SOROKIN HITS HAYEK THESIS

No political or economic machinations-not Yalta nor Dumbarton Oaks nor any other agreement-can give us lasting peace so long as the corpse of the capitalist economy continues to exist." Thus declared Pitirim A. Sorokin, professor of Sociology, speaking last night together with Wassily W. Leontief, associate professor of Economics, and Abbott P. Usher '04, professor of Economics, on the topic "Is the planned economy 'the Road to Serfdom'?" at the first forum of the newly-organized Harvard Political Science Forum.

"I am not, however," stressed Sorokin, "a partisan of totalitarian economy. I am merely 'a conservative Christian anarchist'; I do not like any government." With this declaration, Harvard's stormy sociologist clarified his position in the controversy that, is currently raging over Friedrich A. Hayek's new book "The Road to Serfdom."

Usher Defends Hayek's Ideas

Speaking first on the program, Professor Usher developed Hayek's basic antithesis between that society which sets up a definite, unflexible end toward which it must constantly strive, and that society which recognizes a multiplicity of ends.

"This concept of 'end result,'" said Usher, "Is in conflict with the concept of unplanned social evolution, which has characterized the growth of society."

Professor Leontief, choosing the middle road between the two other speakers, took issue with Hayek's thesis that society has, after several thousand years of growth, reached the peak of its development, beyond which we can progress no further. In seeking to forestall the inevitable evolution of the planned economy, Hayek is attempting, said-Leontief, to "prevent, as it were, the consummation of a solar eclipse."