This membership of the Fourth International disqualified him from the post. A few days later the comrades of the GIM (German Section of the Fourth International) in West Berlin together with other tendencies, called a teach-in to discuss the affair and invited Mandel to come and speak. Over 2000 students turned up for the meeting (despite the fact that vacations are in progress). Mandel meanwhile had been taken into custody at Frankfurt airport and expelled from the Federal Republic of Germany. When news of this reached Berlin there was a demonstration organised on the spur of the moment and led by militants of the West Berlin GIM. The demonstrators, taking the police completely by surprise, marched to the house of one of the Senators responsible for the ban chanting, "Neubauer Out, Mandel In", etc. The West German Interior Minister, Genscher, explaining the ban declared that the German government was not opposed to Marxist theoreticians living in Germany, but argued that Mandel was also a revolutionary activist and there was a danger that the Secretariat of the Fourth International would be moved to W. Germany, something which his government would not tolerate. He also cited the fact that Mandel is barred from France, Switzerland and the United States of America ANGRY REACTIONS Apart from the angry reaction of the Berlin students, which is likely to continue at an accelerated pace as students return to the universities, protests are beginning to pour in from other quarters. Trade-unionists, members of the SPD and intellectuals have been putting pressure on the government to rescind the ban without further delay. The comrades of the GIM are preparing to launch a big national campaign to demand that the ban be lifted. Already the National Committee of the SPD Young Socialists (which is the organThe Red Mole 13 March 1972 Page 8 isation of all SPD members under 35) has passed a resolution condemning the ban and the Universities of Frankfurt, Bremen and Konstanz have all demonstrated their solidarity by offering Ernest Mandel teaching posts. There have been teach-ins protesting the expulsion in Hamburg, Cologne, Heidelburg, Bremen, Konstanz and Frankfurt. The left-minority of the SPD in West Berlin which controls one-third of the party has also issued a vigorous protest. It is obvious that the Mandel ban is not going to be accepted by the German left, with the exception of a somewhat embarassed West German C.P.
MANDEL'S OPEN LETTER In an eight-point letter to the West Berlin Senate, Mandel has exposed the absurd grounds on which he has been barred from teaching. In the letter, which has been quoted extensively in the German press and television, Mandel argued that the victimisation to which he had been subjected was part of a wider plan: "They begin with so-called left extremist minorities, then come those with a Jewish grandmother, next are the other agitators and finally all those who happen to be unpopular with the local satrap. Fortunately we haven't gone that far yet, but the first steps in that direction are being taken. A McCarthyite witch-hunt is beginning..••.•• "I don't know of any decision by a Constitutional Court declaring the Fourth International unconstitutional in the Federal Republic. The executive thus anticipates any possible future jurisdiction and at the same time seeks to influence it in a big way. Not only is a whole collective declared guilty without being charged and without the right to defend itself, but the very act in itself prevents the possibility of an 'objective trial. Here too the break with the principles of constitutional government is evident. "The alleged unconstitutionality of the Fourth International, it is argued, derives from its intention to destroy the free and democratic order". This is a primitive falsification. In no programmatic document of the Fourth International can you find any mention of a "free and democratic order" and the West Berlin senate will find itself unable to quote a single line substantiating the charge. This argument only makes sense if "free and democratic order" and capitalist exploitation are synonymous in the eyes of the Senate. This exploitation we want to smash just as we want to abolish any form of social inequality, oppression and injustice through the construction of a society free of classes or violence. It would be interesting to hear whether in the opinion of the West Berlin senate, the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism is to be declared unconstitutional. Should this be the case, the Senate ought to pursue the dissolution of the DGB (West German TUC) which in its Munich programme called for the socialisation of the means of production-a measure which if carried out would put an end to capitalism. "Another argument in favour of the unconstitutionality of the Fourth International, according to the Senate, is its demand for a soviet republic. Having had such a close look at the statutes of the Fourth International, the senate ought to do a little-more research on the programmatic texts. For it would find that we regard a soviet constitution possible only with the active support of the great majority of wage earners, i.e. in W. Germany, the absolute majority of the population. The senate would further find that we believe in a multi-party system with political opposition, with more freedom of the press and association than exists today, because these basic rights must not only be papers were banned as "marxist' during the Third Reich?" The present actions were designed to pander, to right-wing elements who wanted to prevent Marxists from teaching in German universities because they were frightened by their ideas, especially when these ideas were related to a concrete practice. Mande ended his open letter by claiming: "It is self evident that I was not coming to Berlin to throw bombs or to place machine guns into position in the Free University. It is solely a question of giving the many socialist students an opportunity within the framework of their courses to have lectures. that correspond to their needs and that simultaneously enable marxists and non-marxists to confront each other with their respective views on the scientific analysis and theoretical understanding of a society's economics. I can only be in favour of such a confrontation, because Marxism flowers best in an atmosphere of permanent, sharp and scientific critique. The fear exhibited by the Senate speaks volumes on its lack of confidence in its own ide..........
THE NEED FOR A CONCERTED CAMPAIGN In the United States the ban on Mandel was reversed by a decision of a U.S. Federal Court and the authorities have appealed to the Supreme Court before whom the case now rests. In Switzerland 15 social-democratic members of Parliament as well as numerous trade-union leaders have protested the ban imposed by a Minister who was known as a notorious anti-semite during the war. This was all the more ironic as Mandel participate in the Resistance during the war and finally ended up in a concentration camp. In France it seems unlikely that the ban will be removed while the wretched Marcellin holds office. What is ironic is the fact that as the bourgeoisie of Europe moves towards closer unity, politically and economically, it places restrictions on the travel of revolutionists. In Britain a scurrilous and false report published in the Sunday Telegraph, of 27 February 1972, seems to be preparing the ground for banning Mandel from this country. It is therefore essential for all revolutionists, social-democrats and trade-unionists to make clear that they are opposed to restrictions being placed on the right of any individual to travel from one country to another.
-Clarissa Howard S.P.D.: German Social-Democratic Party, whose leader Willy Brandt, is the Chancellor of Germany