102
I'Aln lSAN R EV IEW
hi s way to di sassociate himsel f fi'om himself. Thi s, o f coursc, is also a bit
of pos turin g.
R~f/C(liolls
<?f
(111
( Tllpolilic(1 /
11 11111
is an odd co nglomerati o n of bri ght
fl as hes of insi ght and dangero us lapscs into thc rcacti o nary. Its basic
premi se, whi ch he confcssed in hi s old age remain ed " tru e and in con–
testa bl e," was that " democ racy and po liti cs are o nc and th e same." He did
have a lifclong ave rsi o n to politi cs- parti cul arl y whil e trave ling from coun–
try to country as an " itin erant spokesman fo r democ racy." But was he
rea ll y unpo liti ca l? During th e time of th e sov iet republi c in Muni ch , o ne
find s outbursts in hi s di ary such as " Th c wes t must be saved fi'om th e ho r–
ro r o f mass mi g rati o n from below" and , fo ll owin g th e bloody suppress ion
of th e revo lt, " Katj a's Mo th er thinks it's ge ttin g too ' militari sti c' again , but
I'm
in compl ete agreemcnt and find it is considera bl y easier to brea th e
under mili tary di ctato rshi p than under th e rule of drunkards." Th e o ld
Th omas Mann writes, " Th e wo rld w hi ch comcs after ours will be impos–
sibl e to imagin e with out comllluni st tr;lits, that is with o ut th e basic idea
of th e ri ghts o f cOll1mo n owncrshi p and commo n co nsulllpti o n of the
ea rth 's boun ty, w ith out an o ngo ing levelin g of class di ffe rcnccs, w ith out
th e ri ght to wo rk and th e duty to work for all. Th e blind hatred of com–
muni sm is utter fooli shn ess." It is hardl y conce iva bl e that th e o lder man's
ideas fo ll owed a straight
tr;~ ec to ry
fi'om th e yo un ge r l11 an's ideas. T w ice
thi s led him to th e brin k of despair.
R (:f/ccfi olls
is the enun ciati o n o f hi s fi rst
lengthy lapse in to depress io n; traces o f th e second , sho rter but steeper
descent- precipitated by hi s dcfiniti ve break with Cermany in th e mid–
I<J3 0s-can be fo und o nl y in hi s di ary. Thankfull y, he was abl e to quell thi s
depression during hi s wor k on
J oscph
and th e Goe the nove l and to di splace
it with a cOll1pl etely arti sti c checrfuln ess . Exccpt in hi s di ary, hi s po liti ca l
pronoun cements zigzag fi'om thi s po int o n and th c dcg rec to whi ch hi s
pro noun cements we nt aga in st th e g rain becomcs clea r time an d time
aga in- whi ch makes it all th e morc amazin g that hc fo rced himself to
make th em . He once no ted w ith deep apprec iati o n C oe th c's remark
rega rdin g a dramati c piece of th c day, th at it dca lt "solel y w ith th e ari s–
tocracy and democ racy" w hi ch could be o f " no ge neral human interes t."
As a successo r to Goe th e he later se nsed that he was a nl ,1I1 who so ught
balan ce by nature and had been fo rced to take sick s onl y by th e ex ige ncies
o f adverse times. " I am a man of balancc. I instin ctive ly lean to th e le ft
when th e boat threa tens to ro ll ri ght and capsize, and vicc ve rsa." As a rep–
resentati ve o f th e bourgeo isie he had already g iven hi s all , and mo re
bravely than o thers. But he had rcali zed in th e end that " no thin g livin g"
can escape " po liti cs" and that " abstainin g" is also " po liti cs," th e o nl y di f–
ference bein g th at by abstainin g o ne prac ti ces th c " po liti cs o f evil." Hi s
later di ari es contain substanti al commentary o n thi s in escapability. Th ey
