The New Right of the Old Worldrnby Tomislav SunicrnIntellectual eonservatism in Europe began its odyssey withrnDonoso Cortes in the 19th century, only to end its shipwreckedrnvoyage a century later with Oswald Spengler. Europeanrneonscr’atism has always been a panic-stricken response tornthe egalitarian torrents that have been sweeping over Europernsince the American and PVench Revolutions. After 1945, thernanus miindi of all European peoples, new liberal and socialistrnclerks essentially piggybacked on the political winners of WorldrnWar II. Eor conservative intellectuals the arrival of liberal-socialistrnscribes meant that unless conservatism was married tornthe idea of Atlanticism—American market democracy andrnthe ideology of human rights—it could not be heard, let alonernlistened to with impunity. The grand Inquisitors in the East,rnBcria and Yagoda, went even a step further; they put to deathrncountless intellectuals who refused to believe in the radiant futurernand who voiced doubts about the socialist end of history.rnAlmost without exception, conservative thinkers on both sidesrnof the Wall were pilloried to the iron wall of silence.rnWith the sudden fall of communism in the East eonservati’rnC conxulsions were expected to start anew in the West. Thernrecent strong showing of the Eront National in Eranee or of thernDVU (Deutsche Volks Union) in Germany goes hand in handrnwith ever louder tremors in the East, accompanied, of course,rnb an ongoing decay of the leftist intellectual mystique in thernWest. Boiling ethnic blood is spilling over into every corner ofrnthe Eurasian continent.rnUndoubtedly, conservative parties in Europe would hardlyrnhave garnered a vote had they not previously received tacitrnbehind-the-scenes backing from conservative heavyweights.rnThis time conservative thinkers have learned their lesson toornwell: they are hitting the block dressed in new and more respectablernclothes, opening up new vistas of analysis, and resortingrnto a very impressive long-range artillery. The breakuprnI’omislav Sunic teaches political science at Juniata College inrnPennsylvania. He will soon publish a translation ofBenoist’srnessays.rnof multicultural and multiethnic Utopias in Central and EasternrnEurope is only helping them to consolidate a new laboratoryrnof ideas, whose volcanic forces arc bringing Europe timernand again into the vortex of world history.rnIronically, at the top of conservative revolutions in Europernstands socialist France. That intellectual conservatism isrnstronger today in Prance than in Germany should not come asrna surprise. The German political and intellectual class stillrnreels from what historian Armin Mohler calls the Germanrnneurosis. Germany’s recent past makes it mandatory for allrnGermans, both young and old, to practice in chorus the rites ofrnnational masochism as well as to learn the compulsiye mimicryrnof liberal democracy. By contrast, the freewheeling Frenchrnintellectual scene has traditionally had more breathing room,rndespite the postwar intellectual terrorism sponsored by leftwingrnscribes. Ironically, German conservative thinkers arernembraced today in Prance and Itah^ more than in their ownrncountry of origin. P^ssayist Ernst Jiinger, political scientistrnCarl Schmitt, and zoologist and ethologist Konrad Lorenzrnare on the best-seller lists of mam French and Italian pundits.rnBy contrast, the ever present guise of political correctnessrnrequires every German to look twice over his shoulder beforern’enturing to eye the books of his forgotten conscrvati’e compatriots.rnOther than the left-leaning Schickimicki writers, whornroamed the globe and world academia—such as Giinter Grassrnand I leinrieh Boll—German intellectual history yas designedrnto come to a definite end.rnA Henchman, Alain dc Benoist, is today the most articulaternEuropean conservative thinker, and his shock troops—knownrnas the “European New Right” or GREGE (groupement dernrecherche et d’etudes pour la civilisation europeenne)—haverndone a spectacular job in retrieving the European conservativernheritage. Moreo’er, Benoist and his acolytes never miss a singlernopportunity to declare total war against Freudo-Marxianrnscholasticism as well as the liberal theology of the market.rnAlain de Benoist and the European New Right are nowherernnear America’s eonser’ative shores. Whether because of theirrnFEBRUARY 1993/19rnrnrn