Editing Cecil Day-Lewis (section)

==Political views==

In his youth and during the disruption and suffering of the [[Great Depression]], Day-Lewis adopted communist views, becoming a member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] from 1935 to 1938. His early poetry was marked by didacticism and a preoccupation with social themes.<ref name=infoplease>[http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0814844.html Day Lewis, C], Infoplease</ref> In 1937, he edited ''The Mind in Chains: Socialism and the Cultural Revolution''. In the introduction, he supported a popular front against a "Capitalism that has no further use for culture". He explains that the title refers to [[Prometheus]] bound by his chains, quotes [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]]'s preface to ''[[Prometheus Unbound (Shelley)|Prometheus Unbound]]'' and says the contributors believe that "the Promethean fire of enlightenment, which should be given for the benefit of mankind at large, is being used at present to stoke up the furnaces of private profit". The contributors were: [[Rex Warner]], [[Edward Upward]], [[Arthur Calder-Marshall]], Barbara Nixon, [[Anthony Blunt]], [[Alan Bush]], [[Charles Madge]], Alistair Brown, [[J.D. Bernal]], [[T.A. Jackson]] and [[Edgell Rickword]].

After the late 1930s, which were marked by the widespread purges, repression, and executions under [[Joseph Stalin]] in the Soviet Union, Day-Lewis gradually became disillusioned with communism.<ref name=greenwichpast/> In his autobiography, ''The Buried Day'' (1960), he renounces former communist views.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artehistoria.com/frames.htm?http://www.artehistoria.com/historia/personajes/7266.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310171718/http://www.artehistoria.com/frames.htm?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.artehistoria.com%2Fhistoria%2Fpersonajes%2F7266.htm|url-status=dead|title=Arte Historia Personajes|archive-date=10 March 2007|access-date=9 July 2019}}</ref> His detective novel, ''[[The Sad Variety]]'' (1964), contains a scathing portrayal of doctrinaire communists, the Soviet Union's repression of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 Hungarian uprising]], and the ruthless tactics of Soviet intelligence agents. {{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}