By the late 1970s, the ND had captured the political zeitgeist in France, reaching its mass media heyday. During these years, intellectuals affiliated with the movement published articles in the mainstream magazine "Le Figaro", edited by Louis Pauwels. In 1978, De Benoist's "Vu de droite" won the prestigious Prix de l'essai from the Académie Française. The ND's growth raised concerns among many liberal and leftist intellectuals in France, who claimed that it was a racist, fascist, and Vichyite movement that sought to undermine liberal democracy, egalitarianism, and the legacy of the French Revolution of 1789. A campaign calling for the rejection of the ND was embraced by media outlets like "Le Monde", "Le Nouvel Observateur", "L'Express", and "La Croix", resulting in "Le Figaro" withdrawing its patronage of the movement. The ND claimed that it was facing a form of intellectual persecution akin to McCarthyism. Now deprived of a popular platform, the ND accelerated away from biological racism and toward the claim that different ethno-cultural groups should be kept separate in order to preserve their historical and cultural differences.