Mandel
SAYING NO TOPOWER
By William Mandel
Reviewed by WalterLippmann
Must greed, violence,racism and sexism forever be driving forces in society, or is an alternativepossible? Are they inherent features in capitalism, or just very bad beliefsand practices, which people of good will can ultimately overcome? Thesequestions have long challenged thinking
people.
Capitalism, thoughunstable, remains dominant in most of the world. SAYING NO TO POWER (CreativeArts, Berkeley, 1999) is William Mandel's account of over seventy years ofactivism for social justice within the pre-eminent capitalist power on earth. Ifound Mandel's account an enthralling read.
SAYING NO TO POWERis a fascinating, if somewhat overlong narrative. 83-year-old Mandel is theauthor of several books and innumerable academic and popular articles on theformer Soviet Union and other subjects. He's already working on his next book.Mandel will be speaking and signing at Skylight and Midnight Special this month(see calendar for June 10
and 11).
Born to parentswho supported the Russian Revolution and the Communist Party, USA, Mandel spenta year in the Soviet Union as a child, became fluent in Russian, and later aself-educated expert in Soviet affairs. He visited the Soviet Union numeroustimes, and has returned since the USSR's collapse. Without formal academic credentials, and holding very positiveviews of the USSR, Mandel was excluded from academic life, during the Cold warand since, though he's highly knowledgeable.
He joined theCommunist Party USA in the early, with which his relations were at timesstormy. Expelled at one point (for maintaining contact with his mother-in-law,whose politics differed from the CP),he defended himself vigorously, but was never told the outcome of his politicaltrial. They simply didn't take his dues or allow him to attend meetings. No onewould explain it to him. His politics hadn't changed.
Some years later,the CP invited him to rejoin. He made a half-hearted effort at seeing through areform process after the Khrushchev revelations of the crimes of Stalin. Whenthe CP didn't reform as he hoped, he left permanently in 1957.
Mandel remained anindependent activist, very sympathetic to, but not uncritical of, the USSRuntil the early 1990s. For most of his adult life, Mandel considered himself aMarxist. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Mandel longer considered himself aMarxist or even a socialist.
Today he callshimself a "pragmatic humanist". But he hasn't moved to the right.Unlike others who've made such a transition, Mandel doesn't repudiate his past.He mostly celebrates it, (without nostalgia). He just no longer believes ahigher form of society is possible.
You can see howhis gifts for public speaking and advocacy could have gained him a successfulcareer in business, academia or even mainstream politics, had he chosen it.Mandel, however, committed his entire life to struggles for free speech andsocial justice. We're all enriched by his choice.
Most striking arehis relentless opposition to racism and sexism, and an ability to learn frompeople he's involved with. He fought for the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s, PaulRobeson in the 1940s, W.E.B. DuBois in the 1950s, the Black Panthers in the1970s to Mumia Abu-Jamal today.
Mandel'sdisillusion with socialism and Marxism flowed from his belief that the SovietUnion was a socialist society. Had he not mistook a flawed experiment, acontradictory mix of positive and negative features, for the real thing, hemight not have given up the socialist goal.
To be a realalternative to capitalism, socialism requires material abundance superior tocapitalism, AND, an internally democratic political system. It can't beachieved in one or a few backward countries, as many believed.
The USSR, for allits economic achievements, never reached these. When it collapsed, it took thesocialist convictions of people like Mandel with it. Essentially, he threw outthe socialist baby with the Stalinist bathwater. Scholars and activists debatedthis hotly.
Yet it hasn'treduced his passion for social justice at all. He's fighting just as hard asever against injustice, but no longer proposes a systemic answer to society'sproblems.
Personal andfamily relationships today are often frail. Half of all marriages end indivorce. Mandel's tender, loving description of his successful 60-year marriage,and his few eloquent words of advice on how to build stable and mutuallysustaining relationships are touching and practical. I felt both awe and envyreading them.
Today when theexaltation of private and individual over social concerns is very high, and themedia celebrate the "end of history". William Mandel's story showshow much one person can do toward making the world a better place for all itsinhabitants.
Meet and hear William Mandel:
SKYLIGHT BOOKS
Saturday June 10, 7:30 PM
1777 N. Vermont, Los Feliz
(one block south of Franklin)
(323) 660-1175
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
Sunday June 11, 2:00 PM
1313 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica
(310) 393-2923
Mandel's website: