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Front Page  Authors (by Period) The 20th Century and Beyond
Period: The 20th Century and BeyondThe classical liberal and free market tradition suffered a terrible setback in the 20th century with the World Wars, the rise of fascism and communism, and the modern welfare state. Yet it also experienced a veritable renaissance in the last quarter of the century. The major historical events and intellectual movements of that time, which influenced the development of liberty, include the following:
- the emergence of total warfare in WW1 and WW2 which required massive regulation of the economy, high taxation and government borrowing, the conscription of labor both in the factories and on the battlefield, massive loss of life and destruction of property, and the curtailment of individual liberty
- the communist revolutions in Russia (1917) and China (1949) which arose out of the chaos of war and hyper-inflation and which led to attempts to centrally plan the economy and mass killings of all who opposed the regime
- the post-WW2 efforts to create a welfare state in Europe and the US with the resulting increases in economic regulation and taxation
- the rediscovery of classical liberal thought in Britain and the US after WW2 with the work of Hayek, Mises and Friedman among many others
- the collapse of communism iin 1989
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