The 'Conservative turn' since the late 1970s

[Beet]

Well it's clear what happened in China. Mao Zedong, who happened to helm the CCP during the time of the great definitive crisis (1937-1949) passed away in late 1976. With him went the only real bulwark of communism in the People's Republic. It was only a matter of time before the argument would be put forward (and prevail) that if communism truly was a scientific doctrine as it claimed, then it would "seek truth from facts."

David Ben Gurion passed away in 1973. Francisco Franco and Chiang Kai-shek in 1975. Josef Broz Tito and the Reza Shah in 1980. Every Soviet leader who was in line for the succession and an adult during World War II, between 1980 (Kosygin) and 1985 (Chernenko). These were the people who came of age when there 'was a palpable sense that society was moving forward', established themselves during the great trials of the mid-20th century, and held their countries' political evolutions in a seemingly invincible freeze during their lifetimes.

The great inventions and dramatic breakthroughs that created the sense of progress reached its maximum velocity in the period 1880-1920 or so. The great crisis (1914-45) prevented many of these new innovations from being fully exploited and implemented. This finally occurred (in the West) during the Long Boom (1945-75). However, after the breakthroughs were exhausted, productivity growth inevitably slowed down. The seeming new frontiers (space travel, atoms for peace on an industrial revolution style scale, supersonic air transport) never materialized. Only the microchip revolution allowed the sense of progress to continue on a diminished scale.

[Beet]

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I'm not talking here about Asia.

You cannot speak meaningfully of the conservative turn since the late 1970s without including Asia. It would be like trying to talk about the Reagan Revolution without including California. Asia participated in the conservative turn of the late 1970s, and arguably it affected more people in Asia than in the West. Chen Yun's speech at the Central Work Conference on November 12, 1978 was arguably the turning point of the period, alongside the Iranian revolution. It also came just six days after the resignation of Iran's last civilian prime minister; on the same day (November 6), the longtime leaders of Iran's democratic opposition emerged from a meeting in Paris with the Ayatollah completely capitulated, publicly agreeing to an Islamic government. Less than a month later (December 2) was Zia ul Haq's fateful speech declaring the Islamization of Pakistan.