page_title: C. E. M. Joad
section_title: 1930s–1940s
hierarchical_section_title: C. E. M. Joad / 1930s–1940s
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Deutsch: Interessante Hexenversuche in moderner Zeit&#160;! Auf dem Brocken im Harz unternahm der bekannte englische Prof. Harry Price, zum erstenmal ein grosses Experiment, um den mythischen Glauben alter Sagen zu untersuchen und zu entkräften. Als Experiment diente die alte Sage, dass in einer Vollmond-Nacht ein Ziegenböcklein auf dem Brocken durch eine Jungfrau reinen Herzens in einen bildschönen Jüngling verwandelt wurde. Das magische Dreieck auf dem Brocken, in welchem die Hexen-Experimente stattfanden. Prof. Price mit dem jungen Ziegenbock neben ihm Prof. Joad und Fräulein Urta Bohn die Jungfrau reinen Herzens, welche das Experiment ausführten. English: An interesting witch experiment in modern times! On the Brocken in Harz, the well-known English Prof. Harry Price for the first time performed a great experiment in order to investigate and confirm the mystical belief in the old saying. As experiment served the old saying that in a full moon-night, a young goat on Brocken would turn into a handsome young man through a maiden pure in heart. The magical triangle on Brocken, in which the whitch experiment took place. Prof. Price with the young goat, at his side Prof. Joad and Ms. Urta Bohn, the maiden pure in heart, who performed the experiment.
context_page_description: Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad was an English philosopher and broadcasting personality. He appeared on The Brains Trust, a BBC Radio wartime discussion programme. He popularised philosophy and became a celebrity, before his downfall in a scandal over an unpaid train fare in 1948.
context_section_description: In his early life Joad very much shared the desire for the destruction of the Capitalist system. He was expelled from the Fabian Society in 1925 because of sexual misbehaviour at its summer school, and did not rejoin until 1943. In 1931, disenchanted with Labour in office, Joad became Director of Propaganda for the New Party. Owing to the rise of Oswald Mosley's pro-Fascist sympathies, Joad resigned, along with John Strachey. Soon afterwards he became bitterly opposed to Nazism, but he continued to oppose militarism and gave his support to pacifist organisations, including the No More War Movement and the Peace Pledge Union.
  While at Birkbeck College Joad played a leading role in The King and Country debate. The motion, devised by David Graham and debated on Thursday 9 February 1933, was "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country.” The debate was often interpreted as illustrating both the attitude of Oxford undergraduates and the state of Europe at the time; Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany just ten days prior to the debate. Joad was the principal speaker in favour of the proposition, which passed by a vote of 275 to 153. Joad's speech was described as “well-organized and well-received, and probably the single most important reason for the outcome of the debate.” Joad's part in the debate caused him to gain a public reputation as an absolute pacifist. Joad was also involved in the National Peace Council, which he chaired, 1937-38.
  Joad was an outspoken controversialist; he declared his main intellectual influences were George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells. He was strongly critical of contemporary philosophical trends such as Marxism, Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis. He was also repeatedly referred to as "the Mencken of England", although, as Kunitz and Haycraft pointed out, Joad and Mencken "would be at sword's point on most issues". On aesthetics he was incurably platonic: on listening to the "lowering effect" of Debussy's music, he felt his "vitality and zest for life draining away"; jazz and swing music are "sounds which do not strictly belong to the class of music at all"; Dylan Thomas's "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" was partly "meaningless... some of the allusions baffle the intellect"; symbolism in art is "often used as a device... for disguising the fact that there is nothing to communicate", citing Denton Welch's "Narcissus Bay" as an example; and in her "persistent refusal to grade, to give moral marks or to assign values", he found Virginia Woolf's work leaving him feeling that "nothing seems to be very much worth while".
  Joad crusaded to preserve the English countryside against industrial exploitation, ribbon development, overhead cables and destructive tourism. He wrote letters and articles in protest against decisions being made to increase Britain's wealth and status, as he believed the short term status would bring long term problems. He organised rambles and rode recklessly through the countryside. Joad was also associated with the fledgling naturist movement in England. He also had a passion for hunting.
  Hating the idea of nothing to do, Joad organised on average nine lectures per week and two books per year. His popularity soared and he was invited to give many lectures and lead discussions. He also involved himself in sporting activities such as tennis and hockey, and recreational activities such as bridge, chess and the player piano. He was a great conversationalist, and enjoyed entertaining distinguished members of society.
  After the outbreak of the Second World War he became disgusted at the lack of liberty being shown (he was a founding vice-president of the National Council for Civil Liberties from 1934). He went as far as to beg the Ministry of Information to make use of him. In January 1940 Joad was selected for a BBC Home Service wartime discussion programme, The Brains Trust, which was an immediate success, attracting millions of listeners. Shortly afterwards Joad abandoned his pacifism and placed his support behind the B
caption: Joad second from right on the Brocken in June 1932
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