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Spring 2017

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 32, Number 1

Categories: Spring 2017 | Socialism | Economic utopias

Not So Great Utopias

Clifford Thies, Shenandoah University

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NotSoGreatUtopiasTheJournalofPrivateEnterprise32(1),2017,63–76CliffordThies*ShenandoahUniversity__________________________________________________________AbstractTheroadtoserfdom,saysHayek,comesoutofthepursuitofamirage.Intheattempttoachieveagreatutopiafeaturingbotheconomicandpoliticalequality,societywindsupwithreal-worldcommunism.Thisarticlecontraststheattemptsatsmall,self-sufficientcommunitiesbytheearlyutopiansocialistsandbyreligiouscommunistswiththerealitiesofrealworldcommunism.Italsoshowsthatmodernstate-communismeitherwindsupatserfdomormakespragmaticcompromiseswithindividualism.__________________________________________________________JELCodes:B25Keywords:Hayek,socialism,communes,communism,motivation,coordinationI.IntroductionInchapter2,“TheGreatUtopia,”ofTheRoadtoSerfdom(1944),F.A.Hayekdistinguishesbetweenthepromiseofsocialism(economicequality)andthepromiseofdemocracy(politicalequality),contrastingthesocialismproposedbyFrenchpoliticalandeconomictheoristHenrideSaint-SimonwiththedemocracyobservedbyFrenchpoliticalscientistAlexisdeTocqueville.TheutopiansocialismenvisionedbySaint-Simonisafantasy.Realworldsocialism,asexhibitedinStalin’sRussia,istotalitarian.Thus,theroadtoserfdomresultsfromthepursuitofamirage,somethingthathasneverbeenandthatcanneverbe,amake-believeformofsocialism.Inseekingthismirage,countrieswindupinserfdom(seefigure1).SincethepublicationofHayek’sbook,therehavebeenmanyexperimentswithstatesocialism.SovietcommunismhasbeenjoinedbyChinesecommunismandalsobyvariousformsofsocialisminthedevelopingworld.Centralplanning,rapidindustrialismandimportsubstitution,andcollectivizationofagriculturewerewidespreadwith*Theauthorthankstheeditorandananonymousrefereeofthisjournal,theparticipantsofthe2014HayekConferenceatManhattanvilleCollege,andtheparticipantsoftheRoadtoSerfdomRevisitedpanelatthe2014SouthernEconomicConferenceforcommentsonpriorversionsofthispaper.

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Metadata [hide]

Title	Not So Great Utopias
Authors/Creators:	Clifford Thies, Shenandoah University
Year:	2017
Volume:	32
Number:	1
Pages:	63 - 76
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	Hayek, socialism, communes, communism, motivation, coordination

Citation:
Thies, Clifford / 2017. "Not So Great Utopias." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 32(1): 63-76.