A splendid defense of free markets and individual freedom

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	• The Road to Serfdom F. A. Hayek University Of Chicago Press, 1994 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 180 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Why freedom must be saved over and over again

Hayek gives us a step by step development from well meaning socialist ideals to the cataclysm of their results over time. Hayek, a Nobel Laureate and Medal Of Freedom winner, writes from his life experiences in Austria during Germany's completion of National Socialism with the ascension of Hitler, whereupon he moved to Britain seeing the same social principles dominate there. Italy, the USSR and China allowed additional observations from a distance. His analysis goes far in clearing the mess that is modern human social evolution, showing how humans behave under the three systems of capitalism, socialism, tyranny, and how one gets from the first to the later. One of his most enlightening morsels is that the system we create, creates us. That is, once we enact a new system of living, humans mold themselves to it. Different regimes produce different human types. (Zimbardo's "Lucifer Effect") Early on we see a redefining of old words with new meanings. Freedom had once meant freedom from coercion, from arbitrary power over others, from arbitrary restrictions on individual choice. The "new freedom" becomes freedom from necessity, from compulsion, from circumstance. Excepting immediate needs of war and natural disaster, "Individual freedom," writes Hayek, "cannot be reconciled with the supremacy of one single purpose to which the whole society must be entirely and permanently subordinated." Like radical equality (complete in every way), "economic freedom" is represented as an indispensable condition of "real liberty" as liberty is dispensed of. Morals are of necessity a phenomena of individual conduct, notes Hayek, existing only in a sphere of individual freedom where one decides for themselves. Let the State dictate morality, as it eventually must under socialism, and morality disappears from individuals. People come to see themselves as more ethical because they have delegated their vices to larger and larger groups. Progression hastens another socialist teaching - the deliberate disparagement of all activities involving economic risk, and a moral opprobrium cast on gains which makes risks worth taking. Schools and press present the spirit of commercial enterprise as disreputable and making profit as immoral. "Where to employ a hundred people is represented as exploitation, but to command the same number is honorable." No longer is independence but State-sponsored security what provides rank and status.

Though socialists promise themselves a more abundant life, free of economic tethers, they must come to renounce it. As organized direction increases, the variety of ends must give way to uniformity, as no government can address the millions of products and services a blind price system manages without "managers". Recalling Hoffer's "True Believer" and the control required for any dogma to protect itself from challenge, the evolving socialist society must create glorious goals "for the people", close itself off from external influence, and lose a sense of and respect for truth as the world shrinks around them to support the social ambition. Successful socialism requires creation of a common view on essential values. It is not a rational conviction, but the acceptance of a creed that is required to justify the national plan. As the rule of law is blind, it is also incompatible with a government deliberately aiming at material equality for certain groups as "distributive justice" attempting to produce the same results for different people all under the guise of "social justice" or "greater equality" ["diversity", "inclusivity", "sensitivity"]. "I have never accused the socialists of deliberately aiming at a totalitarian regime, or even suspected they had such inclinations," writes Hayek. However, what are unforeseen yet inevitable consequences of social planning create conditions eventually requiring totalitarianism in order to succeed. Notice, economic control leads to control of all kinds. Once government is enlisted to service these higher virtues of economic equality through planned, collectivist, distributions, then someone, sometime has to start making arbitrary choices about who to benefit and who to penalize. High morals born from capitalistic democracies are the same morals demanding socio-economic equality for all, tired of waiting for results, weary of abuses and corruptions. (Sounding a great deal like America's move to Supreme Court test cases in the 1960s when Congressional legislation seemed time consuming and uncertain, as laws could be made from the bench instead.) The very opposite of intensions are created, sinking not only capitalism and democracy but morality as well, as tyranny rises to do the hard job of social control required to service the new dogma. At this point the ground is set for the National Socialist's elevation of Hitler, socialist Fascist's ascension of Mussolini and the United Soviet Socialist Republic's embrace of Stalin. Moral values socialists pride themselves in are the product of institutions they end up destroying, and the poor remain poor, or worse under tyranny, unless they are lucky enough to become one of the tyrants. It's no wonder Hayek is seen still at the political science and policy journal shelf in bookstores. He serves as a permanent reminder that, as he writes, freedom must be won over and over again in order to be maintained.

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Brilliant prima facie case against socialism

Considering it my duty as an economics major, I took it upon myself to read this book, with little expectations as to its brilliance, and was completely swept away. Not only is Hayek extremely eloquent in articulating the case for free trade, he supports his arguments with facts (e.g. what was then going on in Nazi Germany) and with theory (e.g. why without even the historical evidence that we do have we must conclude that a centralized system cannot equally favor everyone).

Since it is my tendency to look at the 1 star reviews before making a 5 star one, I recognize that some people don't like Hayek because he doesn't recognize the great things about socialized medicine (like how a guy in Canada signed up for a CAT scan under his dog's name because animals are not covered under their highly efficient centralized health care...true story by the way) or the kind thoughts of socialist thinkers (please don't make me choose my selection of Marx quotes). But what Hayek does is present a prima facie case against socialism; before anyone can advocate socialism, they MUST address Hayek's arguments.

This is why I think before any socialist and libertarian face each other in a squabble, both must have read The Road to Serfdom so that they can hit on the applicable issues instead of babbling on about poverty statistics. Are you a socialist and disagree with Hayek? Fine, but read the book so that you know where your opponents stand. I really think that socialists think lovers of capitalism are greedy and have no ethics. But if you read our spokesman Hayek, you'll see why we think that the free market is actually BETTER for society.

Let's change the scope of the argument. Socialists should stop arguing about how some people are poor...yes, some people are poor...and demonstrate how a centralized system can make people BETTER than they would be under the free market system. How planning the systems of production would be more efficient and prosperous than under the system of competition. How giving all our freedoms to one entity would guarantee them for all. If you can effectively address these issues and the many more that Hayek brings up, we will soon see a blessed change in the current headache of debates on socialism.

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Collectivism Leads to Tyranny

Friedrich August von Hayek was an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought in the mid-20th century. Since 1920s, he worked in Austria. Unwilling to return to Austria after its annexation to Nazi Germany, Hayek became a British citizen in 1938, a status he held for the remainder of his life. It was during this time that "The Road to Serfdom" originated, originally published by Routledge Press in March 1944 in the UK and then by the University of Chicago in September 1944.

Hayek's central thesis of this book is that all forms of collectivism lead logically and inevitably to tyranny, and he used the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of countries which had gone down "the road to serfdom" and reached tyranny.

The book has many worthy observations. For example, all people are different by their mental development (which is also influenced by family environment and education, not counting the physical differences of the brain and endocrine system) and thus the classes of the society are needed at least to give more developed people to fully put into action their potential. Liquidation of social classes will also liquidate the abilities of more developed individuals. The same is on the international level. Consider international planning. Whichever honest and democratically open panning system will be adopted, it will be opposed by less developed and poorer nations, because they will see it as ignorance or oppression of their interests. This is obvious - the needs and goals of poor or underdeveloped countries cannot match the goals of rich or developed countries; as the interests of more educated people cannot match the interests of less educated ones.

Many people came to a conclusion that the wealth, in some extent, depends on a level of education. The problem is that not all the people in equal extend incline to the education, to their self-improvement. This is because of the differences of their needs, habits, abilities, capabilities, and so on. Leo Tolstoy in his novel "Resurrection" arose a question of how to improve the level of education: from inside of each individual or from outside? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Should first the level of education in the society be risen which yields a revolution (dialectic transition of quantity into quality) or the revolution should make the environment to foster the education. Hayek doesn't explicitly raise this issue, but brings parallel between delegation of decision making in managing an enterprise and managing the state. Hayek thought that if a company boss makes all decision making solely by himself and doesn't give the work (of decision making) back to the people (see Ronald Heifetz's publications), it is similar to the states with totalitarian government. Such a dictatorship, enterprise-wide or country-wide, can be used in particular circumstances, but should not be used in all cases as the absolutely correct way of management, according to Hayek.

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Misses the real problem and solution

The only, effective way to reject socialism is by attacking it's fundamental philosophical ideas. That collectivism is good and the individual must be sacrificed for the "good of the people". Attacking a philosophy such as communism or socialism, because it is not "practical" is a contradiction and undercuts any argument against such a corrupt philosophy. These ideas are not good in theory but bad in practice. They are evil in theory and therefore evil in practice.

I would like to also recommend Ayn Rand's, "The Virtue of Selfishness". This is THE work to understand Man's Individual Rights based on His Rational Nature. It is from these fundamental Truths that the ONLY proper function of a legitimate government is derived - The protection of Individual Rights.

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A splendid defense of free markets and individual freedom

I found this book in Amazon, read the reviews and bought it. At the end, I was embarrassed by the fact that I had a Master degree and yet lacked the knowledge that this work existed. That is the sad nature of college education these days... but I digress. I had heard of Hayek, but this book alone, with the most wonderful words on freedom and common sense, turned me into a very big fan of his work. He was truly an outstanding defender of free markets and individual freedoms, perhaps second only to Milton Friedman (if second to anyone). Read this book and you will understand why it was so popular in the U.S. when it was published... why it marked the beginning of a movement that reversed the spread of dirigism and socialism around the globe... why it is no surprise that Hayek was a heavy influence on Thatcher's economic policies... and why Hayek is considered one of the most important political philosophers of the twentieth century. This is one of the most important reads for anyone interested in free markets and individual freedom. (This is a re-post of my 1998 review, with additions)

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in England in the spring of 1944?when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program?The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would inevitably lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate attention from the public, politicians, and scholars alike. The first printing of 2,000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30,000 were sold. In April of 1945, Reader's Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this condensation to more than 600,000 readers. A perennial best-seller, the book has sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States, not including the British edition or the nearly twenty translations into such languages as German, French, Dutch, Swedish, and Japanese, and not to mention the many underground editions produced in Eastern Europe before the fall of the iron curtain.

After thirty-two printings in the United States, The Road to Serfdom has established itself alongside the works of Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and George Orwell for its timeless meditation on the relation between individual liberty and government authority. This fiftieth anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Milton Friedman, commemorates the enduring influence of The Road to Serfdom on the ever-changing political and social climates of the twentieth century, from the rise of socialism after World War II to the Reagan and Thatcher "revolutions" in the 1980s and the transitions in Eastern Europe from communism to capitalism in the 1990s.

F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of libertarianism in the twentieth century.

On the first American edition of The Road to Serfdom:
"One of the most important books of our generation. . . . It restates for our time the issue between liberty and authority with the power and rigor of reasoning with which John Stuart Mill stated the issue for his own generation in his great essay On Liberty. . . . It is an arresting call to all well-intentioned planners and socialists, to all those who are sincere democrats and liberals at heart to stop, look and listen."?Henry Hazlitt, New York Times Book Review, September 1944

"In the negative part of Professor Hayek's thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often?at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough?that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamt of."?George Orwell, Collected Essays

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