Against Democracy and Equality: The European New Right English Edition

This is a very well-written lucid--perhaps too lucid--account of the European New Right. It has the advantage of a preface by Alain De Benoist and includes the important MANIFESTO OF A EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE as an appendix, so you don't have to biuy both, as I did.because of the nature of the politics involved and the contradictions inherent in ENR ideology (or should I say metapolitics) this is not a book to love, but it is certainly a book to ponder.

This is a very intriguing book, it combines a lot of left and right thinking but is more focused on the right, very enigmatic to me.

This book as well as O'Meara's New Culture, New Right: Anti-Liberalism in Postmodern Europe (four stars) deal with the French New Right movement of the 1970-80s. If you only want to read one book, I recommend the current book for a few reason:
1. It is more clearly written.
2. It provides information about the intellectual origin of the movement.

The main text is not much changed from the earlier edition and the references are to material published forty years ago. However, when the author wrote the book most of the idea development had already occurred by Benoist and this GRECE group. Having said that, it would have been interesting to get an up-to-date view of what has happened to the movement. As a small compromise towards that objective, the book contains a manifesto written in 1999 by the Benoist, the leading voice of the French New Right. This manifesto is a good complement and provides a bit of update.

I have also read Johnson's New Right vs. Old Right. That is a primitive, poorly written book for white power agitators in the US. If you are interested political ideas, that book is just trash. I recommend the current book if you want to have an introduction to the New Right.

Finally, I am actually shocked that these ideas developed in the 70s/80s are not much more discussed and used. Probably because we have not had translations in English for a very long time. And probably because Benoist does not look very intelligent when he talks about the economy. Still, it is really difficult to understand, because he has good insights in other domains. Read the book. I think these ideas will be influential in Europe in the coming decades.

_Against Democracy and Equality: The European New Right_ by Croatian born political scientist Tomislav Sunic, republished by The Noontide Press, is a unique book that examines some of the thinking that has issued from the pens of various European intellectuals in a postwar millieu calling themselves the "New Right". This is one of the few books in English which attempts to adequately deal with these much maligned individuals and present their ideas to the general public in the United States.

In the preface by conservative libertarian Paul Gottfried, he notes that it is often difficult to know what to make of the European New Right intellectuals. While they claim to disdain both democracy and equality, they remain firmly opposed to both the economism of American capitalism and the totalitarianism of Soviet communism (this book was originally written before the fall of the Soviet Union). These thinkers often trace the roots of the egalitarian principle to what they refer to as "Judeo-Christianity", emphasizing instead the pagan practices of ancient Europe and opposing polytheism to monotheism. In this sense, many of the European New Right thinkers can be seen as inheritors of the legacy of Friedrich Nietzsche, whose philosophy of the Overman has proven so difficult for the modern age. However, this emphasis on neopaganism has led many of them to be delegitimized by their fellow conservatives, even those conservatives who share their disdain for American "neoconservativism". The book also begins with a foreward by David J. Stennett in which he notes the disdain of many in the New Right for modern day technologies. However, according to David Stennett, the New Right must embrace the internet and the air waves if they are to have any hope of accomplishing something.

Professor Sunic begins by contrasting the New Right with other manifestations on the political right in Europe as well as the American Old Right. In the United States, Christianity whether in its Protestant or Roman Catholic form has played a much greater role in the shaping of conservativism than among the European New Right. Many among the European New Right incorporate elements that may be thought of as "leftist" among the central tenets of their beliefs (among these the possibility of an alliance with modern "Greens" and others who oppose extreme capitalism and the myth of progress). This has made them truly revolutionary and heirs to the great tradition of the "conservative revolutionaries" whose philosophies were ransacked by Hitler. Indeed, many on the left and among the politically correct have sought to chastise the New Right by attempting to associate them with fascism (a word which apart from the regime of Benito Mussolini may have no proper meaning). Chief among the New Right thinkers are those who belong to "G.R.E.C.E.", a movement which emphasizes the Hellenic virtues. Prominent members of the New Right include Alain de Benoist of France and Michael Walker, publisher of _The Scorpion_ of England. Alain de Benoist, whose thinking emphasizes a return to pagan virtues, is perhaps the leading figure of the European New Right.

This book is divided into two sections, the first focusing on the New Right and the "conservative revolutionaries", and the second focusing on egalitarianism and the roots of the modern crisis. In the first section, Sunic devotes separate chapters to the most famous conservative revolutionaries: Carl Schmitt, Oswald Spengler, and Vilfredo Pareto, and explains how their thought came to influence New Right thinkers. In addition, thinkers such as Julius Evola and Francis Parker Yockey also play a good deal of importance for the European New Right. Sunic also explains how the New Right came to regard paganism as Europe's great heritage usurped by Christianity, although he contrasts the thinking of Roman Catholic philosopher Thomas Molnar and Alain de Benoist (both of whom are good friends and mutually supportive). The second section of this book is devoted to showing the errors in the myth of equality. Here, Sunic explains the role of genetics in revealing the inequality among men (although many in the New Right reject a strict biological determinism). The New Right also emphasizes an organic state, much in agreement with that of such economic thinkers as Othmar Spann, as opposed to the excesses of capitalism, consumerism, materialism, and Marxism. Sunic devotes a considerable amount of attention to the concept of totalitarianism, which many among the New Right rail against. This totalitarianism may take the shape of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or modern day liberalism (a "soft" totalitarianism according to the New Right). The book ends with separate chapters focusing on modern day liberalism (democracy and capitalism) and the Soviet Union. Sunic devoted a good deal of attention to the thinking of Zinoviev, a Soviet dissident, who attempted to explain the power of the Soviet state from within. While this aspect of the book may appear somewhat dated, overall the prophecies of those among the New Right remain sound.

This book offers a unique opportunity for American readers to become familiar with a special blend of European thought that is coming into its own. While the thinkers of the New Right have been frequently maligned, particularly by Marxists and liberals, their understanding of modern day political dilemmas proves most pertinent.