Chapter 2, The Great Utopia Summary and Analysis

In spite of the warnings of the great thinkers about the dangers of collectivism, socialism is embraced around the continent, especially in France. Socialism is portrayed as the way to freedom since it would solve the problem of an unequal income distribution. The intelligentsia embraced socialism as the successor to liberalism. They did not view it as being the opposite of freedom.

Eventually, some Europeans begin to notice that socialism and fascism are one and the same thing, both having arisen out of the same kind of thinking. Some keep trying to believe that the two are opposites, but the opposition to both forms of totalitarianism is becoming vocal. Many in the Nazi leadership, including Mussolini, began as socialists and then went on to develop fascism. There are many clashes between the fascists and socialists...