and for me to work there, but it is too small to house both Peter and
his cronies and Reich and his work. So this leaves another problem to
be solved, as long as the observatory is not back in its function.
I still hope to come over next year and to see all of you again. My
love to you, Ena and Zoe.
Summerhill School
Leiston, Suffolk
My dear Reich,
..tDecember 23, 1952It was a joy to get your Xmas letter. From my side, I too wish
you a prosperous New Year, the three of you.
And to hell with political disagreements! I haven't given politics a
thought for months, but it is so difficult to stand alone.
For instance, they want me to add my name to a petition to the
President to reprieve the Rosenbergs. * I want to ask them why they
did not petition against the Prague executionst also. I don't like it;
humanitarianism says, yes, save the R.s from death; self-interest says ...
And get my name associated with Communism again? I do want to stay
clear of the whole damned lot.
I have written a new book,t lots about Zoe and self-regulation, but
it won't be out till the fall, for my publishers say that the coronation
[of Queen Elizabeth II] will swamp all papers and any book appearing
in spring will go unnoticed. Much of the book damns Soviet education.
Lectured in Sweden and Denmark again last September, but didn't
go to Norway.
Got a new book on Cancer, thinking to send it on to you as an Xmas
present. His [the author's] point is that wrong feeding is the whole story
added to artificial manures and poison sprays for plants and trees. So
I didn't send it to you. Reminds me of a question some visitors put to
me ... "If Reich is right about cancer and sex, why has cancer in-
* Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Americans convicted of espionage in 1951 and,
after much controversy, executed in June 19 53.
t Eleven old-guard Communists were hanged in a purge of those opposed to
tightened Stalinist controls over Czechoslovakia.
* The Free Child (London; Herbert Jenkins, 1953 ). Neill sums up what
he has learned in a lifetime of work with children and makes a strong plea for
full freedom and self-regulation.