The Road to Serfdom

Overly academic tone (which was perhaps the style at that time) made it not a real page turner. But overall I really enjoyed it. He makes it all seem so obvious when he makes his critiques of socialism. But when I talk to about these points to a socialist, they didn't realize this stuff, and they never thought about it that way.

For example, socialists often assume that the state should be run in a way that enforces rules about not exploiting workers and not allowing racism. That requires a lot of “power”. And what kind of people end up typically acquiring roles that have a lot of power? It's not people like you. It's narcissists and sociopaths, naturally; just look at the past 2000 years or so. Sure, there are exceptions. And typically when these people get all that power it's not ending worker exploitation that gets them out of bed in the morning. It's their own ego. So the benefit of capitalism is that it relegates these egomaniacs to set their sights on building electric cars, or functioning within a limited congress, or making feature films, etc. Does it create a perfect egalitarian economy? In many senses it leaves a lot to be desired. But look at where we came from, before capitalism; the divides in society used to be a lot worse. And the societies that have “progressed” the most have often been the most capitalist ones. There are exceptions. But do we really want to hand over responsibility for choosing what's best for us to someone who only ostensibly has our interests at heart, but in reality is a flawed corruptible human being? I'd say no. And this book also spends a lot of time pointing out from direct experience of the propaganda machine, the direct connection between that Marxist line reasoning and the rise of the Nazi state. Conveniently most socialists I know choose not to believe that connection, and I don't blame them, because it would be too embarrassing to admit it.

Another interesting point was about how the heck would “planning the economy” work on a practical level? How can someone else tell you what to do when they don't know you and what you're actually good at? How can someone dictate the prices of bread when they don't know how much grain is available for sale? How can they take in all the numbers and construct all the formulas for setting everything up in a balanced way? And how could we all agree on what a balanced formulas outcome would be? It all would easily devolve into a corrupted power-grab. Maybe we should just let people decide on their own careers and set the prices of the goods that they sell, and consumers can make their own purchasing decisions about whether the price is worth it or not.

Wow. This book was written in 1944 and it could not be more applicable to the contemporary events of 2022. From discussing the “demise” of democracy and capitalism, the draw of socialism/communism, and the playbook of the collectivists that is literally exactly what we see in action to this very day.

Honestly, I was expecting this to be a bit of a slog. I mean, who really enjoys reading obscure economic texts, right? (If you do, you're probably right at home here on Goodreads, like me!) But I ended up finding this fascinating because though it was written nearly 80 years ago, it is almost like a spotlight on the political and social upheavals that are currently affecting our world. I have another book on my shelf - The Fourth Turning - that may explain why this is the case. At any rate, this book was written during the 2nd World War at a time of tremendous social upheaval. The scourge of fascism spreading throughout Western Europe. Socialism had taken over Eastern Europe along with strong support in the academia/Intelligentsia of the West. While the specifics of our time are certainly different, it's pretty clear that there's little new about the macroeconomic picture of the whole thing. Can we see things more clearly now because it's all published in real time on social media? Minus the parts that are censored. Or written off as misinformation.

I'll need to take a deep dive though this again soon as this is a TRULY IMPORTANT work that anyone who believes in individual freedom (aka Liberty) should internalize to large extent.

The Road to Serfdom is not an anti-government book, it's definitely not a libertarian or pro-laissez-faire capitalism or even a pro-democracy book. It's purely and simply an anti-socialism book. And, just to be clear, to Hayek, socialism primarily means central-planning. It's chapter after chapter of reasons why socialism, despite it's apparently noble goals, both will not work in the practical sense, and how it tends to lead to totalitarianism.

Hayek's arguments are level-headed and logical. He is careful not to insult his opponent and goes out of his way to point out their good intentions.

Despite the fact that The Road to Serfdom is currently being championed by conservatives, Hayek calls himself a liberal and the book is written with fellow liberals in mind. There is no contradiction. Definitions, especially in the world of politics, have a way of changing. For Hayek liberalism was tantamount to freedom and liberty. Today the definition of the world “liberal” has shifted. In economics, liberalism is now a synonym for equality, and significantly, not equal freedom for all, but rather equal, or at least more equal, distribution of resources.

In a time when on one hand the accusation of socialism is bandied about as a slur and on the other there is a strong anti-capitalist movement that champions the same socialism, it's useful to understand not only what socialism really is, but what the implications for society are. They might not be what you think.

A must read for any liberty minded individual.

Very dense reading, but valuable. von Hayek gives an excellent argument against all kinds of collectivism. He describes hundreds of parallels between 1940's England and America and 1920's Germany and Italy, which are really quite astounding. It's really hard to argue with any of the points he makes since they are all based on very valid and non-anecdotal logic. The biggest problem with the book is the writing style, but it's manageable.