The 48 Laws Of Power

givesyounothing

to

gain

but

martyrdom,

and

inthe

process

alot

of

people

whodonotbelieve

in

your

causewilldie.

Weaknessisno

sin,

andcanevenbecomea

strength

if

you

learnhow

to

play

it

right.

HadtheMelianssurrenderedinthefirst

place,they

would

havebeenableto

sabotage

theAtheniansinsubtle

ways,

or

might

have

gotten

what

they

couldhaveout

ofthe

allianceandthenleftitwhenthe

Atheniansthemselveswere

weakened,

as

infact

happened

several

years

later.Fortunes

change

andthe

mighty

areoften

brought

down.Surrender

conceals

greatpower:Lulling

the

enemy

into

complacency,

it

givesyou

timeto
recoup,

timeto

undermine,

timefor

revenge.

Neversacrificethat

time

in

exchange

forhonor

inabattle

that

you

cannot

win.

Weak

people

never

giveway

when

theyought

to.

Cardinaltle

R212,

16]3-16 79

OBSERVANCE

OFTHELAW

Sometime

in

the

19205

theGermanwriterBertoltBrechtbecameaconvert

tothecauseofCommunism.Fromthenonhis

plays,essays,

and

poems

re-

flected

his

revolutionary

fervor,

andhe

generally

triedtomakehis

ideolog-

ical statements as clear as

possible.

When Hitler came to

power

in

Germany,

BrechtandhisCommunist

colleagues

becamemarkedmen.He

had
many

friendsintheUnitedStates—Amerlcanswho

sympathized

with

his

beliefs,

aswellasfellowGermanintellectualswhohadliedHitler.In

1941,

accordingly,

Brecht

emigrated

totheUnited

States,

andchosetoset-

tleinLos

Angeles,

where

he

hoped

to

make

a

living

inthe

film

business.

Over

thenextfew

years

Brechtwrote

screenplays

witha

pointedly

an—

ticapitalist

slant.Hehadlittlesuccessin

Hollywood,

soin

1947,

thewar

having

ended,

hedecidedtoreturnto

Europe.

Thatsame

year,

however,

theUS.

Cong;ress’s

HouseUn—AmericanActivitiesCommittee

began

its

investigation

into

supposed

Communist

infiltration

in

Hollywood.

It

began

to

gather

informationon

Brecht,

whohadso

openlyespousedMarxism,

andon

September

19,1947,

only

amonthbeforehehad

planned

toleave

theUnited

States,

hereceiveda

subpoena

to

appear

beforethecommittee.

In

addition

to

Brecht,

anumberofother

writers,

producers,

anddirectors

weresummonedto

appear

as

well,

andthis

group

came

tobe

knownasthe

Hollywood

19.

Before

going

to

Washington,

the

Hollywood

19 mettodecideona

plan

ofaction.Their

approach

wouldbeconfrontational.Insteadof

answering

questions

abouttheir

membership,

orlackof

it,

intheCommunist

Party,

they

wouldread

prepared

statements

that

would

challenge

the

authority

of

thecommittee

and

argue

thatitsactivitieswereunconstitutional.Evenif

this

strategy

meant

imprisonment,

itwould

gain

publicity

fortheircause.

Brecht

disagreed.

What

good

was

it,

he

asked,

to

play

the

martyr

and

gain

alittle

publicsympathy

ifinthe

processthey

lostthe

ability

to

stage

their

plays

andselltheir

scripts

for

years

to

come?Hefeltcertain

they

were

Voltaire

was

living

in

exileinLondonat:1

timewhenuntifrenclr

3.-enrimem

wasin

its

highest.

One

day

walkingI/trough

the

streets,

he

foundhimself

summnderl

by

an

tmgry

crowd.

“Ilrmg

him.

Ilzmg

theFrench

man,

”

llzagvyelled.

Voltaire

calmly

adrlrresmrlthemobwith

the

following

words:

"Men

ofEngland/

You

wishtokillmt‘because

IamaFrmchman.Am

Ino:

ymnirhedenough

innot

Ming

haman

Eirgléxhmarz?

"

T/tr:

crowdcharred/zis

thoughtfulwnrrlx,

and

escortedhim

safely

back

m

his

lodgings.

ins,

LITTLE.

BROWN

noonor

m+:n)o'rF.s.

CI.lF'l'().\'

FADIMAN,I-.t)..

1985

LAW 22 I65