Sartre's second century

26 Chapter Two
responsibility and the reality of historical and cultural forces, and who
sought to combine both in his ontology of dialectical freedom. Sartre's
later work offers a view of human choice, history and the human condition
that rejects human oppression in every form. It is Sartre's insistence upon
the reality and necessity of responsible action in the face of human
oppression that calls for emphasis.
Prior to 1939, Sartre considered himself more apolitical than political.
A self-described "anarchist", Sartre became an avid reader of Trotsky's
works. The French Communist Party and its support of the Stalinist
regime represented the political left in pre-and post-war France. Sartre
steadfastly declined to join this party and appeared to be on a constant
search for political and social alternatives further to the political left. As
Ian Birchall stresses, Trotsky's conception of a "permanent revolution"
appealed to the young Sartre far more than the engineered society of
Stalin's Russia. 21
Both Sartre and Heidegger shared a profound dislike for the
bourgeoisie. Whereas Heidegger saw Germany as caught between Russian
communism and American materialism, Sartre recognized the important
difference between Stalinism and Marxism and viewed the distinct forms
of the oppression of the working class in both Russia and America, and the
racism of the latter, as unacceptable denials of human freedom. Sartre's
historical-political vision was also more encompassing than Heidegger's.
Sartre tended to see the need for a revolutionary politics not only in the
history of the French Revolution, but in the American and Russian
Revolutions as well. Heidegger's increasing concern with the destiny of
the Volk was decidedly Germanic. Sartre's views were closer to the
universalism explicit in Marx's view of a communist revolution, whereas
Heidegger's alliance with the Third Reich, at least initially, appeared to
betray a strong nationalism.
One of the more important early influences upon Sartre was his
friendship with Colette Audry. 22 Audry was an anti-communist leftist, one
of the first to write publicly about Heidegger's identification with the Nazi
Party. She wrote an article in 1934, entitled "A Philosophy of German
Fascism", published in a French political weekly, L'Ecole emancipee. 23
Audry writes that Heidegger's philosophy "constitutes a translation into
21 See Birchall, Sartre Against Stalinism. The above brief account of Sartre's
political commitments is heavily indebted to Birchairs insightful narrative and
detailed scholarship.
22 The details of her friendship with Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir can be found
in Birchall.
23 Birchall, 19.