“The Intellectuals and Socialism” 70 Years Later

F. A. Hayek’s “The Intellectuals and Socialism” was published in 1949 in The University of Chicago Law Review. It is just as relevant today as it was seventy years ago.

In this seminal article, Hayek attributes the rise of socialism as a viable alternative form of governance to the influence of intellectuals on public beliefs. Attracted by socialism’s inclusive values, new vision for society, and policies, and repelled by the incremental approach that liberalism offers in return, public intellectuals — and, subsequently, the broader public — favor socialism. In response, Hayek calls for “a new liberal program which appeals to the imagination” (p. 432) to correct liberalism’s failure to match socialism’s wide-ranging and popular vision.

At a time when 45% of Americans between the ages of 18–29 view socialism — now often construed as a heavily regulated market and a large welfare state that redistributes wealth rather than government ownership over the means of production — positively, Hayek’s call for a liberal response to socialism’s utopian vision is just as timely now as when it was first written.
The Role of the Intellectual

Today, communication has never been easier and communication platforms are more diverse than ever. Arguably, anyone with thumbs and a screen can spread ideas. Yet, in an age when anyone can voice their opinions, the need for middlemen to sift through the noise and endorse certain stances is even more important.

Knowledge is dispersed throughout society, and intellectuals serve the crucial purpose of distributing that knowledge. Hayek said that intellectuals “are the organs which modern society has developed for spreading knowledge and ideas and it is their convictions and opinions which operate as the sieve through which all new conceptions must pass before they can reach the masses” (p. 421). Just as financial institutions coordinate lenders and borrowers, intellectuals coordinate creators and consumers of ideas. As long as there are ideas, there will be middlemen to filter and disseminate those ideas.

Intellectuals, according to Hayek, are not the scholars or experts in a field but, instead, are the middlemen of ideas. Inhabiting diverse fields from journalism to medicine, they are familiar with a wide range of topics and have mastered the art of communicating them to the public. They write columns in newspapers and discuss current events on the radio and in town halls, salons, and businesses. They are respected in their own fields and are listened to when they discuss broad social issues.

Today’s intellectual has a podcast or a self-published book. He runs a YouTube channel, has a column in the New York Times, or hosts a talk show. He’s a scientist who wrote a book for popular audience, a policy wonk working for a think tank, or an artist who is committed to social activism. She’s a renowned journalist, the editor of a popular blog, or an Instagram influencer.

By virtue of their role as the middlemen of ideas, intellectuals determine which ideas reach, and are likely to be accepted by, the general public. Indeed, Hayek argues that, “There is little that the ordinary man of today learns about events or ideas except through the medium of this class; and outside our special fields of work we are in this respect almost all ordinary men, dependent for our information and instruction on those who make it their job to keep abreast of opinion” (p. 419).

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