SOURCE: “Tocqueville on Socialism and History,” in Interpretation, Vol. 21, No. 2, Winter, 1993-1994, pp. 181-99.

In the following essay, Lawler elucidates Alexis de Tocqueville's view of—and opposition to—socialism.

My purpose here is to consider Tocqueville's understanding of socialism. It may well be the case that the authority of Tocqueville has never been stronger than it is today, while the authority of socialism is weaker now than it has been since the time of Tocqueville. As a political actor, Tocqueville opposed socialism. He also did so as a political theorist, but with an appreciation of its greatness and the theoretical strength of its challenge. He suggested, in fact, that the cause of human liberty would suffer in the absence of that challenge. In the name of Tocqueville, liberals ought to reflect upon the case for socialism more seriously than they characteristically do. It reveals how problematic and difficult...