ABSTRACT
This huge transformation that took place in Poland and in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe at the turn of 1980s and 1990s, had to be a source of satisfaction for the writer who had always kept saying that the market system is not only economically efficient, but it is also the oily system that guarantees freedom and justice and favours the development of peaceful and friendly relations between people and nations. But the paradox here is, that when the thesis that rational economic activity without the market is impossible found empirical confirmation, weak points of the doctrine formulated by the author of this prophecy manifested themselves and gradually the enthusiasm for his idea was fading. As long as there was socialism, Hayek's works, not available in the official circulation, were a source of inspiration for the criticism of socialist reality. Hayek's doctrine, both philosophically and economically, was a perfect example of a vision of society and economy being a
reverse image of communist ideology and real socialism. Hayek's doctrine was very powerful and popular among the Polish democratic
opposition due to the uncompromising character of his standpoint. The author of The Road to Serfdom did not present a liberal attitude characterized by lack of dogmatism, hypothetical character of opinions and readiness to compromise. He was rather one of these liberals who felt an irresistible need to create liberal theory and to formulate what are the assumptions, values and postulates of the 'true' liberalism. He was not in the least degree ready to moderate the thesis that in order to preserve economic freedom and efficiency, it is necessary to respect postulates resulting from the concept of negative freedom and commutative justice. Hayek claimed that a permanent, moral sense of capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system that can guarantee freedom and prosperity. If capitalist criteria of the distribution of goods and power become the subject of criticism, then it means that people want more than capitalism can give them, but they also want more than humanity can ever achieve. He emphasized that any endeavour of the state to provide the individual with more than liberation from pressure of others and with different participation in wealth than such as is determined by the market, must lead to destruction of economic freedom and efficiency.
