joint passed from hand to hand, as BobrnDylan croaked the words that definedrna generation: “Everybody must getrnstoned.”rnThis was a time which the youth inrncommunist countries experienced quiterndifferently. Prison camps were still alive,rndeportations were the order of the dayrnfrom the Baltics to the Balkans, and therncommunist secret police—the YugoslavrnUDBA, the Romanian Securitate, thernEast German Stasi, and the SovietrnKGB —had their hands full. Westernrn68ers did not know anything about theirrnplight, and they simply ignored the communistrntopography of horror. Back then,rnthe 68ers had cultural power in theirrnhands, controlling the best universitiesrnand spreading their permissive sensibility.rnStudents were obliged to bow downrnto the unholy trinity of Marx, Ereud, andrnSartre, and the humanities curriculumrnshowed the first signs of multiculturalism.rnConservatives concentrated all ofrntheir attention on economic growth,rnnaively believing that eliminating povertyrnand strengthening the middle classrnwould bring about the renaissance of thernconservative gospel.rnToday, the 68ers (or “neo-liberals” orrn”social democrats”) have grown up, andrnthey have changed not only their name,rnbut also their habitat and their discourse.rnTheir time has come: Now they holdrnboth cultural and political power. FromrnBuenos Aires to Quai d’Orsay, from 1600rnPennsylvania Avenue to 10 DowningrnStreet, they sit in air-conditioned executivernoffices or in ministerial cabinets, andrnthey behave as if nothing has changed.rnPerfectly recycled in stylish Gucci suits,rnwearing expensive Bally shoes, sportingrnfine mascara, the 68ers pontificate aboutrnthe global free market. They have embracedrntheir former foe, capitalist entreprenenrship,rnand have added to it thernfake humanistic facade of socialist philanthropy.rnThey have drawn up a hit list,rnfilled with the names of senile individualsrnfrom distant countries who have beenrnaccused of “war crimes” and must be extraditedrnto the 68ers’ kangaroo courts.rnSeldom, if ever, do they acknowledge thernmillions of victims of communism, documentedrnrecently by Stephane Coiirtoisrnin Le livre noire du communisme. Nor dornthey wish to face their own role in communistrngenocide. And why should they?rnTheir decades-long civil disobediencernresulted in the downplaying of communistrnhorror and legitimized the Gulag.rnWliile the 68ers did not play a direct rolernin Beria’s, Yagoda’s, or Tito’s ethnicrncleansing, they were useful idiots. If today’srncaviar left were to open the Pandora’srnbox of the Gulag, Augusto Pinochetrnwould look like a naughty little scoutrnfrom boot camp. The best way to coverrnup their own murderous past is to singrnthe hymns of human rights and to lecturernon the metaphysics of permanentrneconomic progress.rnThe 68ers and their well-clad croniesrnare the financial insiders now, speculatingrnon stocks, never hesitating to transferrnmegabucks to Luxembourg via the GaymanrnIslands or, better yet, to do somernhidden wheeling and dealing on WallrnStreet. They no longer spout nonsensernabout equality and social justice for thernVietcong, Congolese, or Tibetans, norrndo they indulge in academic rantingsrnabout socialist Utopia. And why shouldrnthey? Today, the time is ripe for theirrngross corruption, veiled, of course, in thernincessant rhetoric of multiculturalism.rnThe 68ers have won: The world belongsrnto them.rnBut for how long? The 68ers have inheritedrna massive financial burden,rnmuch of it the result of governmentrnspending on the various programs thatrnthey once took to the streets to demand.rnAt the same time, their work ethic palesrnnext to the rugged individualism of theirrnhard-working predecessors. From Germanyrnto France, from Italy to England,rnthey may excel in a liberal mimicry ofrncapitalism, which in practice translatesrninto the rise of a handful of the very richrnand an ever-larger mass of the workingrnpoor. But who will foot the tab? Norncountry can be run by humanitarian decrees.rnWhen push comes to shove, goodrnleftist intentions mean nothing: The votersrncan kick the 68ers out of office just asrnquickly as they brought them in.rnMany conservatives in the West, andrnparticularly in America, misunderstandrnthe true nature of the modern left and itsrnsocialist offshoots. These conservativesrnnaively assume that the cultural war willrnbe won through political elections. Theyrnbelieve that political power (that is, thernarmy, police, and diplomacy) will keeprnthe country together and circumvent orrncircumscribe leftist influence. This is arndangerous and possibly fatal mistake, notrnjust for the conservative cause, but forrnWestern civilization. The political powerrnheld today by the former 68ers is beingrninstitutionalized through legal restrictionsrnon freedom of speech, of thought,rnand of research. Germany, Canada,rnFrance, and other Western countriesrnhave already passed strict laws forbiddingrnyoung scholars to pursue open and honestrnresearch in certain touchy areas ofrnmodern history. Passages from the GermanrnCriminal Code bring to mind thernSoviet comrade Vishinsky: They are notrnwhat we expect of a free and democraticrncountry.rnMany conservatives have failed to realizernthat political power must always bernpreceded by cultural power, and afterwardsrnstrengthened by an incessant mediarnwar. In our age of video, of hologramrnHitiers, of sound-bite political lingo, thernone who adapts the fastest to the changingrnworld is bormd to win. The 68ers realizedrnlong ago that one needs to infiltraternuniversities, publishing houses, andrnschools before storming the WhiternHouse. For three decades, leftist scholarsrnhave diligently dished out their marxophilicrndogma to gullible students in thernWest. Their progeny have grown up andrnare well positioned to follow suit.rnIf conservatives ever wish to surfacernagain, they must resolutely commitrnthemselves to fighting the cultural revolutionrnby grooming highly sophisticated,rnhighly intelligent journalists and scholars,rnand by coaching yoimg people to defendrnthe heritage of the West. Conservativernpolitical leaders must realize that thernculture is the only battleground onrnwhich cultural and political hegemonyrncan be snatched away from the hydra ofrn68ers. Consider this: Conservatives canrnstill boast of some prominent politicalrnleaders, yet the universities, schools, andrnthe media are totally controlled by thernleft. Conservative intellectuals in thernWest are too differentiated, and they oftenrnsuffer from pathological vanity andrnobsessive aristocratic individualism. Althoughrnthey are sometimes wrongly accusedrnof being populists, conservativesrnare incapable of whipping the youngrnmasses into a frenzy, or of creating militantsrnready to storm street barricades.rnMost conservatives don’t understandrnhow to articulate their own message. It isrnimpossible to get three conservatives tornwork together: Each will immediatelyrnwish to prove that he is the best. Culturalrnconservatives still don’t recognize theirrntrue enemy, much less know how to beatrnhim. Frequently, they quarrel amongrnthemselves about their own nationalistrnvictimology, or push their tribal dogmasrnto the extieme—always, of course, to thernbenefit of the international left. To be arnconservative should not merely mean be-rnMARCH 1999/45rnrnrn