Our disagreements grew increasingly numerous, but the Old Man’s letters were affectionate—and I admired him beyond measure. When he wrote about the strikes of June 1936 that “the French revolution has begun” I responded: “Not at all. It’s just the beginning of the French working class’s recovery.” I advised him not to constantly intervene as he was doing in the internal affairs of every single group, no matter how small, and to limit himself to grand intellectual labors. Finally,
