Crimes Tribunal written by his adopted daughter, Arlette Elkaı ̈m-Sartre.
The unanimous judgment of this body was that the United States
was guilty of genocide in Vietnam during the period specified. Again, the
appeal is to human solidarity of rights and interests. Offering a variation on
a Sartrean theme, the document concludes: “This crime [of genocide],
carried out every day before the eyes of the world, renders all who do not
denounce it accomplices of those who commit it, so that we are being
degraded today for our future enslavement” (“On Genocide” 84 – 85 ).
Beyond Communism, beyond Marxism ( 1968 – 1980 )
If photos of Soviet tanks crushing the Hungarian revolution destroyed
whatever belief Sartre had maintained in the Stalinist orthodoxy of
Soviet and French Communism, then the Soviet-ordered invasion of
the Czech Republic by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968 to suppress its
liberalizing “Prague Spring” ended his sympathy for Communism gen-
erally, with the possible exception of the Italian version, which he always
consideredsui generis. As he remarked to his “Maoist” discussants in
the early 1970 s, “The Communists...don’t give a fig about justice, what
they want primarily is power” (ORR 76 ).
The “events of May 1968 ” marked a turning point in French politics
and culture, the effects of which continue to this day. If it would be
excessive to label it the “Sartrean” revolution, as some have done,^30 there
is little doubt that these events resonated with Sartre’s model of
“political existentialism”: ( 1 ) its moral indignation, ( 2 ) spontaneity,
( 3 ) comradery, ( 4 ) heightened sense of disalienation, ( 5 ) distrust of party
politics, ( 6 ) confidence in “direct action,” and ( 7 ) visceral dislike of
authority. These features have emerged in the survey of his career in
politics just traced. Of course, if “politics” is limited to the exercise
of voting and active relations with, if not membership in, political
parties, then the extent of Sartre’s career is considerably reduced. But
as he insisted to his Maoist friends, in words worthy of Michel Foucault:
“Everything is political; that is, everything questions society as a whole
and ends up disputing it” (ORR 27 ).
(^30) A pseudonymous professor at the University of Paris (Nanterre) had characterized the May
events as a “Sartrean” revolution (see Episte ́mon [Didier Anzieu],Ces Ide ́es qui ont e ́branle ́la
France[Paris: Feyard, 1968 ], 78 – 87 ).
Beyond Communism, beyond Marxism (1968–1980) 307