Caroline P. Ch-9

Q:What point does Hayek seek to make with the opposing quotes at the beginning of the chapter?
"The whole of society will have become a single office and a single factory with equality of work and equality of pay." -Lenin (1917)
"In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat." -Leon Trotsky (1937)

A: The first puts an obvious positive spin on socialism, making it sound as if this "equality" will ensure freedom when it really endangers it (132). The second quote shows that this "freedom" is really no freedom at all; if one does not cooperate with the government, or "sole employer", then their livlihood is then in jeopardy. In seeking "economic security", many people actually put themselves at risk due to the fact that since their "sole employer" is the State, if they defect or disobey, then their controlled income, which is supposedly being protected from diminutations (135), is then at risk.