The Justice Department: Lecture Canceled

“A revolutionary Marxist” is the way Belgian Economist Ernest Mandel describes himself. In 1962 and again in 1968, Mandel toured the U.S., lecturing at a number of universities. But because of his openly announced political creed, Mandel had to receive special clearance by the Department of Justice to make the trip.

Under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the McCarran-Walter Act) of 1952, the U.S. Attorney General has the power to decide whether Mandel is allowed into the country. His two earlier visits were authorized because the Justice Department decided that the political climate had mellowed since the act was passed. Now, apparently, Attorney General John Mitchell thinks that it has changed for the worse once again.

Despite a letter from Secretary of State William Rogers saying that granting Mandel a visa was “in the national interest,” Mitchell last week refused to allow the 46-year-old economist to make another visit. He had been invited to lecture at several U.S. universities, including Princeton, M.I.T. and Vassar. The reason: in 1968, Mandel deviated from his itinerary, which under the provisions of the act is forbidden. Mandel claims —and the State Department apparently agrees—that he was never fully briefed on the act’s provisions. Recently, Mandel has made a careful study of the McCarran Act and claims that he is being discriminated against. The act applies to members of the Communist Party, and Mandel says: “I have never been a party member.”

Mandel, who lives in Brussels and edits the militantly leftist weekly La Gauche (circ. 5,000), has written a number of books. His most recent is a two-volume work titled Marxist Economic Theory. Critics both in the U.S. and abroad have praised the book’s fresh, undoctrinaire approach to Marxism, and the Economist felt that “no student can afford to ignore this very important work.” Mandel’s ideas may clash with American beliefs, but there is something absurd in the whole Mc-Carran Act notion that the U.S. must be protected from dangerous alien contamination by keeping out certain travelers.

Mandel was surprised that the Justice Department opposed his entry into the U.S., “surprised that the American government is afraid of people who defend Marxist doctrine when many Marxist books are freely sold in the U.S.” But he feels he has made some capital out of his rejection. “If I had gone to the U.S.,” he says, “I would have addressed audiences of about 100 people.” As a result of his rejection, adds Mandel, “I have been interviewed by television, and 40 million Americans will listen to my views.”