The Road from Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism [Paperback]

Robert Skidelsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

From the internationally acclaimed biographer of John Maynard Keynes comes an incisive and timely analysis of post-Cold War politicsand a blueprint for how the West can assert its ideological leadership. Intellectually bold and realistic, this important book provides food for thought and debate for economists, political thinkers, and anyone concerned with today's economic and political challenges.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At the onset of the Cold War in 1944, Friedrich A. Hayek wrote his classic book The Road to Serfdom to warn that central planning threatens freedom. Now Robert Skidelsky, author of an acclaimed biography of John Maynard Keynes, looks at the havoc central planning has wrought since then. Despite the seeming chaos of the post-communist world, Skidelsky argues that the global failure and collapse of collectivism as a principle of social organization is one of the most hopeful events of the 20th century. His book elegantly combines recent history and economics to make the case. Hayek would have loved it. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed biographer of John Maynard Keynes, British economist Skidelsky interprets the collapse of Soviet communism as a prime example of the failure of collectivism, the doctrine holding that the state, a mechanism superior to the market, can improve upon the free play of individual initiative and voluntary association. Collectivism, in his view, has manifested not only in socialism, Nazism and fascism but also in Franco-ism in Spain, Peron-ism in Argentina, Roosevelt's New Deal policies and the state-led industrialization of many Third World countries. While acknowledging that Keynes is often linked to an expansion of state activity, Skidelsky maintains that Keynes was a staunchly liberal thinker, a supporter of individualistic capitalism and never a true collectivist. The author recommends deep reductions in public spending-and a corresponding cut in taxes. His succinct, stimulating essay charts the fortunes of anti-collectivist economic liberalism from its decline in the Depression to its revival following WWII, to 1960s welfare stateism, the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions and the current wave of privatizations from New Zealand to Mexico.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140242198
• ISBN-13: 978-0140242195
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,086,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The rise and fall of collectivism, December 28, 2004

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road from Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism (Hardcover)

'Where to draw the borders of the state?' is the central question of this book.

Keynes's autobiographer explains perfectly the essential differences between collectivism and classic liberalism.
He sees the reason for the attraction of collectivism in World War I, where political and economical life was directed by the state. The war itself gave also the opportunity for collectivists to seize power.
The collectivist system in the USSR showed in the beginning at least a mixed success, certaily when compared to a West in deep trouble (the Great Depression).
But ultimately the system collapsed, because investments became unprofitable and irrational (a nail of one ton was as good as millions of nails) and also because productivity growth was discouraged.

After the collapse, a liberal shock therapy was implemented which the author explains very well, but he sweeps the human side of the change (vast unemployment and a steep drop in the living standard) under the rug.

The failure of collectivism led to the mistaken view that everything should be left to market forces. But monetarism showed also its limits with failures in the capital and labour markets.
For the author, a liberal democracy is not the ideological endpoint of history (Fukuyama's pipedream). Keynes's remedy of state intervention is far from dead.

A lot happened after the publication of the book: the Euro became a reality; the EU was enlarged (but farm subsidies not lowered); Russia became authoritarian and China an economic world player.

The author pins his hope on the pacifying potential of economic freedom and on mini-computerization with its tremendous influence on human freedom.

This book is an excellent analysis of an extremely important economic failure.
Not to be missed.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book for disillusioned liberals, August 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road from Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism (Paperback)

Thirty years ago I would have identified myself as "A" liberal. Now I say I am liberal, but I can't identify with modern-day liberalism. Sometimes I say that I am a 19th century liberal. Until I read this book, I found this confusing.

The author shows that liberalism has been co-opted by collectivists (socialists) who have perverted the original liberal ideal.

Skidelsy's analysis of historians, philosopers, sociologists, and priests is exquisite (p. 163), and his conclusion about the difference between capitalist democracies and communist countries is profound (p. 196).

Liberalism was originally an ideal that promised to liberate people from supersition, servitude, and ignorance. It has turned into a system that is having the opposite affect.

I infer from this reading that there is a natural tension between the halves and the half nots. However, economists and social planners are just a bunch of thirds.

This a book well worth reading.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sophisticated Analysis of the Flaws of the Soviet System, May 31, 2010

By 

John Desmond (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Road from Serfdom: The Economic and Political Consequences of the End of Communism (Paperback)

This work does a masterful job of debunking the ludicrous arguments by prominent Western economists (of a Leftist persuasion) that the Soviet system actually worked. The title is an interesting counterpoint to Frederick Hayek's Road to Serfdom.