The Road to Serfdom

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Paperback cover. University Of Chicago Press (March 30, 2007)

Written in 1944 by Friedrich Hayek, the central argument is that comprehensive socialist planning (of the kind that replaces, instead of supplements competition), is incompatible with classical liberalism and inevitably leads to the oppression of the individual and the establishment of a totalitarian state.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1

Classical liberalism was responsible for the rise of Western Civilization to prominence; where it was abandoned, totalitarianism took its place. The heart of classical liberalism is Individualism: a man's own views and tastes are supreme in his own sphere and that he should develop his own individual gifts and bents at his discretion. Classical liberalism transformed a of society from a rigid hierarchical system to one where men could attempt to shape their own life. Where classical liberalism took root, so too did the rise of science, commerce and the development of complex economies.

The material improvements to Western society enabled its members to take notice of long-existing imperfections in their society. Their demand to resolve them conflicted with the slow development of liberalism and resulted in a movement to completely abandon the existing liberal regime in favor of a socialist one. Where the question under the liberal regime was how best to make use of spontaneous forces in an individualist society, the question under a socialist one was how best to collectively and consciously direct all social forces to deliberately chosen goals.

Though socialist ideas did not originate in Germany, they were perfected there and then spread to the rest of Western Civilization.

Chapter 2

Socialism was openly authoritarian at its founding: Socialism was a reaction against the liberalism of the French revolution. To the French writers who laid its foundations, socialism attempted to terminate the revolution by a deliberately reorganizing society along hierarchical lines and by imposing a coercive spiritual power. Freedom, to them, was the root-evil of nineteenth century society.

Socialism adopts only the name of freedom; it redefines the rest. In classical liberalism, freedom meant freedom from coercion, from the arbitrary power of other men and a release from the ties which left the individual no choice but to obey the orders from a superior to which he was attached. Under socialism, freedom meant freedom from necessity, or more specifically, freedom from the fact that some people are more needy than others. Under the socialist definition, freedom was another name for eliminating the disparities of power or wealth among people; it was nothing more than a demand for equal distribution of wealth.

Proponents of socialism as a form of liberity have observed it actually conflict with it. Max Eastman, Lenin's old friend: "instead of being better, Stalinism is worse than fascism, more ruthless, barbarous, unjust, immoral, anti-democratic, unredeemed by any hope or scruple." W. H. Chaimerlin, American correspondent in Russia: "socialism is certain to prove, in the beginning at least, the road NOT to freedom, but to dictatorship and counter-dictatorships, to civil war of the fiercest kind. Socialism acheived and maintained by democratic means seems definitely to belong to the world of utopias." F.A. Voit: "Marxism has led to Fascism and National Socialism, because, in all essentials, it is Fascism and National Socialism." Walter Lippmann, "the generation to which we belong is now learning from experience what happens when men retreat from freedom to a coercive organization of their affairs. Though they promise themselves a more abundant life, they must in practice reounce it; as the organized direction increases, the variety of ends must give way to uniformity. That is the nemesis of the planned society and the authoritarian principal in human affairs."

Socialism, Nazism and Fascism are related in their opposition to classical liberalism:

"While to the Nazi the communist, and to the communist the Nazi, and to both the socialist, are potential recruits who are made of the right timber, although they have listened to false prophests, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom."