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would submit, however, that French
liblmlisme
(wh ich corresponds roughly
to what has come to be called neoconservatism in the Un ited States) cannot
effectively provide what your letter ca lls a "radical criticism of existing
democratic society" without descending into the marketplace and espousing
concrete political and social issues, such as taxes, excessive government
regulation, immigration and the like; and its proponents, for the most part
writers and academics, have thus far shown no interest in doing anything of
the sort.
On the other hand , we do have the Le Pen phenomenon, the so-called
National Front, a movement on the lar right (a lthough in certain areas it
draws voting strength from former Communist supporters) which the Social–
ists and the media, with a little help from their friends in the opposition, have
managed
to
build up into a threat, in my humble op inion not yet a serious
one, to democratic institutions. Le Pen may seem on ly tenuously related
to
our subject, since his great issues are immigration and law-a nd-order, and he
has been careh.ll not to relate these to any recognizable ideology other than
the vague traditionalism of the alleged silent
m£~ority
in France. But the fact
is that he is a sk illful right-wing populist operating in a situation all but un–
precedented in this country, in wh ich lett-wing populism has suddenly thrown
in the towel. So we sha ll want to have a closer look at Le Pen; serious or
not, he looms large on the current French scene.
* * *
Where were we, then? Summarizing the eflect of the changes taking
place in Eastern Europe, it is noteworthy that the French (otherwise much
given to conspiracy theories) are not much at odds with each other on what,
in fact, has happened - nor, for that matter,
llne Jois n 'esl pas (oulwll e,
are
they much at odds with us. Everyone agrees that the Russians , having for–
mally and completely conceded defeat in the rea lm of ideas, were largely
responsible for the dissolution of their empire. Full credit is given to Solidarity
and to its less fortunate predecessor movements in other countries, as well as
to
the heroism of individual dissidents, but the Soviet regime had to make a
political decision, call off its troops and the K. C. B., allow things to come to
pass.
In
short, they were not just pushed. They chose tojump, and this is
important for the future since it means that the Russians, instead of befouling
the atmosphere with a doomed and dying despotism, stand some chance at
least of participating in the new Europe, now vaguely taking shape, and even
rece iving the help they so obv ious ly need.
In
any event, the satellites are
now free, and the immediate eflect of the from-the-top-down manner in
which this happened is that, for the first time in my memory since the battle
