On Tue, 12 Jan 1999 08:08:07 +0000 Jim heartfield <jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk> writes concerning Scoenman:
>
>I heard of him as late as the first Gulf War against Iraq, when he
>wrote
>a document called something like 'the secret diplomatic history of
>Iraq'. It was the best account of the way that Britain, France and
>America had divided Iraq and Kuwait both diplomatically and finally,
>politically.
>
>In message <369ADDA3.5DF2 at humboldt.net>, Eric V. Kirk
><kirk at humboldt.net> writes
>>Is there any truth to Horowitz' account of Russell/Shoenman in
>"Radical
>>Son?" We all know Horowitz' politics, but some of his accounts of
>other
>>individuals resonated with my own experiences sans the political
>>critique.
>>
>>Horowitz made Schoenman out to be something of a psycho actually;
>hiding
>>on the coattails of a rapidly becoming senile Russell, who was
>begging
>>Joan Baez for bucks before he shitcanned Schoenman.
>
>My Dad once wrote to Russell, pointing out that his account of the
>paradox of the classes in the Autobiography was wrong. He got a letter
>back signed by Russell, but prepared by Schoenman saying thanks for
>pointing out the error, and the memory does play tricks on one after a
>while.
>
>All the same the version of history that has Schoenman as the evil
>Machiavelli, imprisoning Russell is a piece of propaganda made first I
>think by Mrs Russell, who was jealous of their friendship. Sadly, the
>elderly Russell was forced by her and other friends to write a
>denunciation of Schoenman. All the same, I suspect that Russell
>genuinely liked Schoenman, and vice versa.
>
>Russell's willingness to lend his name to activities that he did not
>entirely agree with mystified his older circle of friends. But he was
>more interested in being a part of what was going on at that moment
>than
>he was in the finer points of political correctness. And for that
>reason, Jim F.'s account is closer to the truth - both men "used" each
>other, though that verb has the wrong resonance. They enjoyed what the
>other had to offer. Russell especially relished the idea of being a
>part
>of a younger generation, and why wouldn't he? It didn't matter so much
>to him that he was no Trotskyist. To this day, Russell's name adorns
>the
>printing house set up by British Trotskyist Ken Coates, and run by his
>son.
>--
>Jim heartfield
>
It is interesting to note that Simone De Beauvoir drew a comparison
between Russell's relationship with Schoenman and Sartre's relationship
in his later years with Bennie Levy, aka "Pierre Victor"). Levy was
then a young Egyptian Jew who had emigrated to France. Under the
name of Pierre Victor, he had become the leader of a Maoist sect.
Sartre in the post-1968 years had become close to the young
Maoists, and when Levy faced deportation from France for lack
of suitable employment, Sartre hired him as his personal assistant.
Sartre soon became very close to the young man. Just as Shoenman
had taken charge of much of Russell's political activities, so the same
also occurred here too, with Levy taking charge of much of Sartre's
political involvement. Simone De Beauvoir (who had come to know
both Russell and Schoenman from their work together in the
Stockholm Tribunal) soon came to perceive Levy in much the same
that many people had perceived Schoenman. She charged that Levy
was manipulating the elderly Sartre and there were bitter clashes
between Beauvoir and Levy.
Yet as Jim Heartfield suggests was the case in the Russell- Schoenman relationship it would seem that a similar dynamic operated in Sartre's relationship with Levy. Sartre did not entirely agree with Levy's then-Maoist politics but he was willing to lend his name and prestige to help the young Maoists were facing severe repression from the Gaullist regime during the early 1970s. And just as Mrs. Russell had objected to Shoenman so Beauvoir and her friends at Les Temps Modernes objected to Levy who was likewise accused of manipulating an old man.
Jim Farmelant
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