Our readers speak out

Scan page 19

Gay coverage Dear editors, Please find enclosed $4 for six months of Socialist Action. I liked the articles in the July issue about Sri Lanka, the pro-choice coverage, and coverage of events in Eastern Europe.

I am a reader of The Militant and think it is important for revolutionary socialists to seriously consider the viewpoints of both newspapers in this era of capitalist euphoria and Stalinist betrayal.

I also liked Sylvia Weinstein's salute to Dorothy and Bill on Gay Liberation Day. I hope Socialist Action will more widely cover both the AIDS crisis and participation of lesbians and gays in the social protest movements.

Sadly, one common feature of The Militant and Socialist Action was the complete lack of coverage about gay participation in the gulf antiwar movement which, in both San Francisco and New York, was quite large. However, I keep an open mind and eye toward this changing. My comrades in Act Up and 18 SOCIALIST A Queer Nation shouldn't have to say "One hundred thousand dead from AIDS-where was the left?"

am looking forward ing Socialist Action.

G.K.

New York, N.Y.

Visual arts Dear editors, Franklin Balch's article "Do the visual arts have a future," in the Opinion column of your August edition, was quite thought-provoking. Nevertheless, I believe the author presents a rather narrow definition of what he terms "social and political meaning" in art.

Along these lines, for example, the author continually disparages "irrelevant abstraction" in painting-in which he lumps Mannerism, the abstract style of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

The period of Mannerism was one of wars, revolts, and scientific "heresies" against religious doctrine. By means of distorted, inward-looking, and dream-like TION SEPTEMBE images, the Mannerists reflected (and tried to deal with) the turmoil of society in their times. In the field of literature, a good example of the rather complex "social and political meaning" of Mannerist works can be seen in Shakespeare's later "dark plays," such as "Hamlet."

Art today-however unconsciously-reflects a period at least as tumultuous as that of Shakespeare's time. But it is useless for commentators to prescribe what style today's artists should adopt to enhance their "social and political meaning." For socialists, our job is to change the material basis of society. As always, art will adjust to reality.

Richard Amold San Francisco, Calif.

Visual arts II Dear editors, I was upset seeing how much space you gave to F. Balch's theories about "art." While you labeled it as "opinion," Balch seems to think he is dealing with a lot of hard facts. If people like Balch are excited about "art" they should show it by making some strong political cartoons, etc., and I don't mean "great" stuff like what he calls "Picasso's powerful Guernica." The bombing of Guernica civilians could inspire great protests, but Picasso's abstract painting of it is an "evocation of horror and pathos" only for those who have entered the museum through the right door and read the right books, etc., etc.

A scientist has theories that he can explain, step by step, as far as we can follow. So does an artist to a certain extent; then maybe he gets into what Balch says somebody else called "a puzzle which ... the artist himself hasn't solved."

That doesn't stop the followers of followers from jumping on bandwagons of those who propose to see and feel more deeply than themselves. These insecure people are simply afraid to believe that they don't appreciate something that is "great art." They remind us of the old story wherein the cat cried because the dog cried, etc., and finally we come to the little boy—and even he didn't know why he was crying.