Ernest Mandel (1923-1995)

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Ernest Mandel (5. april 1923 – 20. juli 1995). Belgisk marxistisk økonom og teoretiker og gennem årtier det ledende medlem af det trotskistiske Fjerde Internationale.

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Indhold

• Forord
• Biografier / Biographies
• Bibliografier / Bibliographies
• Sites
• Nekrologer og artikler / Obituaries and articles
• Debat / Debate
• Bøger / Books
• Bøger/pjecer af Ernest Mandel på dansk

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Forord

Ernest Mandel (5. april 1923 – 20. juli 1995). Belgisk marxistisk økonom og teoretiker og gennem årtier det ledende medlem af det trotskistiske Fjerde Internationale. Ernest Mandel var en produktiv forsker, skribent og forfatter/debattør om utallige emner, som marxistisk økonomi, -teori og -strategi, reform og revolution, fascisme, stalinisme og statskapitalisme og markedssocialisme kontra socialistisk økonomi. Som økonom blev han internationalt kendt for bøger og artikler om verdenskapitalismen og de ‘lange bølger’.

Nedenfor er der referencer til sites, biografier, bibliografier, nekrologer, bøger og debat.

Bjarne A. Frandsen. December 2005.
Revideret marts 2023.

 

Biografier / Biographies

Denstoredanske

• Ernest Mandel

Leksikon for det 21. århundrede

• Mandel, Ernest

Lubitz’ TrotskyanaNet

• Wolfang and Petra Lubitz: Ernest Mandel Survey. With bio-bibliographical material.

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

• Ernest Mandel

Ernest Mandel: A rebel’s dream deferred
By Jan Willem Stutje (London, Verso, 2009, 424 s.).

Reviews:

• Martin Thomas: Ernest Mandel and the impasse of orthodoxy (Solidarity & Workers’ Liberty, nr.450, 11. okt. 2017).
• Michael Löwy: A systematic biography of Ernest Mandel (International Viewpoint, nr.417, okt. 2009).
• Alan Wald: A Mandel for all seasons (Against the Current, nr.142, sept.-okt. 2009).
• Phil Hearse: Destiny of a revolutionary (International Viewpoint, nr.414, juli-august 2009).
• Barry Healy: Ernest Mandel, a revolutionary life (Green Left Weekly, nr.800, 29. juni 2009).
• Liam Mac Uaid: I am revolution (Socialist Resistance, 9. juni, 2009).

Ernest Mandel: a life for the revolution

A documentary by Chris Den Hond, 2005 (YouTube.com, 2014, 1:33:57 tim.). “This documentary looks back at Mandel’s life and 60 years of struggles.” See International Viewpoint (22. juli 2007).

 

Bibliografier / Bibliographies

The Lubitz’ TrotskyanaNet

• Ernest Mandel Bibliography
  Contents: Books and pamphlets by Ernest Mandel – Articles and other contributions by Ernest Mandel – Books and articles about Ernest Mandel – Appendices.

Ernest Mandel Internet Archive

• Bibliography: Ernest Mandel’s book-format works in English.

 

Sites

Ernest Mandel (1923-1995)

Ernest Mandel Internet Archive (English)
Contents: Works – About Mandel’s life and works – Debates, interviews – Multimedia – Bibliography.

International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE)

Ernest Mandel Study Centre + Mandel: Publishing Ernest Mandel’s selected writings
“In 1996 the Ernest Mandel Study Centre was established in his honour, in order to promote research in economic and social theory in his humanist and militant spirit.”

International Viewpoint

Ernest Mandel Archive: A collection of online articles and documents by Ernest Mandel.

The Lubitz’ TrotskyanaNet

Ernest Mandel Survey
Contents: Ernest Mandel Bibliography – Ernest Mandel Biography (in English and German) – List of Ernest Mandel’s pseudonyms – Note about the Ernest Mandel Archive at Amsterdam – List of books dedicated to Ernest Mandel – List of commemorations held in honour of Ernest Mandel – External links to Ernest Mandel sites in the WWW.

Marxisme Online

Ernest Mandel
P.t. kun pjecen Hvad er fremmedgørelse? (1970).

Marxistarkiv.se

Verk av Mandel + Artiklar som handlar om E Mandel, hans teorier och arbete

Marxists Internet Archive

Marxist writers : Ernest Mandel
Works online by Ernest Mandel.

Marxists Internet Archive: Svenska arkivet

Ernest Mandel, 1923-1995
Artikler og pjecer 1970-1992.

Interview with Ernest Mandel. By Harold Channer (YouTube, April 20, 2009,  05-22-91 Original air date). Scroll frem til 32:38-58:51 min., efter interview med Daniel Singer.

 

Nekrologer og artikler / Obituaries and articles

Ernest Mandel Internet Archive

• About Mandel’s life and work

Against the Current

Anwar Shaikh: Ernest Mandel: 1923-1995: a passionate optimistic Marxist (nr.59, nov.-dec. 1995).
“I would like to dwell on his intellectual contribution to an absolutely fundamental issue in the struggle against capitalism: the analysis of its own internal dynamics, of the forces that drive it to dizzying new heights only to bring it back down to new lows …”

Andre Gunder Frank: In tribute to Ernest Mandel (nr.59, nov.-dec. 1995).
“Even with all his humanism, I never understood how Ernest Mandel maintained his inveterate optimism in the face of all the evidence; and yet, the more the evidence comes in, the more do we need his optimism and humanism – as well as his analysis – to get out of it.”

Conter

Mandel and capitalist breakdown (3. august, 2020).
“Using insights from Belgian Marxist thinker Ernest Mandel, economist George Kerevan argues capitalism will suffer profound breakdown this century.”

Critique

Hillel Ticktin: Obituary: Ernest Mandel, 1923-1995 (nr.30-31, 1998, s.259-263).
“Ernest Mandel dominated the far left. He was a magnificent speaker and a prolific author. As general secretary of his organisation, the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, he played a crucial political role on the world stage, even if many outside the far left do not know it.”

Fourth International

Alex de Jong: Ernest Mandel’s short twentieth century (8. april 2023).
“Socialist scholar and activist Ernest Mandel was born one hundred years ago, on April 5, 1923. A ‘Flemish internationalist of Jewish descent’, he was a militant and scholar, writing some of the most significant works of Marxist theory of the second half of the twentieth century.”

Historical Materialism

Symposium: Ernest Mandel and the historical theory of global capitalism (15:1, 2007, s.37-198). Only abstracts online.
“Ernest Mandel theorised the capitalist world economy as an articulated system of capitalist, semi-capitalist and precapitalist relations of production, linked to each other by capitalist relations of exchange and domination by the capitalist world market. This seems to be an interesting starting point for an historically well-founded theory, building on and going beyond Marx’s work, of the worldwide expansion of the capitalist mode of production from its origins to the present. In his attempt to formulate his theory, Mandel did not succeed in resolving all difficulties, however.”

• Editorial introduction (s.37-46).
• Jairus Banaji: Islam, the Mediterranean and the rise of capitalism (s.47-74).
• Patrick Karl O’Brien: Global economic history as the accumulation of capital through a process of combined and uneven development: an appreciation and critique of Ernest Mandel (s.75-108).
• Michael R. Krätke: On the history and logic of modern capitalism: the legacy of Ernest Mandel (s.109-143)
• Marcel van der Linden: The ‘Law’ of Uneven and Combined Development: some underdeveloped thoughts (s.145-165).
• Jan Willem Stutje: Concerning Der Spätkapitalismus: Mandel’s quest for a synthesis of late capitalism (s.167-198).
• Jan Willem Stutje: The legendary optimism of Ernest Mandel (pdf)

See Review of the symposium by Andy Kilmister (Socialist Outlook, nr.13, efterår 2007; online på Internet Archive).

International Viewpoint

Michael Löwy: Ernest Mandel and ecosocialism (20. juli 2020).
“Concern for the environment appeared strongly in Mandel’s writings only from the 1970s.”

Michel Husson: The economics of Ernest Mandel, yesterday and today (20. juli 2020).
“A quarter of a century after the death of Ernest Mandel, this article is not intended as a tribute. In the spirit of living Marxism that he embodied, we will limit ourselves rather to showing how his economic writings are still relevant, while sketching the questions, old or new, that they suggest.”
På svensk: Ernest Mandels ekonomi, igår och idag (pdf) (Marxistarkiv.se, 14. september 2020).

Daniel Bensaid: Thirty years after: A critical introduction to the Marxism of Ernest Mandel (nr.392, september 2007).
“The first edition of this Introduction to Marxism dates from 1974 … The most dated part of the 1974 Introduction, which most badly withstands the test of time and the events of the last quarter of a century is undoubtedly that concerning Stalinism and its crisis.”

Charlie Post: Ernest Mandel and the Marxian theory of bureaucracy (26. juli 2005).
“Ernest Mandel’s work provides a powerful Marxian alternative to the Stalinist, social-democratic and bourgeois theories that deny the possibility of democratically organized workers’ struggles and workers’ power in the modern world.”

Gilbert Achcar: The actuality of Ernest Mandel (nr.369, juli-aug. 2005).
“The truth of the matter is that if the ‘return to Marx’ is to be considered as the defining feature of modern-day Marxism, then Ernest Mandel is the most relevant of late Marxists.”

Theme: Ernest Mandel 1923-1995 (nr.269, sept. 1995, s.9-33):

• Francois Vercammen: Ernest Mandel 1923-1995 (s.10-15).
• Salah Jaber: Rapid survey of a substantial body of work (s. 16-21).
• The obituaries (s.22-29).
• Charles Post: Power, money, Marxist theory (s.30-33).

Jacobin

Manuel Kellner: Long waves are key to the development of Capitalism (25. februar 2024).
“Belgian Marxist Ernest Mandel explained long waves as a key factor in capitalism’s development. Mandel’s theory is one of the most sophisticated attempts to show why capitalism goes through extended periods of expansion and stagnation.” Extract from Kellner’s book: Against Capitalism and Bureaucracy: Ernest Mandel’s Theoretical Contributions (Haymarket Books, 2024, 466 p.).

Alex de Jong: Ernest Mandel was one of the 20th century’s greatest Marxist thinkers (5. april  2023).
“Born on this day a century ago, Ernest Mandel was one of the major political thinkers of his age. From his teenage activism in the anti-Nazi resistance to his final days, Mandel was an uncompromising defender of socialist ideals and working-class interests.”

Marcel van der Linden: Ernest Mandel and the economics of late capitalism (5. april 2023). “Belgian Marxist Ernest Mandel popularized the term “late capitalism” to describe the way the system had changed in the postwar decades. Mandel’s work was a landmark in the study of capitalism, and we can still learn a lot from his analysis today.”

New Left Review

Robin Blackburn: Ernest Mandel 1923-1995 (nr.213, sept.-okt. 1995, s.96-100). Only abstract.
“Ernest Mandel, who died at the age of seventy-two on July 20th, was possessed of outstanding talents as a thinker, speaker and political leader, in a combination that has become rarer as the century has progressed.”

Revolutionary History

Obituaries: Ernest Mandel (1923-1995) (vol.6, nr.1, vinter 1995-96):

• Al Richardson: The importance of being Ernest (s.152-153).
• Sean Matgamna: The paradoxes of Ernest Mandel (s.153-159).
• Charles van Gelderen: Ernest Mandel: revolutionary socialist in theory and practice (s.159-161).

Socialist Action

Barry Weisleder: The life and struggles of Ernest Mandel (sept. 1995).
“The powerful mind and indomitable spirit of Ernest Mandel was forged, not under revolutionary conditions, but in the darkest days of our epoch.”

Socialist Review

John Molyneux: Obituary: Contradictory states (nr.189, sept. 1995, s.24, online på Internet Archive).
” … we in the SWP have always had profound political differences with Mandel and it would be false to the spirit of Marxism (and the spirit of Mandel – he was an inveterate polemicist) to gloss over these now. Our most important difference was over the nature of Russia and the other Stalinist states. Mandel held the view that despite their Stalinist degeneration, which he opposed, they remained workers’ states. We took the view that they were state capitalist. This is not just a difference of terminology, it had far reaching effects on political perspectives and practice.”

Socialistisk Information

Ernest Mandel: Trotskisterne og modstandskampen under Anden Verdenskrig (6. februar 2023).
“I 1976 arrangerede International Marxist Group et seminar om Fjerde Internationales historie i London, hvor Ernest Mandel holdt oplæg. Den følgende tekst er et uddrag heraf.”

Ernest Mandel: Bureaukratiet – en vedvarende fare for arbejderbevægelsen (8. juli 2014). Med forord af Mikael Hertoft.
“I 1960’erne skrev den belgiske marxist og leder af Fjerde Internationale, Ernest Mandel, en analyse af bureaukratiet, som han så som en stor og vedvarende fare for arbejderbevægelsen.”
Se hele teksten på svensk: Om byråkratin (pdf) (Partisanforläget, 1969, 31 s.).

Charles Post: Ernest Mandel og den marxistiske teori om bureaukratiet (12. maj 2014). Forkortet udgave (1. del) af artikel af International Viewpoint (26. juli 2005).
“Fremkomsten og væksten af bureaukrati gennem de sidste par hundrede år, defineret som ikke-besiddende funktionærer i forskellige organisationer, har været emnet for omfattende diskussioner blandt sociologer og politologer.”

Anders Hadberg: Teorien om kapitalismens lange bølger (2. sept. 2012).
“Ernest Mandels teori om de lange bølger står i efterkrigstidens marxisme som et af de mest gennemtænkte forsøg på at forklare den historiske opblomstring og nedgang af kapitalismen i Vesten efter Anden Verdenskrig.”

Ernest Mandel: Derfor er keynesianisme ikke svaret (3. marts 2011).
“Når de katastrofale konsekvenser af frimarkeds-politikken bliver åbenlys, begynder kapitalistiske og socialdemokratiske kredse at rejse krav om, at staten kommer økonomien til undsætning, for at få den på rette kurs igen.”

Bertel Nygaard: Et liv i revolutionens tjeneste (17. juni 2008).
” En ny DVD-udgivelse med to filmportrætter af Ernest Mandel, den fremtrædende marxistiske økonom og mangeårige ledende skikkelse i Fjerde Internationale, kombinerer det enkelte menneskes liv med nogle af de største revolutionære slag i det 20. århundrede. Det kniber dog med at få de sider frem, der gjorde og gør hovedpersonen så vedkommende.”

Bertel Nygaard: Kritiske diskussioner om Ernest Mandels marxisme (17. juni 2008).
“Ofte begrænser de kritiske eftertanker om markante skikkelser inden for videnskab og revolutionær politik sig til nekrologer umiddelbart efter livets afslutning – i bedste fald suppleret af et lidt større hyldestskrift.”

Tema: Ernest Mandel 1923-1995 (nr.87, aug. 1995, s.22-27).
Indhold:

• Søren Søndergaard: Ernest Mandel og Fjerde Internationale (s.23-24).
• Einar B. Baldursson: Teori for revolutionær organisering (s.25).
• Salah Jaber: Den marxistiske økonom (s.26-27).

Trotskyist International

Mathieu Roux: Ernest Mandel (1923-1995): from Trotskyism to centrism (nr.18, okt.-dec. 1995, s.22-26).
“But although he was far more prolific than any of his contemporaries, and despite his contributions in the field of Marxist political economy which largely account for this relative fame, Mandel’s life work was marked by the same inability to grapple with the real problems of revolutionary Marxism that hampered the leaders of post-war centrist Trotskyism.”

Verso

Jan Willem Stutje: Trump v. Hawaii and Kleindienst v. Mandel (Blog, 16. juli 2018).
“Ernest Mandel’s biographer describes the Supreme Court decision that kept Mandel out of the United States — and set a precedent for the Muslim travel ban.”

 

Debat / Debate

International Socialism

Michael Kidron: Maginot Marxism: Mandel’s economics (nr.36, april/maj 1969, s.33-36). A review of Ernest Mandel’s book, Marxist Economic Theory. See the debate below or as a  pamphlet (pdf): Debates in State Capitalism (International Socialism, 1969/1990, 197 s.; online at Marxists Internet Archive).

• Chris Harman: The inconsistencies of Ernest Mandel (nr.41, dec. 1969/jan. 1970, s.36-41). A review of Ernest Mandel’s pamphlet The inconsistencies of state capitalism.
• Chris Harman: Mandel’s Late Capitalism (nr.1, 1978, s.79-96). A review of Ernest Mandel’s book. In Danish: Mandel: Senkapitalismen (Marxisme Online, 2. okt. 2016).
• Chris Harman: From Trotsky to state capitalism (nr.47, sommer 1990, s.137-156). A review of Ernest Mandel’s book Beyond Perestroika.
• Ernest Mandel: A theory which has not withstood the test of facts (nr.49, vinter 1990, s.43-64). Reply.
• Chris Harman: Criticism which does not withstand the test of logic (nr.49, vinter 1990, s.65-88). Reply.

Ernest Mandel: The impasse of schematic dogmatism (nr.56, efterår 1992, s.135-172).

Alex Callinicos: Rhetoric which cannot conceal a bankrupt theory: a reply to Ernest Mandel (nr.57, vinter 1992, s.147-160).

See also:

Michael Kidron: Maginot Marxism: Mandel’s economics (nr.36, april/maj 1969, s.33-36). A review of Ernest Mandel’s book, Marxist Economic Theory.

Debates with Ernest Mandel (Chris Harman Back Pages)

State capitalism and revolutionary perspectives: a recording of a debate in 1969 between Ernest Mandel and Mike Kidron (Audio).

Marxists Internet Archive

Paul Mattick: Ernest Mandel’s Late Capitalism (1972). På dansk: Ernest Mandels ‘Senkapitalisme’ (1974).

Paul Mattick: Mandel’s Economics (International Socialism, nr.37, juni/juli 1969). A review of Ernest Mandel’s book, Marxist Economic Theory.

Readings on ‘State Capitalism’

(London, International Marxist Group, 1973, 40 s.; online as pdf)
Contents:

• Ernest Mandel: The social character of the Soviet economy (s.1-2).
• Michael Kidron: Maginot Marxism: Mandel’s economics (s.3-6).
• Ernest Mandel: The inconsistencies of state capitalism (s.7-26).
• Chris Harman: The inconsistencies of Ernest Mandel (s.27-32).
• Ernest Mandel: The mystifications of State Capitalism (s.33-40).

 

 

Bøger / Books

Hope and Marxism: Historical and Theoretical Essays. By Ernest Mandel (Resistance Books, 2023, 306 s.)

Review:

Review by Fabian Van Onzen (Marx & Philosophical Review of Book, 10. februar 2024)

Against Capitalism and Bureaucracy: Ernest Mandel’s Theoretical Contributions (Brill, 2023, 476 s.)

Review:

Ian Parker: Reading Mandel (Anticapitalist Resistance, 26. maj 2023)

Introduction to Marxist Theory: Selected Writings. By Ernest Mandel (Resistance Books and the International Institute for Research and Education, 2021, 306 s.).

Review:

Fabian Van Onzen: Introduction to Marxist Theory (Marx & Philosophical Review of Book, 24. januar 2022).

Ernest Mandel: A rebel’s dream deferred. By Jan Willem Stutje (Verso, 2009, 424 s.).

Reviews:

• Martin Thomas: The life of Ernest Mandel and the impasse of orthodoxy (Workers’ Liberty, 1. september 2017).
• Ian Birchall: International rescue (International Socialism, nr.124, 2009).
• Michael Löwy: A systematic biography of Ernest Mandel (International Viewpoint, nr.417, oktober 2009).
• Keith Harvey: Ernest Mandel: A life less ordinary (Permanent Revolution, 3. september 2009; online at Internet Archive).
• Mike Macnair: Psycho-babble about Trots (Weekly Worker, nr.783, 3. september 2009).Phil Hearse: Destiny of a revolutionary (International Viewpoint, nr.414, juli-august 2009).
• Liam Mac Uaid: I am revolution (Socialist Resistance, 9. juni 2009).

The legacy of Ernest Mandel. Edited by Gilbert Achcar (Verso, 1999, 270 s.)

Online from the book:

• Michel Husson: After the golden age: on Late Capitalism (s.75-103).
• Charles Post: Ernest Mandel and the Marxian theory of bureaucracy (s.119-151).
• Ernest Mandel’s book-format works in English (s.261-267).

Reviews:

• Kit Adam Wainer: Ernest Mandel’s legacy (Against the Current, nr.93, juli-august 2001).
• Bertel Nygaard: Ernest Mandels marxisme (Socialistisk Information, nr.145, sept. 2000; online på Internet Archive).
• Phil Sharpe: Ernest assessment (Weekly Worker, nr.351, 14. sept. 2000).

Late Capitalism. By Ernest Mandel (NLB, 1978, 618 s.)

Nordisk udgave: Senkapitalismen: et forsøg på en marxistisk forklaring (Oslo, Norsk Gyldendal & Kbh., Finn Suenson, 1976, 494 s.).
The book online in English (pdf).
Bogen online på svensk: Senkapitalismen (pdf). Del 1 (Stockholm, Coeckelbergh, 1974-1975, 167 s. + 199 s.) + Del 2 (pdf).

Reviews:

• Chris Harman: Mandel’s Late Capitalism (International Socialism, nr.1, 1978, s.79-96). På svensk: Mandels Senkapitalismen (pdf) (Marxistarkiv.se).
• Paul Mattick: Ernest Mandel’s Late Capitalism (1972). På dansk: Ernest Mandels ‘Senkapitalisme’ (I: Paul Mattick: Kritik af neo-marxisterne. Rhodos, 1974, s.127-177).

 

Bøger/pjecer af Ernest Mandel på dansk

Oktober 1917: statskup eller social revolution? (Socialistisk Arbejderforlag, 1997, 121 sider).

Marxismen i historien (Socialistisk Arbejderforlag, 1996, 90 sider).

Frydefulde mord (Klim, 1988, 185 sider).

Hvilken betydning har Gorbatjov? (Socialistisk Arbejderforlag, 1988, 46 sider) (Dokumenter fra Fjerde Internationale, 7).

Socialistisk strategi i Vesten (Socialistisk Arbejderforlag, 1982, 71 sider).

Hvad vi kan vente os af 80’erne …: en diskussion mellem Rudolp Bahro, Ernest Mandel og Peter von Oertzen om socialismens fremtidsmuligheder (Politisk Revy, 1981, 166 sider).

Senkapitalismen: et forsøg på en marxistisk forklaring (Finn Suensons forlag, 1976, 494 sider). Bogen er på (letlæst) norsk.

Vejen til socialisme: en indføring i socialismen (RSF-pressen, 1976, 97 sider).

Indføring i marxismens politiske økonomi (Revolutionære Socialisters Forbund, 1973, 64 sider) (Røde hæfter, 5). Genoptrykt på Solidaritets Forlag, 2016.

‘Statskapitalisme’ eller overgangsamfund? Med Jean-Luc Dallemagne (Revolutionære Socialisters Forbund, 1973, 79 sider) (Røde hæfter, 4).

Hvad er fremmedgørelse? (RSF-publikationer, 1972, 14 sider) (Røde tekster, 6).

Leninistisk organisationsteori og proletarisk klassebevidsthed (Socialistisk Ungdoms Forbund, 1971, 44 sider) (Røde hæfter, 1).

Fællesmarkedet og konkurrencen Europa/USA (Spektrum, 1970, 122 sider).

En fælles socialistisk strategi for Vesteuropa (Tema, 1967, 33 sider).

Neokapitalismen (Forlaget Tema, 1966, 30 sider).