Stockholm, Sweden
September 13, 1951
My dear Reich,
I thought I'd wait to write after I'd met the Oslo folks. I am
on my way to Copenhagen after lecturing to crowded houses in Oslo,
Stockholm, Gavle' and getting well paid for it too. Raknes had invited
two young couples (patients) to dinner, so that the heart to heart talk
with him did not come off. I can only give you what is more or less
gossip. Judith [Bogen] has a theory, expressed something like this ...
"When we were all per du [the familiar form of address] and called
Reich Willy it was wonderful, but when he left us we all felt lost, and
some tried to stand on their own feet by trying all sorts of methods.
We weren't disloyal and are not still, for you can't love Willy and
later be disloyal to him. If some broke away it was through weakness
not desire to. Philipson to this day worships Reich."
When I mentioned you in Oslo to 600 in the Univ'y Gamle Saal [Old
Hall] I got no reaction at all. None of the papers spoke about my men
tioning you, pity, for I told Oslo that you are the only man who has
contributed anything of value to the science of humans since Freud.
We stayed with Elsa Backer in her hut in the mountains for over 3
weeks. Ena and Zoe got bored after a time but I took the chance to
begin writing a book about babies. They went home end of August and
I stayed to earn money. But at my age lecturing is very tiresome, not the
actual lectures but the meeting people, especially the press. Queer that
I can get a much bigger audience here than anywhere in England.
You want me to give you proofs about the R.C. man in Visa office,
but I can't. And in any case that letter replying to my M.P. friend, from
State Dept. refusing the visa again, that had nothing to do with Mr.
Clarence McIntosh of the London visa section. Nay, Reich, nichts zu
machen da [nothing to be done there].
Going to stay with Leunbachs whom I saw on my way up. I expect
to meet Philipson again. But my next letter will I hope give the Danish
Lage [situation].
I heard a Swedish doctor say: "Reich was all right up to Character
Analysis but after that, of course, he went astray." It is the typical
Freudian viewpoint in London also, as you can guess.
- I •