[thucydides]

This is one of the best short critiques of Marxism that I have ever read. Unfortunately, Kolakowski continues to place high hopes in the welfare state, perhaps because it looks so much better than the communism under which he lived. The real evil which communism and the welfare state share is the notion that the coercive powers of the state can be used to bring about a grandiose goal of "social justice." Kolakowski needs to read his Hayek.

[Cicero]

Sometimes I find the laissez-faire arguments a little cold. But I'm inclined to agree that it's better to do charitable work through churches and voluntary organizations. Someone has to help people who are genuinely in trouble, widows and orphans, the sick and the old. I suppose no system is perfect. I was a little troubled by that part of the article too, but the critique of Marxism is right on.