“The function of Liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the powers of kings. The function of true Liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the powers of Parliaments.”1 These words of the British philosopher Herbert Spencer encapsulate the prophetic wisdom of nineteenth-century English classical liberalism, which correctly anticipated that restraining the power of government would be the principal challenge of politics in the democratic age.

Like his contemporary John Stuart Mill, Spencer not only demonstrated the moral and social benefits of personal liberty, he also explained the harmful consequences for individuals and society of allowing the state to dictate the pace and direction of social development.

Spencer’s critique of socialism2 began by acknowledging that poverty, social divisions, greed, and dishonesty undoubtedly existed in free capitalist societies. But he went on to argue that, since they were partly the product of imperfect human nature, not all these social evils could be eliminated. In any case, he insisted, state action was not the only or best way to combat those evils that could be alleviated by human effort for the obvious reason that politicians and officials are not inherently any better, wiser, or more knowledgeable than ordinary citizens. Furthermore, he argued that socialism would destroy self-reliance and personal responsibility and with it that spirit of voluntary co-operation which was the lifeblood of vigorous and healthy communities. Worst of all, he predicted, socialism would prove the death of liberty, because the abolition of private property and enterprise would leave the individual at the mercy of an all-powerful state.

What is particularly interesting about Spencer’s analysis is his realism about the psychological impact of socialism on the character and behavior of the bureaucratic elites it would create. Writing in 1891 he stated,

already on the continent [Europe], where governmental organizations are more elaborate and coercive than here, there are chronic complaints of the tyranny of bureaucracies—the hauteur [arrogance] and brutality of their members. What will these become when not only the more public actions of citizens are controlled, but there is added this far more extensive control of all their respective daily duties? What will happen when the various divisions of this vast army of officials, united by interests common to officialism—the interests of the regulators versus those of the regulated—have at their command whatever force is needful to suppress insubordination and act as ‘saviours of society’?3

And, in a passage which foresaw, with astonishing prescience, the tragically destructive impact certain forms of socialism would have on the lives and liberties of millions in the twentieth century, he went on to answer his own question: “The fanatical adherents of a social theory are capable of taking any measures, no matter how extreme, for carrying out their views: holding, like the merciless priesthoods of past times, that the end justifies the means.”4

Although Herbert Spencer is best known (and therefore criticized) in Christian circles as one of the earliest exponents of social Darwinism and eugenics, his work should by no means be overlooked. For in his political writings, he reveals an understanding of human nature and social institutions more acute than many Christians seduced by earthly utopian dreams. They can learn from Spencer’s observation that moral and social progress has been greatest in those societies that have left the widest scope for individual and private initiative.
 
Footnotes:
 
1  Herbert Spencer, The Man versus the State (London: Pelican Classics, 1969), 183.
 
2  Best summarized in his essay, “From Freedom to Bondage,” which forms the introduction to A Plea for Liberty, a collection of essays (by various contributors), edited by Thomas Mackay and published in London in 1891 by the Liberty and Property Defense League. This book and Spencer’s other writings are now available in new Liberty Classics editions from Liberty Fund Inc., Indianapolis, U.S.A.
 
3  Herbert Spencer, “From Freedom to Bondage,” in A Plea for Liberty, ed. Thomas Mackay (New York: D. Appleton and Co. 1891), 22-23, http://www.econlib.org/library/LFBooks/MckyT/mckyPL1.html#Introduction, From Freedom to Bondage, by Herbert Spencer.
 
4  Ibid., 29.
 
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