SIR, —There is much that is undoubtedly true in Mr. Joyce
Cary's article, 'The Censorship Plot,' but he is surely letting his imagination run away with him when he describes the Bill to outlaw horror comics as simply the first move in a general campaign to destroy liberty of publication and liberty of thought. I fail to see any evidence whatever to support this assertion.
Mr. Cary overlooks the fact that side by side with the campaign to ban horror comics is another campaign to liberalise the law relat- ing to obscenity in literature, and that the supporters of the one are frequently also the supporters of the other. It is an open secret that the person largely responsible for the witch-hunt last year against reputable publish- ing firms was the former Home Secretary. But this same Home Secretary repeatedly refused to take action against horror comics. The present Home Secretary, on the other hand (incidentally, the son of a great Liberal), has all along promised action against the comics, but has also shown himself sympathetic to a change in the law relating to literature.
As with individuals, so with groups. At least one well-known weekly has consistently called for both the banning of horror comics and the liberalising of the obscenity law for books.
That there are those who wish to destroy freedom of speech and thought, I do not doubt. But to suggest that the horror comics Bill is the first of their campaigns is surely to distort and falsify the whole position.—Yours faithfully,
I. COTTON
28 Fairleigh Drive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
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