Road to Serfdom
The Road to Serfdom with The Intellectuals and Socialism FRIEDRICH A. HAYEK the condensed version of the road to serfdom b y f . a . h ay e k a s i t a p p e a r e d i n t h e a p r i l 1 9 4 5 e d i t i o n o f r e a d e r’ s d i g e st
The Institute of Economic Affairs
PREFACE TO THE READER’S DIGEST CONDENSED VERSION OF THE ROAD TO SERFDOM
SUMMARY
(Jacket notes written by Hayek for the first edition)
‘In The Road to Serfdom’, writes Henry Hazlitt in the New York Times, ‘Friedrich A. Hayek has written one of the most important books of our generation. It restates for our time the issue between liberty and authority. It is an arresting call to all well-intentioned planners and socialists, to all those who are sincere democrats and liberals at heart, to stop, look and listen.’ The author is an internationally known economist. An Austrian by birth, he was director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research and lecturer in economics at the University of Vienna during the years of the rise of fascism in Central Europe. He has lived in England since 1931 when he became Professor of Economic Science at the University of London, and is now a British citizen. Professor Hayek, with great power and rigour of reasoning, sounds a grim warning to Americans and Britons who look to the government to provide the way out of all our economic difficulties. He demonstrates that fascism and what the Germans correctly call National Socialism are the inevitable results of the increasing growth of state control and state power, of national ‘planning’ and of socialism. In a foreword to The Road to Serfdom John Chamberlain, book editor of Harper’s, writes: ‘This book is a warning cry in a time of hesitation. It says to us: Stop, look and listen. Its logic is incontestable, and it should have the widest possible audience.’
• Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals we should in fact
The Institute of Economic Affairs
PREFACE TO THE READER’S DIGEST CONDENSED VERSION OF THE ROAD TO SERFDOM
SUMMARY
(Jacket notes written by Hayek for the first edition)
‘In The Road to Serfdom’, writes Henry Hazlitt in the New York Times, ‘Friedrich A. Hayek has written one of the most important books of our generation. It restates for our time the issue between liberty and authority. It is an arresting call to all well-intentioned planners and socialists, to all those who are sincere democrats and liberals at heart, to stop, look and listen.’ The author is an internationally known economist. An Austrian by birth, he was director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research and lecturer in economics at the University of Vienna during the years of the rise of fascism in Central Europe. He has lived in England since 1931 when he became Professor of Economic Science at the University of London, and is now a British citizen. Professor Hayek, with great power and rigour of reasoning, sounds a grim warning to Americans and Britons who look to the government to provide the way out of all our economic difficulties. He demonstrates that fascism and what the Germans correctly call National Socialism are the inevitable results of the increasing growth of state control and state power, of national ‘planning’ and of socialism. In a foreword to The Road to Serfdom John Chamberlain, book editor of Harper’s, writes: ‘This book is a warning cry in a time of hesitation. It says to us: Stop, look and listen. Its logic is incontestable, and it should have the widest possible audience.’
• Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals we should in fact