Looking at Europe in 1944, when the Second World War had been raging through the continent for four years - and studying the European regimes of the previous decades, gives us cause to wonder how governments - and therefore societies – have come this far. Think about the events that led to the great tragedies of the twentieth century, such as the two world wars, and the holocaust: a progressive reduction of individual freedoms that left us stunned. How did things get so far out of hand that brutal regimes were able to rise to a position of control, and the most basic human values were completely trampled on? Well, you might say it was due to factors beyond people’s control. Surely, we tell ourselves, it was not the will of the people that drove the rise to power of a totalitarian regime. No: it must have been caused by something beyond our control.
Then we must ask ourselves: how do we prevent the same from happening in the future? In more recent years, there has been plenty of talk about awareness, learning about our history, and the importance of civic education. Even so, the threat of totalitarian regimes still looms over us – especially when we look at the rise of new far-right parties in Europe.
The author suggests that the situation which led to the Second World War has its roots in European individualism, going back as far as classical antiquity, that was then reorganised into Christianity, and which, after the dark years of the Middle Ages, subsequently gave rise to the concepts of humanism and the Renaissance man. A complete social transformation took place: in the Middle Ages people were allotted their class from birth, as either a peasant, soldier or priest, and were left with no option but to rebel against the establishment. From this, Humanism heralded a time when many people were free to live the life they chose, opening the way to three types of freedom: personal, political, and financial. People could choose whether to take up a profession, or try their hand at entrepreneurship. This was modern Europe: the liberation from the bonds of the three-tier society, and human beings who could at least dream of a different way of life.
Thus, within three hundred years, liberalism was achieved, and rules of freedom were established that gradually informed every level of society. These rules were still new in the nineteenth century, but they had plenty of potential for improvement. The industrial revolution, the concept of wages, the explosion of big cities, the improvement of sanitary conditions, and the first developments in modern medicine all allowed people to "make their own lives”. The result was Socialism, a political philosophy discussed and perfected particularly in Germany at the end of the century. Germany was a state whose intellectuals enjoyed great respect all over Europe.
The key question that socialism asks is: how can we re-shape the level of freedom that liberalism brought to make it work for everyone?
