ERNEST Mandel died last year on July 20 after a year and a half of seriously deteriorating health. The first anniversary of his death was commemorated by the first seminar organised by the Ernest Mandel Study Centre in Amsterdam from July 4 to July 6.
The seminar was intended as a tribute to a man who will remembered as one of the great intellectuals of this century. Seminar contributors: It was also an occasion for a critical examination of Mandel's work.
in doing so. the organisers were faithful to Mandel's legacy: his conception of democracy applied to the ranks of the movement he led, which can be singled out within Francisco Louça, Mandel organised Marxism for the high tolerance for debate and divergence that it exhibits.
The best tribute Catherine Samary, to the democratic example set by Er- the transition to socialism nect Mande is that in Mandel's view; this is perhaps the first time that the key leader and theo- theory of bureaucracy; retician of a politiNorman Geras, cal movement is not sanctified by his fol- Trotsky, Deutscher and Jowers and Mandel: marxists before thinkers right away after his death. the Holocaust.
Instead, his important intellectual achievement was appraised and discussed in a truly critical manner For Marxists, this is the only real way of grasping and testing the validity of political theory.
The seminar gathered scholars with common interests in the many issues in Marxist thought to which Mandel made a lasting contribunon. Members of the Fourth International, former members and non-members alike squeezed together in the packed conference room of the International Institute for Research and Education in Amsterdam. Over two-and-a-half-days, they listened to eight presentations and discussed them in a way which, on the whole, achieved a delicate balance beMichael Löwy, Mandel's tween an academic revolutionary humanism; sennar ano a meetWing of political activRobin Blackburn, Mandel's ists.
politics and Late The major contributions to this semiCapitalism; Jesús nar will be collected Albarracin, Pedro Montes, in book form, alongside some lesserMandel's interpretation of known texts bv contemporary capitalism; Ernest Mandel, which will be published in several lanand the pulsation of guages next year.
history; Alan Freeman, The success of Mandel's contribution to this first seminar convinced the direceconomic dynamics; tors of the Ernest Mandel Study Centre to organise an annual seminar, with similar conditions. Charlie Post, the marxian including the participation of socialist scholars of various opinions. Future seminars will deal with specific topics. Two debates are nriorities. the transition to socialism; and the long waves of capitalist development. In this way, the Ernest Mandel Study Centre is trying to carry forward the huge task of renovating Marxism that Mandel undertook in his lifetime.