Let Them Eat Foie Gras

"Revolution." Chairman Mao warns in his little red book, "is not a dinner party." But at least some would-be revolutionaries disagree. About 30 of Paris' increasingly troublesome Maoists mounted a daylight raid on Fauchon's the epicurean grocery that boasts the Duke of Windsor among its regular customers. Wearing red handkerchiefs and armed with clubs, the raiders poured into Fauchon and began shoveling foie gras and caviar into the pockets of their combat jackets. The staff organized : a counterattack against the gourmet guerrillas. When the Maoists had been driven out, the floor was awash in vintage wine and pear brandy. Next day young Maoists, sweeping into the slums of Ivry-sur-Seine and Nanterre and a shantytown near Bugnolet, grandly distributed tins of foie gras truffe, caviar, pate en croute, marrons glaces, and grand cru to wash it down.

Will American radicals be inspired by this example? However earnest their ideological point, the French Robin Hoodlums executed a happening of at least some wit, an anarchistic tribute to gaiety and appetite. In some ways, the expedition savored of Yippie humor, but American radicals, with their self-consciously proletarian styles, seem unlikely to add it to their arsenal of assault. Picture Abbie Hoffman doling out TV dinners and Fresca in Harlem.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.