Western civilization is being forced step by step into a state of civil war by the rising assaults of a revolutionary movement known as [redacted].
This movement centers in the universities and spreads outward into every institution of today’s society. It spreads in two ways: by indoctrination of those who are open to indoctrination, and by terrorization of those who are not.
Many observers are bewildered by the fact that the violence and terror have appeared suddenly in the midst of a scenario – written by liberals – calling for a new society based on gentleness, tolerance and the humanitarian concern of everyone for everyone else’s needs. The violence, the obscenity, the unabashed totalitarianism have burst like a storm upon the calm of an afternoon tea party.
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The year is… 1970, a full half century ago. The redacted giveaway is: “the New Left.” The author is George Walsh, the most intellectually impressive follower of Ayn Rand. The article, “Herbert Marcuse, Philosopher of the New Left” (published in Rand’s official journal, The Objectivist) is sadly one of his very few publications. And since it is packed with hyperbolic language uncharacteristic of Walsh’s wonderful lecture series, I have to think that Rand heavily rewrote it.
Even so, it’s a nice chance to reflect that left-wing fanaticism on college campuses, like religious revivals generally, has a strong cyclical component. The idea that the world grows ever more leftist is wrong, and so is the idea that college students grow ever more leftist. Hard as it is to believe, the current mania will not last. As I’ve often said, ADHD shall save us.
That said, I am worried that the current mania will durably enshrine uniformity and exclusion into the fabric of higher education, so the anti-intellectuality and intolerance continue after the enthusiasm dissolves.
READER COMMENTS
Phil H
Sep 24 2020 at 10:16am
Hahaha
“it’s a nice chance to reflect that left-wing fanaticism on college campuses, like religious revivals generally, has a strong cyclical component”
Or, perhaps more accurately: It’s comical to reflect on the fact that right-wing hysteria never changes.
Jon Murphy
Sep 24 2020 at 11:04am
Given many prominent lefties denounced the strategy and expressed similar fear as righties, both then and now, it is a factual mistake to call this “right-wing hysteria.”
Phil H
Sep 24 2020 at 7:50pm
“The author is George Walsh, the most intellectually impressive follower of Ayn Rand.”
So, not an error, then.
Thomas Hutcheson
Sep 24 2020 at 10:27am
Surprising that it’s so recent. It sound much like “conservative” rhetoric that goes back to at least the post-WWI Red Scare.
Steve Brecher
Sep 24 2020 at 10:45am
Thank you, Professor Caplan! With no irony, I say that this post makes me feel better.
Jacob Egner
Sep 24 2020 at 11:49am
My guess was “somewhere in 1960s and 1970s” because there was a lot of unrest and violence (ex: bombings) compared to decades before and after. It was bad, and it lasted a while, and some bad consequences still endure. Similarities between now and 1970 is bad news, not good news.
Daniel Klein
Sep 24 2020 at 12:55pm
I think now is more similar to Paris 1790 than to US 1970:
43 Timely Quotes by Edmund Burke That Reveal the Instincts Driving Radicalism
JK Brown
Sep 24 2020 at 9:30pm
Seems to be on a 50-60 year cycle, if we consider the Youth Movement in pre-WWI Germany written about by Mises in his ‘Bureaucracy’. Those youth, their ranks thinned out in the trenches, went on to be the bureaucrats of the Final Solution and dutiful Stasi clerks.
We might need to be a bit more concerned as the US has become a very bureaucratic state, adopting the Zwangswirtschaft (compulsory economy) of socialist Germany, losing the pioneer spirit of America’s past where youth made change in their deeds contributing to society instead of throwing tantrums demanding of others.
Everett
Sep 24 2020 at 11:25pm
What’s the equivalent cycle period for so-called conservative radicalism?
I.e. McVeigh and co in the 90s. KKK revival in the 30s. etc….
Eric Mack
Sep 25 2020 at 4:42pm
Bryan, you are on target when you write, “I have to think that Rand heavily rewrote it.” I was a Philosophy colleague of George Walsh at the ill-fated Eisenhower College in the early 1970s. Although I do not recall that George ever mentioned details of the changes that Rand wanted in the text of his essay, I recall his mentioning to me Rand’s heavy editorial hand. I am pretty sure I recall that George thought he had managed to sidestep troublesome substantive changes.
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