ABSTRACT
Silone's personal needs corresponded to a specifically Swiss problem, namely the lack of quality periodicals in German-speaking Switzerland where independent left-wing views were welcome. The KPS and SPS had their own papers, Der Kampfer and Das Volksrecht respectively; anyone wanting to take a critical view both of fascism and the organised left fell between the stools of state and party support. As shown in Chapter 2, Switzerland's skeleton intellectual left wing was engaged in a losing battle for the chimerical citadels of neutrality and freedom of speech throughout the inter-war period; attempts to found and maintain press organs constituted important campaigns in the ongoing struggle. Silone's search for uncompromising publications immediately attracted others in Zurich. He writes to Tasca of
a current of radical intellectuals, mostly architects and engineers, who don' t fancy joining the Communist Party, but feel very strongly the lack of an organised bond ['Iegame organizzativo'). They have invited me to hold a series of talks on current issues, every Tuesday evening until Christmas. At the end of the series, I could organise them into a group.7
