Socialism Will Require Abandoning the Freedom of the Consumer

In view of these difficulties, it is not surprising that practically all who have really tried to think through the problem of central planning have despaired of the possibility of solving it in a world in which every passing whim of the consumer is likely to upset completely the carefully worked-out plans. It is more or less agreed now that free choice of the consumer (and presumably also free choice of occupation) and planning from the center are incompatible aims. But this has given the impression that the unpredictable nature of the tastes of the consumers is the only or the main obstacle to successful planning. Maurice Dobb has recently followed this to its logical conclusion by asserting that it would be worth the price of abandoning the freedom of the consumer if by the sacrifice socialism could be made possible. This is undoubtedly a very courageous step. In the past, socialists have consistently protested against any suggestion that life under socialism would be like life in a barracks, subject to regimentation of every detail. Dr. Dobb considers these views as obsolete. Whether he would find many followers if he professed these views to the socialist masses is not a question which need concern us here. The question is whether it would provide a solution to our problem.

--Friedrich A. Hayek, "Socialist Calculation II: The State of the Debate, 1935," in Individualism and Economic Order (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), 158.