T.S. Eliot`s idea of the clerisy, and its discussion by Karl Mannheim and Michael Polanyi in the context of J.H. Oldham`s moot

In 1938, Joseph Oldham, a leading British Christian ecumenist, formed a discussion group that came to be known as the Moot. The Moot met in a retreat setting for several long weekends each year until early 1947, its discussions carefully organized and convened by Oldham. More than anything else, the discussions of the Moot revolved around the topic of order and, more particularly, around the problem of how order might be restored in British society and culture in the context of a ‘world turned upside down’. Oldham and most members of the group sought a central place for Christian ideas and ideals in British social life.

A striking feature of the Moot was the intellectual stature and the diversity of interests of its members. Among its 16 or so regular members were Oldham (1874-1969), his close friend T.S. Eliot (1888-1963) and Karl Mannheim (1893-1947). Among the later ‘visitors’ to Moot meetings was Michael Polanyi (1891-1976), who first came to the 20th Moot meeting in June of 1944.1

This article presents several papers that were produced for the Moot discussion of 15-18 December 1944 by Eliot, Mannheim and Polanyi. These papers have intrinsic and historical interest, and are published together for the first time here. The initial paper, written by Eliot, treats the role in society of ‘the clerisy’2 - a term borrowed from Samuel Taylor Coleridge that points to an intellectual elite or vanguard. Eliot requested that Oldham solicit responses to his paper from Mannheim and Polanyi. Mannheim’s response was a set of detailed answers to four questions that Eliot posed at the end of his essay. Polanyi’s response was a short, coherent essay, which he identified as ‘my own position with respect’ to Eliot’s discussion; his essay outlines a brief account of the role of the clerisy in science.3 Eliot wrote short comments on the responses of both Mannheim and Polanyi. These five pieces, which have a natural unity, should be of interest to anyone working in the history of social thought. We have abridged only Mannheim’s lengthy response and have eliminated a few lines of illustrative material from Eliot’s reply to Mannheim, but these excisions in no way detract from the clarity of the authors’ perspectives in this rich trilogue.

The genus Unixenus Jones, 1944 (Diplopoda, Penicillata, Polyxenida) in Australia

The penicillate genus Unixenus Jones, 1944 is widespread, with species found in Africa, Madagascar, India and Australia. Each of the two Australian species was originally described from single samples from Western Australia. In this study, collections of Penicillata from museums in all states of Australia were examined to provide further details of the two described species, to revise the diagnoses for both the genus and the species, and to better understand the distribution of the two species in Australia. In addition, two new species Unixenus karajinensis sp. n. and Unixenus corticolus sp. n. are described.

'He no doubt felt insulted': the White Australia Policy and Australia's relations with India, 1944-1964

The Government of India never publicly criticised the White Australia policy. Nonetheless it was a subject of constant reporting to New Delhi by the Indian High Commission in Canberra.  The Australian High Commission in New Delhi regularly reported criticism of the policy in the Indian press and in elite opinion.  It urged the introduction of a quota for Indian immigration to Australia, but ministers remained unwilling to modify the policy in any substantial way, in the period under study.  South Africa's apartheid policy was a far more serious problem in race relations for the Indian Government.  The existence of the White Australia policy when countries such as Canada had introduced quotas for Indian immigration, suggested an Australia mired in attitudes irrelevant to a decolonising world.  The Australian High Commissioner thought that although Nehru made no public comments on the policy, he must have felt insulted by its existence.

Four new species of Unixenus Jones, 1944 (Diplopoda, Penicillata, Polyxenida) from Australia

Unixenus carnarvonensis sp. n., U. corringlensis sp. n., U. barrabaensis sp. n. and U. myallensis sp. n. are described from Australia. A revised diagnosis of U. karajinensis and new details on the distribution of the species are given. A key is presented to 10 of all 11 currently known species of the genus.

Remaking asylum in post-war France, 1944−52

This article examines the steps by which asylum and the rights of refugees were remade in France after the Liberation. The legacy of the pre-1940 period, in which exclusive practices such as legislative prohibitions on refugees, expulsion and internment were the norm, resulted in the need, after the war, to restate and reaffirm republican prin- ciples. The article will examine the ideological assumptions that lay behind the postwar asylum debate, and address why it was necessary to place asylum so firmly within republican political culture