A fundamental condition for prosperity is the restoration of the productive forces of the West. We must build, invent and construct. For this we need a strong and free middle class, entrepreneurs, researchers and skilled technocrats. It is desirable to prepare for the coming of a post-liberal age when people, shaken by the collapse of the present decadent order, will yearn for a new unifying force. If it is a revival of the idea of free national communities and technological progress, so much the better.
Democratic socialism, as conceived by George Orwell, provided room for individual initiative, industriousness and entrepreneurial ambition, as well as for decent social conditions for the broadest classes.
The idea of socialism has been compromised by the economic stagnation, inefficient bureaucracy and unfreedom that have characterised the Eastern Bloc countries, the excesses of the general welfare states in Western Europe and the survival of wartime socialism in the British Isles, against which Margaret Thatcher fought a heroic battle. Why couldn’t the conservative socialism spoken of by Oswald Spengler, Werner Sombart or Ernst Jünger be born? Democratic socialism, as conceived by George Orwell, provided room for individual initiative, industriousness and entrepreneurial ambition, as well as for decent social conditions for the broadest classes. The most economically successful countries in the world have always been able to find a suitable economic and political model combining efficiency and social cohesion that unleashed their creative forces to the greatest extent.
Ivo Budil is a Czech professor of antropology.
