Isn’t it strange? When the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron Curtain was raised, a historic competition appeared to have come to an end. Observers saw capitalism triumphing over communism, free markets over central planning, democracy over dictatorship, Hayek over Marx. Francis Fukuyama even proclaimed the end of history – mankind had supposedly reached an optimum state, with no feasible alternative.
From the outset, this was a false doctrine. Whereas “real socialism” ended in disaster wherever it was tried, history teaches that the idea of a socialist society promising equality would never fade, whatever empirical evidence showed. Moreover, there was hardly a country in the world where capitalism had become established in a way that was satisfying in every respect. Historical determinism was the most absurd aspect of Fukuyama’s notion. No liberal philosopher would have embraced the idea of history being predetermined.
Competition between different ways of organising societies has continued since the end of the cold war. Socialism still suffers from the fatal blow dealt by its past collapse. As a consequence, it is seen mainly in grassroots protests such as the Occupy movement. How this might be achieved remains totally unclear – the movement encompasses a variety of issues with one dominant element: an attack on the finance industry.