A Comment

[p069] plus a comment by Cliff Slaughter of the Socialist Labour League Central Com- mittee. Spiegel. Mr Mandel, are you a revolutionary? Mandel. Yes. Spiegel. And yet as a revolution- ary you wanted to become a professor, and consequently a lifetime functionary, in Germany? Mandel. I didn’t want anything. The Berlin students and assist- ants in economic sciences approached me and invited me. I accepted their offer. The W Berlin Senate’s rejection of my professorship testifies to their renunciation of the principles of constitutional government. Spiegel. You were rejected on the basis of the German regu- lations for officials because of your political activities. Can Marxist science be carried out only from the lecture podium? A Marxist professor would cer- tainly not be just a faculty hack but would also use his teaching for political practice. Mandel. Neither can a Marxist physician separate his profession from his political convictions. Nevertheless, in the operating theatre he does not practice the permanent revolution. It was not my intention to give lectures on the permanent revolution at the Berlin university. There is a certain difference between teach- ing and political activity ... Spiegel. For a_ physician, of course. There is no such thing as a Marxist, as opposed to a bourgeois, appendectomy. But you wanted to teach social politics, in which for a Marxist there is a unity of theory and practice. What Mandel said to ‘Der Speigel’ Mandel. No, a Marxist realizes no political practice through teaching school. I am _ no Utopian. A_ socialist revolution cannot be made by _ college students. It was also not my intention to lecture on _ the strategy and tactics of the revolutionary party at the Free University. Spiegel. Then wherein lies the revolutionary practice of a Marxist scholar? Mandel. Simply in the merciless criticism of reality. Unlike bourgeois scholars, we have no need to defend or protect the existing society. For Marx and all real Marxists, the severe, objective, scientific analysis of society is a precondition for conscious revolutionary action. We do not deny facts just because they may not fit into our models. For that reason I am also in favour of plurality of opinion at the university. Neither bourgeois nor revolutionary scholars should be excluded. Beyond that, I have my political convictions. I belong to a revolutionary organization, and along with my professional activities I want to extend my political action—the two are not identical. Spiegel. Which organization? Mandel. I work for the building of the Fourth International. Spiegel. You are a member of the Secretariat. the highest body of this Trotskyist Fourth Inter- national. What are your activities? Mandel. I write articles, take part in meetings, draft resolu- tions and submit them for votes. I hold open “meetings and educational classes. The Fourth International is not a conspir- atorial organization. I am not a weapons-dealer; I am not a bomb-carrier; nor am I a counterfeiter. Our activity is not secret. Spiegel. Doesn’t the Fourth International also work secretly? Mandel. Only in countries where there is no democratic freedom ©