Communism Lost, Time Has Proved Ludwig von Mises Correct; Keynesianism Has Not Yet Lost, Give It Time (And the task we have).

By Gary North

At the age of 72, I look back at my life, and I ask a question: "What was the most significant event of my lifetime?"

I go back and forth between two events, but in fact they were the same event. The first was the decision of Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to begin to remove economic controls over agriculture in China. That led to the greatest period of economic growth over the largest area in the history of man.

The second was the collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in late August 1991. This was followed by the decision of the Soviet government to shut down the Soviet Union in the final week of 1991. This was the largest empire in history geographically. The Russian component spanned 11 time zones. Through its satellite nations, it extended into Western Europe. It had been in operation for over 70 years. It had the most extensive system of control over thought and activities of any large society in the history of man. Yet, in one week, without any bloodshed, the leaders of the USSR simply abandoned it. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Those of us who lived through it could barely appreciate the magnitude of it. That is because it was bloodless. There was almost no...

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