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Another reality is the evolutionary character of capitalism in Western Europe, where state control of private enterprise is already well advanced, far more so than in the U.S. For all of its considerable vigor, European capitalism has tolerated both shocking social inequalities and some startling economic anomalies. France's vaunted prosperity, for example, has simply bypassed millions of Frenchmen living on incomes of under $250 a month.
Alienation. One aspect of Marx's intellectual legacy has proved especially durable. As French Sociologist Raymond Aron puts it: "If Marx is as strong today as he has ever been, it is because of his questions, not his answers." The young Hegelian Marx asked many of the same questions about society that trouble youthful European leftists today. One of his most lasting themes dealt with man's Entfremdung, literally his "estrangement" or "alienation" in industrial societies—a disease that, as Marxist humanists trenchantly argue, has not yet withered away.
The long-term impact of the Marxist revival is far from clear. The "march through the institutions" that the radicals talk about could be short indeed if, as West Germany's Jusos have already begun to do, they only antagonize workers and frighten away moderate voters. A leftist scare could severely reduce the expectations of France's unique Socialist-Communist coalition, which won 46.5% of the first-round vote in the March legislative elections and has a plausible shot at the presidency in 1976.
However uncertain the prospects for unity on the left, the new radicals argue plausibly that the Marxist revival is not a passing phenomenon. If Marx lives again, it is because Western Europe's still uneven prosperity has not yet put to rest many of the questions he raised a century ago.