Iain Murray’s The Socialist Temptation is a helpful, timely resource most appropriate for those who already know that socialism is a bad idea. It is a collection of 44 short, conversational chapters dedicated to debunking many common socialist claims (such as the lies that socialism has never been really tried or that the Nordic economies are “socialist”) and refuting many socialist critiques of “capitalism,” our supposed status quo. As the Vice President for Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Murray is on his most solid ground when he is explaining the myriad economic, political, and ultimately moral and religious problems inherent in the basic blueprint of all socialism, as well as that system’s inescapable inferiority compared to one premised on the idea of individual freedom, enterprise, and responsibility.
The stated aim of Murray’s book, though, is not simply to discredit socialism and the familiar arguments of its latter-day apologists, which is where the work’s true comparative advantage lies. Rather, Murray, an avowed Gen X capitalist, also wishes to explain to us why it is that younger people are becoming socialist. In my view, this is something he never fully grasps.
Understanding Socialism’s Appeal
From the beginning, Murray recognizes that socialism (particularly its new incarnation among the young in America) appeals to real people for real reasons, above all genuine moral concern for the vulnerable and the disadvantaged within our society. Murray is also aware that in the minds of many young people, “socialism” simply stands for kinder, gentler government that gives you free stuff. (Blame our education system, not just its wards, for the fact that many young people don’t see the obvious problems with that attitude of naïve entitlement.) Conservatives and libertarians need to always keep this reality in view: good people can go in for bad ideas for at least some good reasons. Recognizing this, Murray even attempts to imaginatively inhabit the young socialist’s point of view throughout the work, and for this he deserves credit.
Murray’s charitable and even cheerful exploration of the pull of socialism has a second major virtue: it does not fall into pessimism about the future of free enterprise on account of the resurgence of socialist ideology in our world today. Rather, Murray (drawing from Reagan) emphasizes that the return of “socialism” to political popularity presents its critics with a challenge—and one they can meet. As a Brit who lived through that country’s sclerotic seventies, Murray understands that significant, coalition-and-society-reshaping reforms of the Thatcher variety are still possible even when socialist policies are significantly more entrenched and advanced than they are in the United States today. Such reforms and policy changes “simply” depend on initial victories in the realms of public opinion and ideas, and that battle is very much still raging. This is why Murray is so keen to unpack socialism’s appeal among young people.
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