Germany’s Been Down the Road to Serfdom; Now, China Is Doing the Same

“Like 20th century Germany, the PRC’s embrace of socialism, nationalism, and the worst elements of collectivism have resulted in unspeakable horrors.”

“If in the long run we are the makers of our own fate, in the short run we are the captives of the ideas we have created. Only if we recognize the danger in time can we hope to avert it.”

—F. A. Hayek in The Road to Serfdom

A century ago, as the post-war world struggled with recovery from the Spanish Flu pandemic, totalitarian movements rose to power and would go on to shake the very foundations of human civilization. Two ideologies, German National Socialism (Nazism) and Soviet Communism, left behind a legacy of mass death, unparalleled destruction, and soul-shattering poverty.

Today, as the world struggles with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the United States and other liberal democracies face serious challenges to their fundamental principles at home, while newly emboldened authoritarian regimes abroad grab more power. While we are fortunate that both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have been consigned to the dustbin of history and people alive today are among the freest and most prosperous, the conditions that give rise to totalitarianism are still with us, and, most regrettably, many have not learned the sorry lessons of the past.

In the darkest days of World War II, F. A. Hayek published his renowned classic The Road to Serfdom. Hayek witnessed firsthand how the forces of collectivism and totalitarianism swallowed his native Austria, and he wanted to warn his new Anglo-American compatriots of the threats they face. While the book’s main message about the incompatibility between central economic planning and authentic liberal democracy is usually understood, Hayek’s diagnosis of the roots of illiberal ideas and movements has not received the full recognition it deserves.