The Socialist Temptation

De: Iain Murray

Narrado por: James Langton

It's back!

Just 30 years ago, socialism seemed utterly discredited.

An economic, moral, and political failure, socialism had rightly been thrown on the ash heap of history after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Unfortunately, bad ideas never truly go away — and socialism has come back with a vengeance.

A generation of young people who don’t remember the misery that socialism inflicted on Russia and Eastern Europe is embracing it all over again. Oblivious to the unexampled prosperity capitalism has showered upon them, they are demanding utopia.

In his provocative book, The Socialist Temptation, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute explains:

• Why the socialist temptation is suddenly so powerful among young people
• That even when socialism doesn’t usher in a bloody tyranny (as, for example, in the Soviet Union, China, and Venezuela), it still makes everyone poor and miserable
• Why under the relatively benign democratic socialism of Murray's youth in pre-Thatcher Britain, he had to do his homework by candlelight.
• That the Scandinavian economies are not really socialist at all
• The inconsistencies in socialist thought that prevent it from ever working in practice
• How we can show young people the sorry truth about socialism and turn the tide of history against this destructive pipe dream

Sprightly, convincing, and original, The Socialist Temptation is a powerful warning that the resurgence of socialism could rob us of our freedom and prosperity.

©2020 Iain Murray. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Full Of Important Insights

Many books help us understand the nature of socialism and its many flaws. This book seeks to show why it attracts adherents despite those shortcomings. I found it useful in understanding those who see economics and freedom differently than I do. It also helps illuminate the best path to fight for the free enterprise system that has given western society so much wealth, mobility, and freedom. A great work.

This was a tough listen

I pride myself on listening to multiple points of view. My only ask: good faith arguments that uphold accurate accounting for pros and cons. Even with a particular perspective, if you go through the exercise of articulating the opposition's POV, you can't do it lazily. Case in point: glossing over government role in intentionally creating slums or "projects" as opposed to accrediting then to an unintended consequence of socialist policy. Forced my way through til the end, but there are better books on the subject.