matrons. The domestic lives of Athenian women were dismal. The Greek word for woman literally meant "bearer of children";, the state was interested in young warriors and the husband in heirs so that many female 14 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 infants were exposed with weak and deformed babies in clay vessels on the side of Mt. Taygetus, where they were left to be claimed by others or die. An Athenian girl was taught only weaving, sewing and cooking. If found to be "unchaste", her father or brother could sell her to a brothel and if found to be sterile, her husband could give her to a friend. The home she kept was dark, damp and unhealthy; a middle or upper class woman lived in the interior of the !house and, according to some historians, was only allowed out for religious and funeral ceremonies. When her husband died she returned to her father's house while all her husband's property went to the male relatives. She remained a minor her entire life while her gtmrdianship passed from father to husband to son. The tortoise was the symbol of the Athenian woman's life, caught in a society that believed, according to Plutarch in Isis and Osiris, that "unmarried girls in particular need to be guarded, and housekeeping and silence befit married women". Unlike the wife, the prostitute's freedom is directly related to the distance she can put between herself and domestication. As Simon de Beauvoir finds in The Second Sex: "Since the oppression of women has its cause in the will to perpetuate the family and to keep the patrimony intact, woman escapes complete dependency to the degree in which she escapes: from the family . By virtue of the fact that they (hetaerae) escaped from the family and lived on the fringes of society,. they escaped also from man; they could therefore seem to him to be fellow beings, almost equals. In Aspasia, in Phryne, in Lais was made manifest the superiority of the free woman over the respectable mother of a family." The popularity and status of the prostitute, her freedom from harassment, indeed her life down to the price she charges, is dependent upon the position of the wife, the society's attitude towards chastity, adultery, virginity and bi-sexuality. As in all other facets of her life, a woman's sexuality is tied to that of her sisters and dictated in large part by men. Prostitutes are not, as some claim, the group being sacrificed for the "purity" and "chastity" of "virtuous women"; their position does not change inversely—but directly— with that of married women. When men oppress women in the family by insisting on chastity and monogamy, severely punishing adultery, men increasingly oppress another group of women by treating them as bodies for hire. In ancient Athens, thousands of women were literally made slaves to men's sexual demands, while thousands of others were made semi-slaves to men's demands for an unchallenged patrimony. Wendy Wells Basserman, Jujo, The Oldest Profession: A History of Prostitution, Arthur Barker Ltd, London. I Licht, Hans, Sexual Life in Ancient Greece, George Routledge and Sons Ltd, 1932. . 3 Pomeroy, Sarah B., Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves, Robert Hale and Co.. London, 1975.

Religious Sentiment and Hedging Bets In reply to BILL HORSLEY (Ethical Record, October '87, page 16), I would like to know, what is religious sentiment and why it is necessary. In what way does quantum/relativity theory contribute to religious senti- ment? Quantum theory, I notice has been used to prove all sorts of incre- dible things, eg, God must exist, determinism is dead, Marxism is false, etc. Bill Horsley's problem is existential, in that science states how "things" relate to "things" and says nothing about human values. Human values have to be determined by each individual for better or for worse. The primate brain already sees value in chopping light up into colours. Light is Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 15 just a sequence of wavelengths and, there is no colour out there, but the brain finds this a useful classification for survival in a free environment. The term agnostic, invented by HUXLEY is supposed to mean one who does not know. There is no such person as a neutral agnostic. A person is either a religious agnostic (believes there is no evidence for god but has decided to hedge his "bet" in case he exists) or a aethestic agnostic, who see no evidence for god and acts as though he does not exist. Boe AWBERY, Reading (4/10/'87)

Socialism a "Religious Myth" STEPHEN COLEMAN'S statement (Ethical Record, January, '87, page 8) that for most of human history there were no wars or . . . should have been substantiated by some reference to a serious historical work published within the last ten years on the subject. I suspect that his "40,000 years of no violence" is only the first stage of a particular type of salvationism; the second stage being socialism. This is very similar to the belief of some Christians that at the second Coming Christ would establish a messianic kingdom on earth.. GEORGE WALFORD'S view that Stephen Coleman's socialism does not exist anywhere and has never existed should be amended to that it does exist as a religious myth. JIM ADDISON, London W12 (29/9/'87)

OBITUARY Dr. George Barasi-1910 to 1987

Dr GEORGE BARASI (1910-87) died on August 31. He was a keen Esperantist and an active member of the Progressive League and other organisations in the secular humanist movement, as well as a long-standing member of South Place and a frequent attender at our meetings. DOROTHY FORSYTH writes as follows: George was born in Paris into a Jewish family, though his father was Rumanian and his mother, Russian. They came to England when he was five years old. His father died when he was seven and George had to take on the responsibilities of "father" at a very early age, while his ,mother worked to support him and his younger brother. At 16 he matriculated—one of the youngest in the country, and then he went to Bans Hospital to study medicine and qualified at the age of 21, then he helped his brother to go to medical school and qualify. He trained at the Tavistock Clinic in Psychotherapy for GPs, and combined his role as a GP with that of a counsellor, seeing the two roles as complimentary, since physical symptoms often had psychological causes. In 1948 he married DOROTHY SENK (now FORSYTH) and they had two children Lyn and David. In 1954, in the prime of life, he underwent a serious brain operation, but made a remarkable recovery, and though he was never quite the same again, he was able to go on working as a GP until he was 70. To people who did not know him before this, George seemed to be rather an obsessional person, often depressed, and difficult to deal with; but that was the after effect of his illness, and we should remember that he had lived more than half his life before that. There is no reason to emphasise the latter phase of a person's life more than any other phase. In 1964, his marriage was dissolved, but he always said that Dorothy and her second husband, Tom FORSYTH, were his best friends. In the last few years he had become increasingly frail and lived in a rest home in Muswell Hill. However difficult he found it to cope with everyday things, he always managed to cope amazingly well with intellectual pursuits, and he retained interests particularly in Politics, psychology and philosophy, medical developments and languages, of which he spoke quite a few, including Esperanto.

16 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 Esperanto Congresws took him to many countries to meet follow Esperantists. George was a life long humanist and socialist. His "church" was the church of humanity. His life was a life truly worthy to be called human. On June 24, George had a fall which was to prove fatal. He was cremated at Garston Crematorium, near Watford, and the funeral oration was given by BARBARA SMOKER, who closed with the famous epitaph of the Epicureans: "I was not—I have been—I am not—I do not mind". Note: George Barasi has left the Society a substantial legacy (subject to probate) and among the books he has also bequeathed to the Society Sam Beer reports the following : ELIADE—From Primitives to Zen; ROSE H. & S.—Science & Society; CRYSTAL Linguistics; JAMES, WM.— Varieties of Religious Experience; GRoss—Joyce;

DAVIS — Noise; &in-mac—Experiment in Mindfulness; LORD SNELL — I940 Conway Hall Lecture; LAING—Politics of Experience & Bird of Paradise;

MEDAWAR — The Life Science; LEACH— Levi — Strauss; BERNE (Author of Games People Play)—Guide to Psychiatry; HOBSEAWM— Forward March of Labour Halted?; EMMETT—Nature of Metaphysical Thinking; STAFFORD BEER— Management Science; AINARez—Beckett; WALvoRD—Ideologies; NMALRIK— Will the Soviet Union Survive until I984?; GORE—Philosophy of the Good Life; O'BRIEN--Camus; and, BULLOCK & WOODINGS — VOntana Modern Thought.

LA, LA, McCabe Frenchmen whose names begin with LA are an interesting crowd Accord- ing to MCCABE'S Dictionary of Modern Rationalists there were : LABICHE, born 1815, wrote more than 100 "Voltairean" comedies. LABOUCHERE, born 1831, educated Eton and Cambridge, gave loyal and fearless support SO BRADLAUGH. *LA BRUYERE born 1645 wrote Character Studies. LACEPEDE born 1756 naturalist who also wrote operas and symphonies, friend Of GLUCK and VOLTAIRE. *LACLOS, born 1741, wrote Les L'iaisons Dangereuses. LAFAYETTE, born 1757, general in American army and in 1824-5 received ovation in USA. *LAFORGUE, born 1860, wrote first French Free Verse. LAGRANGE, born 1736, mathematical genius, head of commission which installed the decimal system. LALANDE, born 1732, astronomer, a zealous atheist who sheltered priests in 1794. LAMARCK, born 1744, Deist pioneer of evolutionary theory, Royal Botanist. LAMETTRIE, born 1709, surgeon expelled from France and Holland for his Homme-Machine. LA MOTHE, born 1588, tutor to royal princess, wrote "five dialogues in imitation of the ancients." LAROUSSE, born 1817, wrote Grand Dictionnaire Universe!, inspired by DIDEROT in 15 volumes. *LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, born 1613, wrote cynical Maxims. * Omitted by McCabe.

10th Humanist World Congress This will take place July 3I-August 4, 1988 at New York and Ontario. Theme: "Building a World Community: Humanism in the Twenty-First Century". Full details from: IHEU, Oudkerhof 11, 3512 GH Utrecht, Holland (Tel.: (030) 31 21 55) and/or from: P.O. Box 5, Buffalo, New York 14215 (Tel.: 716 834-2921).

Ethical Record, November/ December 1987 17 Ernst ToIler 1893-1939 On the NSS outing to Lewis and Eirle I met Mr PINSICERwho knew all about ERNST TOLLER. Not now SO famous as BERTOLTBRECHT (1898-1956), Taller wrote poetry and many plays including: •

Man and the Masses (1921); Machine - wreckers (1923); Hinkemann (Brokenbrow) (1926)—which caused riots; Hoppla! (1928). He had taken part in the Communist rising in Munich in 1919 and was imprisoned. He attacked the Nazis and in Nazionalsozialismus (1930) warned what would happen if they came to power. He came to Britain and then three-and-a-half months before the Second World War broke out, committed suicide in New York. Toller's plays are not now obtainable but I was told by the assistant at French's Bookshop that you can read them at the British Theatre Play Library (Regent's College, Inner Circle, Regent's Park NW1 4NS. Tele- phone: 01-935 2571). Toiler's Hinkemann During the Dresden performance in January 1924 the Nazis organised a riot and then wrote: "Has yesterday's theatre scandal not been warning enough to you louts that you have the impudence to impose again on the respectable German public the Jewish concoction of a tramp and Bolshevist criminal whose place should be at the gallows and not in the theatre!" The play is concerned with the emasculated Hinkemann's relations with his wife Grete. Wishing to buy her a Christmas gift and desperate for work, Hinkemann accepts a job in a carnival where he bites through the necks of live rats and drinks their blood. The play ends-with the suicide of both. SAM BEER In Defence of Misprints At the Reunion some fuss was made'about misprints in the Ethical Record by some notorious peasants/pedants. The most famous misprints have occurred in the Times viz. "Royal Society of RATS" was substituted for "Royal Society of Arts". "After Queen Victoria had opened the new bridge she pissed over it" (said to be done by a disgruntled printer who had just been sacked). I came upon the name VANILLABEER in the Times column of marriages and wrote in about it. I was too clever: it was genuine. Most people have heard of "the bottle scanned veteran "which a local paper amended to "the battle scaned veteran." The works of Shakespeare are full of misprints, some of which have not yet been solved. A famous one occurs in Henry V when Dame Quickly is talking about the death of Falstaff. The text now reads "He babbled of green fields" but for a long time no one could read it until some genius (I forget who) hit upon it. People who have been to PUBICschools always treasure their misprints. SAM BARE

MiddleClass and WorkingClass • ENGELS, friend of KARL MARX, first said that the trouble with the English working class is that it thinks it's middle class. This raises the problem of how you tell middle class from working class. The obvious way would be by income but people's incomes are a closed secret in this country. A rough index is what kind of house or car they own. The kind of English they speak is now regarded as a very dubious indicator.. The same is true of their holidays and newspapers. 18 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 About 30 years ago it was said that a working class person did not mind if he ate his dinner from a table covered in newspaper whereas the middle class person either had to have a tablecloth or went without because he was saving up for a three-piece suite. Working class parents were said to have a much rougher attitude to their children's upbringing. If a child had a quarrel it had to find its own way out but a middle class mother would always intervene and try to teach some moral lesson. The wearing of a tie was once regarded as middle class. There was one pub in Penge which no obvious middle class TOFF dare enter 20 years ago and this was true of many areas. Is it still true now?

Humane and Rational Tool The Atheist Debater's Handbook by B. C. JOHNSON (Prometheus Books, Buffalo—New York, 1981) is now in the Library. Reading and consultation therein will acquaint what in preantisexist days was termed everyman with arguments current and going back to AnseIm against "theism". As many of the key texts are in relatively inaccessible philosophical journals, the work of popularisation—in the best and by the way French sense—B. C. Johnson has achieved is of permanent value. The essential kinship between fairy and Santa Claus beliefs and most varieties of theism is effectively argued, and with civil glee a number of fundamentalist chestnuts are irrefutably laid to rest. Perhaps we now need a cheap edition and slight reworking of THROWER'S The Alternative Tradition, which explores varieties of unbelief in a context which might include, say, Julian the "Apostate from Nazarenism" emperor of Rome (see GORE VIDAL'S marvellous novel) who was yet in a declared way a polytheist, Taoism (as JOSEPH NEEDHAM has beautifully brought out) and the rich and tolerant deist classics. Meanwhile, this book is a source of zest and enlightenment for thinking people. NICHOLAS HYMAN

A Note Of permanent interest to members and visitors to the South Place Ethical Society are: S. K. RATCLIFFE: The Story of South Place (Watts, London 1955). W. S. MEADMORE: The Story of a Thousand Concerts (South Place Ethical Society 1927). FRANK V. 'HAWKINS: The Story of Two Thousand Concerts (South Place Ethical Society 1969). FRANK V. HAWKINS: A Hundred Years of Chamber Music (South Place Ethical Society 1987). I. D. MACKILLOP: The British Ethical Societies (Cambridge University Press 1986). DAVID TRIBE: "The rise and decline of ethicism" (New Humanist (102, 3) September 1987). As to "first principles"—in direst need of revision to make the transition to 2000—try: HORACE J. BRIDGES. ed. The Ethical Movement: Its Principles and Aims (co-authors BRIDGES, STANTON, COIT, G. E. O'DELL and HARRY SNELL) (The Union of Ethical Societies; London 1911) and inwardly digest the following: "The fundamental questions of life would be continuously left open, and every moral agent in the nation would be invited to contribute his original experience, insight and judgment to their ever deep solution". STANTON Com National Idealism and a State Church (1907) Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 19 "This one small society standing for the unpopular religion amid all the magnificence of Christendom is our answer. We have withdrawn our- selves from the incarnations of error and wrong and all their glory; we have now steadily to incarnate in our own lives the spirit of truth and love in all its lowliness. Every individual who takes that living spirit into his brain and heart, more and more day by day, till it organises his whole character and influence, is contributing something to form the force that shall be irresistible." MONCURE CONWAY: The Incarnation of Ideas in "Lessons for the Day" (1907)

Coming to Conway Hall Continued from page 2]

Sunday November 15 11.00 am Jim ITEluticK will talk about N. M. Roy. N. M. Roy was a major figure in the Indian independence movement, and the founder of the Radical Humanists in India. In the year of the centenary of his birth, and the fortieth anniversary of Indian independence, this lecture will look at his career and ideas. He began as a revolutionary at an early age and after arrest he escaped to Mexico, where he became a Communist and one of the founders of the Mexican Communist Party. On return to India in 1930, after many years' activity in the Communist movement, he was arrested. During six years in prison, he read widely and developed his theory of radical humanism. He wrote more than 100 books and pamphlets, and was widely admired as a thinker. The lecture will also consider the relevance for today of his concept of radical humanism. at 3.00 pm Social: What! Another Slide Show? PETER HUNOT will again show pictures with comments—of London (and elsewhere); of South Place Members (and others); and, Some Represen- tations of Women (and others). at 6.30 pm Concert: Bailey/Stott/ Furniss Piano Trio. MOZART,

• BEETHOVEN, FRANK BRIDGE.

Sunday November 22 at 11.00 am RODNEY MACE will talk about Bloody Sunday 1887. The author of "Trafalgar Square : Emblem of Empire" (Lawrence and Wishart), now with the London History Workshop Centre, wants to share his knowledge of the first "Bloody Sunday"—a landmark in the history of political repression and, relatedly, of all liberties. at 3.00 pm Forum: There will be a speaker from the National Council of Civil Liberties, to discuss the present and projected situa- tion regarding what we are free to do in Brtiain. PETER FRYER will also participate, and there will be readings from WILLIAM MORRIS and BERNARD SHAW, and Slides. at 6.30 pm Concert: Susdn Milan (flute), Ian Brown (piano). PETER MAXWELL DAVIES, MENDELSSOHN, FRANK MARTIN, RUHLAU, BEETHOVEN, BUSSER, MILHAUD.

Sunday November 29 at 11.00 am ELLIS HILLMAN will talk on the theme What if Napoleon Had Landed at Dover—Ifs, Individuals and the Notion of Inevitability. 20 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecenlber 1987

"My starting-point is from PLEKHANOV'S The Role of the Individual in History—The inevitable asserts itself through the accidental', as LENIN liked to quote. Indeed, history does not move inexorably along a straight line according to godlike and mechanical laws. "There have been many big 'ifs', where the course of history might have been radically different, had certain 'accidental' factors not interVened. To illustrate my thesis, I will present examples from the origins of Christianity, the British civil war of CROMWELL'S time, the 'Napoleonic wars' and our own century". at 3.00 pm Forum: General Discussion of Providence and Destiny. at 6.30 pm Concert: English String Quartet, Norbert Blume (viola). HAYDN, SCHUMANN, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, MOZART.

Sunday December 6 at 11.00 am BARBARA SMOKER will speak on Religion in Schools. "Questions of parental choice, the state and its relations with organised religions, and denominational schools are part of all our futures. The Natonal Secular Society, in a phrase Bishop Huon MONTEF1ORE parallelled, has commented on the decline since the 1944 Education Act "in Christian adherence (with increases both in non-belief and in non- Christian religions) in this country". I will look at proposed changes in the educational framework, in the context of the basic rignt to come into contact with a representative range of religious and cultural ideas". No af ternoon meeting. at 6.30 pm Concert: Piers Lane (piano). BACH-BUSONI, Liszt FRANCIS ROUTH, RACHMANINOV.

Sunday December 13 at 11.00 am James HEMMING will take A new Look at the Genes. The author of Instead of God needs no introduction. His verve and insight are now directed to the brain, and to unavowed macho/sexist aspects of recent claims in the nature-nurture debate. at 3.00 pm MARGARET QUASS, Director of the Council for Education in World Citizenship, will talk about Britain and UNESCO. The "friends of UNESCO" need to share their outrage at Britain's whimsical and bizarre departure from UNESCO. In the context of support for the United Nations and for international understanding, the question of Britain's role in (and against) UNESCO demands open examination. at 6.30 pm Concert: Fairfield String Quartet, Sally Beainish (viola). MOZART, ELGAR, MOZART.

Sunday December 20 at 11.00 am NICHOLAS HYMAN Will lecture on PATRICK HAMILTON of Hangover Square and Another England. From "darkest Earls Court" on Boxing Day 1938, to the last cheap cinema ticket in wartime, Hamilton's phantas- magoric and precisely observant novels summon unvarnished

Ethical Record, Novemberl December 1987 21 a hopeless, damned yet vibrant assembly of individuals. Especially for those who have never smoked, thought of murder while alone in the bath, or driven too fast to a 1930's roadhouse, and for anyone interested in the spell and ideology of fascism, Hamilton's insights demand a reader- ship towards 2,000. at 3.00 pm Forum: Subject to be Announced. • at 6.30 pm Concert: Musicians of the Royal Exchange (Director Anthony Goldstone). FETIS, ALKAN, SCHONBERG, SCHUMANN.

Saturday January 9 at 6.30 pm South Place New Year Party for Members, Friends and until others. 10.00 pm The evening will include Music and Poetry and Prose selected by NICHOLAS HYMAN and read by a variety of mem- bers. Drinks and Refreshments. Tickets : £2.50. Please book in advance with the SPES office (tickets will also be avail- able at meetings).

Sunday January 10 at 11.00 am First Meeting: Professor W. H. C. ARMYTAGE will speak on The Issue of Issue : Some Biological Musings. Biographer of A. J. MUNDELLA, THOMAS HUGHES and RICHARD GREGORY, and even better known as author of The Rise of the Technocracy, Heavens Below and Fester- day's Tomorrows, W. H. C. Armytage is a fresh and compelling lecturer. Forum: Is There a Depression?

Sunday January 17 at 11.00 am PETER FRYER will talk about The History of English Racism. From sharing in the teeth of censorship his understanding of Hungary in 1956, then of Grundyism/prudery in this country, Peter Fryer has brought his human attention to the centuries of "black presence" here. His Staying Power is crucial to knowledge of prejudice and community in contemporary Britain. at 3.00 pm Forum: JOHN WHITE —"We're doing humanism this term". John White Will talk about the practical presentation of "the ethical non-theistic tradition of Humanism" (in the words of the Inner London Education Authority syllabus) in schools. There will be an opportunity to look at the teaching material being used in the classrooms.

Sunday January 24 at 11.00 am JIM FYRTH will lecture on The Achievement of the 1930's. Did the values which swept a Labour government to power in 1945 represent what J. S. MILL termed "a victory of the vanquished" for the protesting, marching, dissenting men and women of radical and left convictions in the 1930s? Jim Fyrth's The Signal Was Spain (Lawrence and Wishart) is the latest to his contributions to our understanding of the. 1930s. His tireless commitment to adult education has always been joined to an original and participatory approach to history. 22 Ethical Record, NovemberlDecember 1987 South Place Ethical Society Registered Charity No. 251396

FOUNDED in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aim is the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, and the cultivation of a rational way of life. We invite to membership all those who reject supernatural creeds and find themselves in sympathy with our views. At Conway Hall there are opportunities for participation in many kinds of cultural activities, including discussions, lectures, concerts and socials. A comprehensive reference and lending library is available, and all Members and Associates receive the Society's journal, The Ethical Record,* ten times a year. The Sunday Evening - Chamber Music Concerts founded in 1887 have achieved international renown. Memorial and Funeral Services are available to members. Membership is by £1 enrolment fee and an annual Subscription. Minimum subscriptions are: Members, £4 p.a.; Life Members, £84 (Life membership is available only to members of at least one year's standing). It is of help to the Society's officers if members pay their subscriptions by• [see over

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM TO THE HONORARY REGISTRAR, SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY CONWAY HALL HUMANIST CENTRE RED LION SQUARE, LONDON WC1R 4RL The Society's objects (as interpreted by its General Committee in the light of a 1980 Court ruling) are the study and dissemination of ethical principles; and the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of education in fields relevant to these objectst Being in sympathy with the above, I desire to become a Member. I will accept the rules of the Society and will pay an annual subscription of £ (minimum £4 plus £1 enrolment). NAME (Ethical Record, Nov./Dec., '87 (BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE) ADDRESS

Town Postcode OCCUPATION (optional) How DID You HEAR OF THE SOCIETY? DATE / SIGNATURE Please send me details of payments by Banker's Order/Covenants. tFormally, the objects of the Society are the study and dissemination of ethical principles and the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment.

Banker's Order, and it is of further financial benefit to the Society if Deeds of Covenant are entered into. Members are urged to pay more than the minimum subscription whenever possible, as the present amount is not even sufficient to cover the cost of the journal. A suitable form of bequest for those wishing to benefit the Society by their wills is available from the office, as are Bankers Order and Deeds of Covenant Forms. No matter how small (or how large) a bequest to the Society is of immense practical and symbolic importance. If you or someone you know is making a will, please consider South Place Ethical Society as a beneficiary.

All those in agreement with the objects (see overleaf) are encouraged to support the Society by becoming Members. Complete the form overleaf and send it in today to the Honorary Registrar. If you want copies of the Programme of events/concerts for your- self and/or others, fill in the form (below, this page) and let the Secretary have it.

REQUEST FOR PROGRAMME

TO THE SECRETARY, SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY, CONWAY HALL HUMANIST CENTRE, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON WCIR 4RL No. of copies Please send me: The next programme of events CI

Full details of Concerts

NAME [Ethical Record, Nov./Dec., '87 (BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE)

ADDRESS

Town Postcode

and send a copy of : the programme of events concerts to : NAME

ADDRESS

Town Postcode Printed by St. Peters Press Ltd., 65A St. Peters St., St. Albans, Herts ALI 3EA. Telephone: 0727 51345