Q: What was the idea of socialism to its French creators?
A: "The French writers who laid the foundation of modern socialism had no doubt that their ideas could be put into practice by strong dictatorial government. To them socialism meant an attempt to 'terminate the revolutiom' by a deliberate reorganization of society on hierarchical lines and by the imposition of a coercive 'spiritual power'. Where freedom was concerned, the founders of socialism made no bones about their intentions. Freedom of thought they regarded as the root-evil of nineteenth-century society, and the first of modern planners, Saint-Simon, even predicted that those who did not obey his proposed planning borads would be 'treated as cattle'" (Hayek 28).
By Michelle
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