An interview with leading Marxist economist and historian Ernest Mandel
Ernest Mandel was one of the leading Marxist intellectuals of the 20th century. His impact on the generation of the Sixties extended way beyond his political affiliation to the Fourth International. The SDS in Germany and its US equivalent read his work avidly. In France, too, all his key writings were published and debated. His pamphlet 'An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory' sold a quarter of a million copies worldwide and his master-work Late Capitalism (published by Verso) was debated on every continent.
This interview with Tariq Ali was conducted in 1987. The plan was to make a 90-minute film on his life and work, but the project faltered and the interview is one of the few remnants. Mandel's rediscovery is overdue.
Ernest Mandel (1923–95), historian, economist and activist, was a leading figure inthe Fourth International from 1945 and was the author of a number of books, including Late Capitalism, Marxist Economic Theory, Long Waves of Capitalist Development, and The Meaning of the Second World War.
Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics—the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan—as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London.
An interview with leading Marxist economist and historian Ernest Mandel
Ernest Mandel was one of the leading Marxist intellectuals of the 20th century. His impact on the generation of the Sixties extended way beyond his political affiliation to the Fourth International. The SDS in Germany and its US equivalent read his work avidly. In France, too, all his key writings were published and debated. His pamphlet 'An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory' sold a quarter of a million copies worldwide and his master-work Late Capitalism (published by Verso) was debated on every continent.
This interview with Tariq Ali was conducted in 1987. The plan was to make a 90-minute film on his life and work, but the project faltered and the interview is one of the few remnants. Mandel's rediscovery is overdue.
Author
Ernest Mandel (1923–95), historian, economist and activist, was a leading figure inthe Fourth International from 1945 and was the author of a number of books, including Late Capitalism, Marxist Economic Theory, Long Waves of Capitalist Development, and The Meaning of the Second World War.
Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics—the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan—as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London.
