“It is true, of course, that in Germany before 1933, and in Italy before 1922, communists and Nazis or Fascists clashed more frequently with each other than with other parties. They competed for the support of the same type of mind and reserved for each other the hatred of the heretic. But their practice showed how closely they are related. To both, the real enemy, the man with whom they had nothing in common and whom they could not hope to convince, is the liberal of the old type. While to the Nazi the communist, and 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 prophets, they both know that there can be no compromise between them and those who really believe in individual freedom.”
-F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
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Great quote.
There was plenty of room for Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and Trotskyites in the Gulags. Minor differences get amplified more and more, the closer you get to totalitarianism.
Wow, that sounds a lot like Rothabard’s assessment of Neo-conservatives and Socialists in post-Veitnam politics. Only without Rothbard’s…… humor.. ahem…. =D
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard231.html
Hayek convincingly describes how Socialism can be (ideologically) acceptable on a limited scale only. Hence, national socialism arises. The fact that the movement splits is also due to the necessary side effect of socialist (plannist) policies to impoverish some classes of workers. Those left out need another kind of socialism: national socialism.
As much as I can see, that quote reflects well the main issue of Road to Serfdom thus.
Curiously, the little GE comic – which is great (http://www.youtube.com/user/artslibres#p/a/u/0/2foAy4iQ-MY) -, makes quite a different synthesis of the book though, obviously focusing on the dramatical aspect of the title.
Hitler once wrote in Mein Kampf that the people who would be least useful to a national socialist order, were the skeptics (apoliticals I guess) or “those who don’t believe anything”. He preferred “those who believe anything” or the great mass of men as Hitler wrote.
I had to laugh – when I opened this Krugman piece …
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/opinion/02krugman.html
..on Friday last, there at the foot of thre article was resplendent a google advert for …..Thos DiLorenzo’s course on The Raod to Serfdom!
Unfortunately when I looked again this morning, there was a different ad on th epage. ’twas too good to last..
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