reform, the collapse of the Soviet Unionnwill be unstoppable.nWill Communist Party ofEcials notnmerely threaten but actually precipitatena war rather than lose power? For annanswer to this, I telephoned Beichmannin his British Columbia eyrie. He hadnjust returned from a fortnight in Washington,nD.C., where he met with seniornCIA officials, apparently. No, hensaid, he wasn’t predicting a vt’orld war.n”Post-book,” he said, referring to anchange of mind since he finished thenmanuscript, “I am predicting civil warnin the Soviet Union.”nFor over fifty years now, Beichmannhas fought the good fight against communism,nfor which we all owe him andebt of gratitude. Now, at last, henshould feel free to declare victory,ncome on home and devote his energiesnto combating the same ideology in itsndomestic manifestation. Those of usnwho know him also hope that he maynfind time to write his memoirs, whichncould shed new light on the publicnevents that have so preoccupied him.nTom Bethell is Washington editor ofnthe American Spectator.nWhat Is Right?nby Tomislav SunicnThe Nature of the RightnEdited by Roger Eatwell andnNoel O’SullivannBoston: Twayne Publishers;n193 pp., $15.95nMany ambiguities continue to surroundnthe term “right.” A centurynafter the word entered the jargon ofnparty politics, and forty-five years afternthe military defeat of fascism, there isnstill no comprehensive theory of thenright. What exactly does it represent in antime of “soft” politics and the end ofn”hard” ideologies? Does it make muchnsense to talk about the right-left dichotomynin a society that is weary of politicsnand impatient with beliefs in “historicalnnecessity”? The more one tries to narrownthe idea of the “right,” the more wenare at a loss to find a suitable andnoverarching definition.nIn the series of essays comprising ThenNature of the Right, Roger Eatwell,n40/CHRONICLESnJ.S. McClelland, Arthur Aughey,nRoger Woods, Michael Billig, andnNoel O’Sullivan have made a seriousnattempt to sort out the intellectualnorigins of the various rightist tendenciesnthat have shaped European andnAmerican politics. As these writers remindnus, “right” is a word that hasnbeen subject to different interpretationsnin different places and epochs. Forninstance, right-wing intellectuals of thenFrench Third Republic, in the first halfnof the 20th century, are today a poornsource of inspiration for the constitutionallynminded and progress-lovingnrightists in America. By and large, onnthe European front, a variety of conservativesnand right-wingers have pursuedntheir agendas with greater intellectualnrigor than have Americannconservatives. European conservatives,neven in the Americanized Europe ofnthe postwar era, find little echo amongnAmerican conservatives, let alone neoconservatives.nI commend O’Sullivan and Eatwellnfor their careful treatment of issues andnideas that have preoccupied generationsnof conservative scholars and activists.nThey are justiy dismissive of thenstereotypical rightist intellectual watchdognof Daumier’s paunchy bankers,nand equally so of the notion of him as anbloodsucking monster bent on the destructionnof all that is good in thenworld. Instead, they and the otherncontributors provide a historical andnchronological survey of rightist thoughtnand thinkers, and of the historical contextnin which these have thrived.nEatwell et al., are clearly aware ofnthe potential of the right at a timenwhen the walls are coming down allnover Europe and communism appearsnto be disappearing. The rightists innFrance, in Germany, and in Englandnhave acquired an impressive intellectualnartillery, and it could be their ideasnthat are revived in the 21st century.nRoger Woods recalls that to havenbeen a rightist revolutionary in WeimarnGermany meant primarily to havenbeen opposed to the Versailles diktatnand to the creeping economic anomienthat had swept across defeated Germanynin the aftermath of the First WoridnWar; while Carl Schmitt — and alsonMartin Heidegger and Ernst Jlinger—nwere only several among a large numbernof conservative theorists whose reputationsnare well-maintained today bynnntheir young disciples in Europe. Byncontrast, writes J.S. McClelland, anman of the right in the French ThirdnRepublic was typically a reactionarynimbued with the teaching of CharlesnMaurras, anti-Semitism, and an almostnpathological hatred of Germans.nNoel O’Sullivan devotes considerablenspace to GRECE, an erudite andnfreewheeling group of intellectuals betternknown as the French New Right.nThis New Right advocates a fusion ofnall rightist traditions, and tops itselfnwith an unabashed call for the rejectionnof Judeo-Christian monotheism and itsnreplacement by a resurrected Europeannpaganism. Undoubtedly, given itsninfluence in the French and Italiannacademic establishments, the NewnRight may soon become an eminencengrise behind the European body politic.nThe major figure of the NewnRight, Alain de Benoist, has openlynstated that liberalism and vulgar commercialismnare today a far greaternthreat than communism to the Europeanncommunity. Drawing on thenwork of Friedrich Nietzsche and OswaldnSpengler, and also on that ofnMarxists such as Antonio Gramsci andnRegis Debray, the French New Rightnis a unique conservative movement,nlight-years removed from the biblicallynminded and buck-loving “New Right”nin America. Unlike the traditional Europeannrightists, Benoist is trying tonachieve a vision of Europe stretchingnfrom the Urals to the Iberian peninsula.nFor him, the looming danger isnglobal democracy under the auspicesnof Wall Street and Mickey Mouse.nAlthough the contributors on occasionnhave trouble separating themselvesnfrom their biases. The Nature ofnthe Right is nonetheless a useful vadenmecum for those wanting an introductionnto political ideas and sensibilitiesnthat have long been obscured by liberalnand socialist trends; it is a pity, however,nthat the authors have not examinednmore closely the differences betweennAnglo-American and European conservatives.nIn spite of the merit of thisnsmall volume, a comprehensive booknon the nature and meaning of the rightnremains to be written.nTomislav Sunic is the author ofnAgainst Democracynand Equality: The EuropeannNew Right.n