The Road to Serfdom

I finished The Road to Serfdom yesterday. Friedrich A. Hayek's book caused somewhat of a controversy when it was first published 1944, especially in the British parliament which, by the time that it had gained notoriety, was led by Clement Atlee. Reading the book now, one can see why it was controversial then.

Stated briefly, the book is an attack on statism. Its primary thesis, written more or less plainly on the back, is that social planning cannot be reconciled with democratic liberalism. The specter that haunts the book is Nazi Germany which Great Britain was fighting when the book was published. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson which the book can teach us today. In an age when some university professors (somewhat oddly) claim that fascism is the most extreme form of capitalism, Dr. Hayek produces a strong rebuttal. National Socialism, in fact, was embraced by many of the former followers of Karl Marx's ideas and is the end result of socialism once socialism has proved insufficient. Dr. Hayek notes that the ideological roots of fascism were laid long before Hitler was elected; they could even be traced back to before the first war. However, if you believe that the government should sustain the environment, provide workers' unemployment insurance and subsidize the people's health, this book will not necessarily offend you, for Dr. Hayek argues that such undertakings are acceptable if they allow market forces to iron off the rough edges. Though a liberal, he is not an extremist and believes that the government does have a role in the economy. He merely argues that it should be, more or less, passive, providing a framework in which the free-market can operate. For Hayek, this is acceptable as long as the government does not prohibit freedom of enterprise. In short, while the book is still valuable, if it is read today it is unlikely to offend any Republican or Democrat who possesses ideological substance.