The Wall Street collapse of September–October 1929 and the Great Depression which followed it were among the most important events of the twentieth century. They made the Second World War possible, though not inevitable, and by undermining confidence in the efficacy of the market and the capitalist system, they helped to explain why the absurdly inefficient and murderous system of Soviet communism survived for so long. Indeed, it could be argued that the ultimate emotional and intellectual consequences of the Great Depression were not finally erased from the mind of humanity until the end of the 1980s, when the Soviet collectivist alternative to capitalism crumbled in hopeless ruin and the entire world accepted there was no substitute for the market.
1929年9—10月的华尔街崩溃以及随之而起的大萧条是20世纪最重要的事件之一。由此促发了第二次世界大战,尽管这并非不可避免,而且由于这些事件使人们对市场和资本主义体系功效的信心被摧毁,这可以用来说明为什么苏联的共产主义制度能够长期存在。确实,我们可以认为,直到80年代末,大萧条在情感和理性上产生的影响始终没有从人们的脑海中抹去,但是此后,由于苏联的制度走到尽头,整个世界都开始认识到市场具有无可替代的重要性。
网友评论