Two Opposing Economic-Literary Critiques of Socialism: George Orwell Versus Eugen Richter and Henry Hazlitt

Makovi, Michael (2015): Two Opposing Economic-Literary Critiques of Socialism: George Orwell Versus Eugen Richter and Henry Hazlitt.

Abstract

Orwell's famous fictions, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four criticized totalitarian forms of socialism from a Public Choice perspective, assuming that socialism would work as an economic system as long as the proper political institutions were in place to curb the potential for the abuse of power. This is contrasted with two novels by others who took the opposite approach: Richter's Pictures of the Socialistic Future and Hazlitt's Time Will Run Back. These two assumed that the political implementation of socialism would be perfect but that socialism would necessarily turn totalitarian because of the problem of economic calculation. These novels assumed away the Public Choice problem of institutions and the abuse of power and focused on the political implications of socialism as a purely economic system. Contrasting these two sets of novels shows how the Austrian and Public Choice schools criticize socialism in two entirely different ways.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Orwell; Richter; Hazlitt; democratic socialism; market socialism; totalitarianism
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B24 - Socialist ; Marxist ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B3 - History of Economic Thought: Individuals > B31 - Individuals; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B51 - Socialist ; Marxian ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B53 - Austrian; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P11 - Planning, Coordination, and Reform; P - Economic Systems > P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies > P20 - General; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P30 - General; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z11 - Economics of the Arts and Literature

References

Bellamy, Edward. (1888). Looking Backward: 2000-1887. Boston: Houghton.

Calder, Jenni. (1974). “Orwell's Post-War Prophecy.” George Orwell: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Williams. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall: 133-55 (Rpt. from Jenni Calder. Chronicles of Conscience. London: Seeker and Warburg, 1968)

Cassel, Gustav. (1934). “From Protectionism through Planned Economy to Dictatorship: Address Delivered in London on May 10, 1934.” International Conciliation 16 (1934-1935) 307-25. <http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/intcon16&g_sent=1&collection=journals&id=321#321> [accessed: 11 April 2014]

Creveld, Martin van. (1999). The Rise and Decline of the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crothers, Lane. (1994). “George Orwell and the Failure of Democratic Socialism: The Problem of Political Power.” Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 77:3/4 (Fall/Winter): 389-407.

Deutscher, Isaac. (1974). “1984–The Mysticism of Cruelty.” George Orwell: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Raymond Williams. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1974: 119-32. (Rpt. from Isaac Deutscher. Heretics and Renegades. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1956.)

Hayek, F. A. (2007). The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: Chicago University Press. (Orig. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1944.)

Hazlitt, Henry. (1966). Time Will Run Back: A Novel about the Discovery of Capitalism. New Rochelle: Arlington. (Orig. The Great Idea. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951.)

Howe, Irving. (1982a). “1984: Enigmas of Power.” Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: Texts, Sources, Criticism. Ed. Irving Howe. 2nd. ed. New York: Harcourt: 95-107. (Rpt. from Irving Howe, ed. 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in our Century. Harper & Row, 1983.)

Howe, Irving. (1982b). “1984: History as Nightmare.” Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: Texts, Sources, Criticism. Ed. Irving Howe. 2nd. ed. New York: Harcourt: 320-32. (Orig. The American Scholar 25:2 (Spring 1956):193-207.)

Huxley, Aldous. (1932). Brave New World. London: Chatto, 1932.

Jewkes, John. (1968). The New Ordeal By Planning: The Experience of the Forties and Sixties. London/Melbourne/Toronto: Macmillan & New York: St. Martin's. (Updated from The Ordeal by Planning. New York: Macmillan, 1948.)

Knoll, Samson B. (1991). “Socialism as Dystopia: Political Uses of Utopian Dime Novels In Pre-World War I Germany.” Utopian Studies 4: 35-41

Makovi, Michael. (unpublished). “George Orwell and the Incoherence of Democratic Socialism.”

Makovi, Michael. (unpublished). “George Orwell as a Public Choice Economist.”

More, Thomas. (1516). Utopia. London. (Orig. Latin, many translations.)

Mises, Ludwig von. (1985). Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War. Grove City: Libertarian Press. (Orig. Yale University Press, 1944.)

Newsinger, John. (1999). Orwell's Politics. Houndsmills, Basingstroke, New Hamphsire and New York: Palgrave.

Orwell, George (pseud. for Eric Blair). (1939a). “Review of Communism and Man by F. J. Sheed.” (Orig. Peace News, 27 Jan. 1939.) in Orwell 2002: 111-3.

Orwell, George. (1939b). “Review of Russia under Soviet Rule by N. de Basily.” (Orig. New English Weekly, 12 Jan. 1939.) in Orwell 2002: 108-11.

Orwell, George. (1941). “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius.” (Orig. 19 February 1941.) in Orwell 2002: 291-348.

Orwell, George. (1944). “Review of The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek / The Mirror of the Past by K. Zilliacus.” (Orig. The Observer, 9 April 1944.) The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell. Nonpareil Books, 2000. (Orig. NY: Harcourt, 1968.) Vol. 3, 117-119. (Rpt. from Complete Works, publ. 2000-2002 by Secker and Warburg, vol. 6, 149-50.)

Orwell, George. (1945). Animal Farm. (Orig. Secker and Warburg; rpt. 1987.) Orwell 2009: 1-73.

Orwell, George. (1946). “As I Please 63.” (Orig. Tribune, 29 November 1946.) in Orwell 2002: 1135-9.

Orwell, George. (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. (Orig. Secker and Warburg, 1949; rpt. 1987.) in Orwell 2009: 939-1186.

Orwell, George. (2002). Essays. Ed. John Carey. Everyman's Library. New York: Knopf. (Based on Complete Works, Vols. 10-20, publ. 2000-2002 by Secker and Warburg.)

Orwell, George. (2009). The Complete Novels of George Orwell. (No editor listed.) Penguin Modern Classics. London: Penguin. (Orig. Secker and Warburg, 1976; rpt. Penguin Books, 1983; Penguin Classics, 2000.)

Osterfeld, David. (1992). Prosperity Versus Planning: How Government Stifles Economic Growth. NY/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Paterson, Isabel. (1943). The God of the Machine. NY: Putnam.

Plank, Robert. (1981). “The Modern Shrunken Utopia.” Roemer 1981: 206-230.

Rahv, Philip. (1987). “The Unfuture of Utopia.” George Orwell: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea: 13-20. (Orig. Partisan Review 16:7 [1949]. Rpt. Philip Rahv. Literature and the Sixth Sense. Boston: Houghton, 1969.)

Raico, Ralph. (1990). “Eugen Richter and Late German Manchester Liberalism: A Reevaluation.” The Review of Austrian Economics 4 (1990): 3-25. <http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae4_1_1.pdf> [accessed: 2 February 2014]. (Rpt. as “Eugen Richter and the End of German Liberalism,” <http://mises.org/daily/4503> [accessed: 2 February 2014].)

Richman, Sheldon. (2011). “From 1944 to Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Tale of Two Books.” The Freeman. The Foundation for Economic Education, 16 Dec. 2011 (rpt. from vol. 59, December 2009). <http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/from-1944-to-nineteen-eighty-four> [accessed: 2 February 2014]

Richter, Eugen. (2010). Pictures of the Socialistic Future (Freely adapted from Bebel). Auburn: Mises Institute. (Orig. Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder: Frei nach Bebel, 1891. Trans. Henry Wright. London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1893.)

Ritter, Claus. (1960). Start nach Utopolis. Eine Zukunfts-Nostalgie. Berlin: Verlag der Nation.

Roback, Jennifer. (1985). “The Economic Thought of George Orwell.” The American Economic Review 75:2 (May): 127-32.

Roemer, Kenneth M. Ed. (1981). America as Utopia. New York: Burt Franklin.

Rothbard, Murray. (1991). “The End of Socialism and the Calculation Debate Revisited.” The Review of Austrian Economics 5(1): 51-76. <http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae5_2_3.pdf> [accessed: 1 April 2014].

Sargent, Lyman Tower. (1981). “Capitalist Eutopias in America.” America as Utopia. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. New York: Burt Franklin: 192-205.

Steele, David Ramsay. (1992). From Marx to Mises: Post-Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation. La Salle: Open Court.

White, Richard. (2008). “George Orwell: Socialism and Utopia.” Utopian Studies 19(1): 73-95.

Zamiatin, Yevgeny. (1921). We. Many translators and publishers; written 1921 in Russian, first published as: Trans. Gregory Zilboorg. NY: E. P. Dutton, 1924.