The Fate of
Conservativ~e
Man
Guenter Reimann
As
THE FLAMES
of revolution swept over Europe after the
Great French Revolution, Prince Metternich is supposed to have
said: "My private belief is that the old Europe is at the beginning
of its end. I, who am determined to go down with it, shall know
how to do my duty. The new Europe, on the other hand, is still in
the state of becoming; between end and beginning there will be
chaos."
Once 'more is Europe in a state of chaos, and the conservative
who sticks to the old order can do nothing else but "go down with
it"; for the entire foundation on which the old Europe developed is
being destroyed. The present period is one of chaos "between end
and beginning."
The crisis of what is called Western civilization is bound up
with the nature of modern imperialism. Spreading from Western
Europe through the more backward areas of the world, modern
capitalism has transformed the "virgin soil" of other continents
into parts of a world economy dominated by monopolistic corpora–
tions, banks and trusts, which controlled thousands of enterprises,
and even whole branches of production throughout the world.
Special institutions and forms of investment were created which
seemed to guarantee stability and security. Permanence was ex–
pected for the world monopolies exercised by the great "have"
powers: England, France, the United States, the Netherlands.
But, as every one knows, this turned out to be a Utopian
vision. The threat came not from the exploited colonial areas, but
from within Europe itself, from the fascist powers which, as "have
not" or "would like to be" imperialists, started a revolt against the
entrenched imperialisms and their control of the world market.
They wanted a sphere of expansion for their own imperialism, they
wanted a share of the power and plunder of the older imperialisms,
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