"The Soviet Pact of August 23 and the European War have changed the whole atmosphere of American cultural life" and have caused American authors of the left "tremendous confusion and disunity," according to Granville Hicks '23, former counsellor in American History and one-time member of the Communist Party.

In an address on "Literature and the Left, 1929 to 1939" in the Upper Common Room of the Union last night, Hicks described the impact of recent political events upon American literature to a Freshman discussion group in American Civilization.

Hicks described the complete "disillusionment with the Soviet Union" which radical authors had received following the signing of the pact with Germany, and later, during the question period, told why he resigned from the Communist Party this fall:

"A Betrayal of the Revolution"

"I quarrel with the concept of the Communist Party that it is the responsibility of the Party to defend the foreign policy of the Soviet Union regardless of what it does. I have also very grave doubts about the policy of the Soviet Union itself. I think its present action is a betrayal of the World Revolution."

The former Communist assured questioners that he had not varied one jot from the principles which he had endorsed before the outbreak of the European War.