The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

      

HYDE PARK, Tuesday—I have a rather constant correspondent who doesn't like me at all, but his handwriting is so hard to decipher that I have great difficulty in discovering what it is he objects to!

In his last note he seems to have completely misunderstood the effort I have made to explain the thinking of people in Asia on Marxism and their lack of knowledge about the development of this theory into a reality under Stalin, which in no way coincides with the theory.

He does not take the trouble to mention that this was only an effort at explaining other people so that we would understand them better and he takes it for granted that I agree with the Marxist theory. I do not happen to agree with it, but I disagree much more violently with what Stalin has developed because his practice means slavery of the individual and of the mind.

I would be grateful, however, if correspondents who misunderstand what I have said, would use a typewriter. I have such a bad handwriting myself that I cannot be severe about anyone else who suffers from the same difficulty but I am sure these people who write me would like to have me read what they have to say and it is extremely difficult to do so unless the communication is typewritten.

I have just seen a rather interesting program which comes from Stevens College in Columbia University. They have a world citizenship organization on the campus and are cooperating with any activities already established to promote world understanding.

They had the good fortune to have Chester Bowles speak to them, according to the program they sent to me, and for two weeks before his arrival they did everything possible to promote a knowledge and interest in India.

The library had a display of Indian art, literature and poetry. The fashion department dressed one of its models in a sari, the dining room served an Indian meal, the college paper ran a world citizenship organization quiz, they invited Indian students to be the guests of the counsel and to be entertained in the dormitories.

They showed Louis Bromfield's picture THE RAINS CAME at the 10-cent movie and asked every class, if they could, to incorporate in their discussions something on India, their customs, religions and people. From India they will go on to discussions of the United Nations, of Sweden, of Russia and of Denmark, and in the spring they will turn to the Latin American countries.

This seems to me an excellent way to encourage interest in the rest of the world on a student level.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED)


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  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, November 25, 1953

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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