It’s been pointed out to me by several friends that The Road to Serfdom doesn’t actually make the argument I had believed it made. My impression had been that it was a statement about the inevitable development of Soviet-style totalitarianism from certain trends toward social democracy in postwar Europe. It seems that a lot of people think this is what the book argues, but that it’s not right. Hayek himself wrote “it has frequently been alleged that I have contended that any movement in the direction of socialism is bound to lead to totalitarianism. Even though this danger exists, this is not what the book says.”
Fair enough.
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