FOREWORD
Monthly Review is arguably the most prestigious and scholarly of US Marxist-Leninist publications. In the October 1989 edition of this journal Otto Latsis, one of the architects of the economic programs implemented by Gorbachev and assistant editor of the main theoretical journal of the CPSU, Kommunist, contributes an article examining the progress of perestroika.
With refreshing candour Latsis acknowledges that perestroika has not been without its disappointments. What was originally expected was "a transitional period (about three years) of structural changes and mild improvement in supplies, to be followed by an increasingly rapid 'take-off' in which the benefits of the new economic practices and thinking would be fully apparent. What actually happened was the rapid worsening of the economic situation, growing inflation, and the disappearance of basic consumer goods" (p.19).
Latsis pinpoints what he believes led to this outcome. He blames "the major monopolies within the Soviet national economy, i.e., the so-called Economic State Ministries (light industy, electric industry, construction, hydraulics, etc., nearly 100 in all). Their direct interest in budget expansion -- to increase staff and power -- together with their political and manipualtive clout were sufficient to dominate the national economy despite many declarations in favour of financial prudence by the Politbureau, the press, and the country's professional economists" (p.20).
I quote from this article simply to make an all too obvious point. It would have been unthinkable even a decade ago that a Soviet economist of the stature of Latsis would have so vigorously attacked the central economic planning that, according to Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, is to supplant a reliance upon markets as co-ordinating mechanisms for a people's economy. And Latsis is not alone. The brilliant Marxist theoretician, Jon Elster, states categorically in his volume, An Introduction to Karl Marx (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), that "scientific socialism is dead" and that "Marxian economic theory is dead."
Democratic socialist parties of the West have likewise undergone a metamorphosis. Some such parties have embraced and implemented programs of "deregulation" and "privatisation". Accompanying this remarkable change in "socialist" practice has been a no less remarkable change in "socialist" theory. Perhaps the most astonishing expression of the new "socialist" mentality is to be found in a volume penned by the self-styled "socialist" author, Peter Rutland. In The Myth of the Plan (Illinois: Open Court, 1985), Rutland seriously suggests that "authentic socialism" demands a Hayekian free market economy! "It is only in the Hayekian market that the most crucial commodity of all -- information -- is truly socialized" (p.43).
One could amplify the essential point I am making at inordinate length. In Poland, the works of Friedrich Hayek are being eagerly devoured and defended by some of the brightest minds in that country. Classical liberalism has almost overnight become not simply intellectually respectable but a source of hope and excitement. Free markets, individual liberties, and limited constitutional government are widely being perceived as the sine qua non of material abundance and human dignity.
Which brings me to Richard Wood's Modern Conservative Thought: An Annotated Bibliography. Once upon a not-so-distant time it was possible for defenders of a free market economy in a free and open society to read almost all new volumes published defending such a vision of the good society. Such volumes were all too few and far between.
The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic change in the situation. A plethora of books and articles, both scholarly and popular, advocating conservatism or classical liberalism have been published. It has become virtually impossible for any one person to "keep up" with the literature.
Richard Wood's Bibliography constitutes an invaluable guide to what one might call the literature of liberty. Defenders of economic and individual liberty need to be familiar with the economic and philosophical underpinnings of their position. One side of today's economic and political coin is the failure, both in theory and practice, of socialism. The other idea is the compelling case being made for limited government, individual liberties, and free markets. Long-term, it is ideas that win or lose. Richard has put within our hands a singularly helpful guide to the ideas and ideals that constitute the alternative to the discredited vision of socialism in its many forms.
I happen to know that working on this volume was, for Richard, a labour of love. Yet defenders of economic and individual liberty are unspeakably indebted to him for what his toils have produced. He has made the demands properly laid upon the shoulders of such men and women an unspeakably easier burden to carry. He has brought to our attention a vast library arguing the case for freedom. May we make full use of this unique work.
- Rev Dr John Williams
PREFACE
During the tumultuous '60s few of us in the counterculture would have guessed that within two short decades the radicalism of the drop-out generation would be superseded by the conservatism of the Yuppie generation. Who could have thought, back in 1969, that in 15 years Ronald Reagan would be elected for two terms in the White House, or that Margaret Thatcher would serve multiple terms as Prime Minister?
Moreover, in the 1960s it seemed that Communism was on the march, heading for a glorious future, while capitalist societies seemed to be in a state of disintegration. Little did we know that by 1990 communism would be in full flight, no longer the wave of the future but the skeleton of the past. Nor could we predict the remarkable resurgence of free market forces.
Like many others, my personal journey reflected in microcosm the changes going on around me in macrocosm during those years. I eventually abandoned my agnosticism for Christianity, my radicalism for conservatism. I therefore replaced my books on the occult, eastern religions, New Left politics and Marxist revolution with books on religion of the more traditional sort, and politics of the more conservative variety.
Many times nowadays I am asked for recommendations of books expressing the conservative perspective on issues of ethics, politics, economics, current events and the like. Knowing of no single good source or bibliography available on conservative social thought, I have had to produce my own. Hence this bibliography.
CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Economics and Welfare
- Marxism/Communism/East-West Relations
- Liberation Theology
- War, Peace and Nuclear Issues
- Law, Legislation and Constitutionalism
- Education
- Religion and Politics
- Sexual and Bio-medical Ethics
- Science and the Environment
- The Media
- Miscellaneous and General
- Epilogue
Appendix
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