Time and Eternity

Readers will probably remember some of the broadcasts and interviews by Malcolm Muggeridge in late 1970s and 80s. This volume of uncollected writings back to the 1930s contains an informative introduction to his life and times. The collection begins with his epoch-making article on the collectivisation of the Ukraine, involving the deaths of millions of peasants through famine. The article describes his encounters with residents and the tactics employed by the government in support of their ideologically driven policy. Although Bertrand Russell had written critically about Bolshevism 10 years previously, many intellectuals still disbelieved its devastating effects. Speaking of Russell, Muggeridge writes a scathing review of Ronald Clark's massive biography, characterising Russell as utterly heartless in his personal relationships. Russia crops up later in the volume with an essay on Solzhenitsyn and Tolstoy's book on the law of the love and the law of violence, a dilemma that remains unresolved in spite of such luminous advances as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. What strikes one most is the range of his coverage of so many key issues and events; one is also reminded that it was a documentary by Muggeridge that made the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta known to the world - she provides a foreword to the book.