9 SOCIAL SCIENTIST and hence makes it ill-equipped for any authentic advance; the suppression of so-called "saboteurs", a euphemism for repressing minorities, causes acute social retrogression, a fact underscored in both the above papers. The theoretical issues thrown up by the emergence of fascism have been much discussed by Marxist writers with reference to the European situation of the thirties and the forties. While some of it, e.g. the work of Dimitrov and Togliatti is very familiar, the monumental theoretical effort of Georgy Lukacs, in particular The Destruction of Reason, is less well-known, partly because for a long time this work was not available in English. Margit Koves introduces readers to Lukacs' work on fascism, and provides in the process a view of Lukacs' own theoretical development which is instructive in itself for any student of Marxism. Artist, Communist, fighter for the emancipation of the oppressed Black minority in the U.S., crusader against fascism and imperialism, and symbol of the struggle for human dignity, Paul Robeson is one of the outstanding figures of this century. On the occasion of his centenary Vijay Prashad pays a tribute to this remarkable man. And finally we publish a note by Prabin Baishya arguing that the putting out system, far from being an innovation introduced into India by the Dutch, French or English merchants, was actually prevalent in ancient India, long before the advent of the foreign traders.