Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
The age of hypocrisy: liberalism and its discontents
Thirty years after the Western Establishment’s proclamation of the so-called ‘end of history,’ confidence in the destiny of liberalism has collapsed amid fractious times of economic uncertainty and war, writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY

THESE are difficult, perilous, and frustrating times. Many cherished beliefs are coming unravelled. Many once-shared values are no longer shared. And distrust of unshakeable institutions is widespread. 

Yet it was only a little more than three decades ago that North American and European intellectuals joined in acknowledging the triumph of the Western world’s “gift” to all: political and economic liberalism. 

For nearly half a century, Western liberalism had waged a “cold” war against the most serious challenge to its dominance. Apart from the fascist counter-revolution of the 1930s against political liberalism, no movement shook the Western liberal establishment and its self-confidence as did revolutionary socialism. Seemingly, that threat ended in 1991.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Tents are set up along a freeway in a homeless encampment, May 12, 2025, in Los Angeles
Features / 27 May 2025
27 May 2025

In 2024, 19 households grew richer by $1 trillion while 66 million households shared 3 per cent of wealth in the US, validating Marx’s prediction that capitalism ‘establishes an accumulation of misery corresponding with accumulation of capital,’ writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY

PREMONITION OF DISASTER: Anonymous photographer, Fallen Stat
Book Review / 18 March 2025
18 March 2025
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly
The AFL-CIO headquarters
Features / 9 January 2025
9 January 2025
ZOLTAN ZIGEDY reflects on the lessons from two books looking at the US labour movement and the recent history of spontaneous mass uprisings – and finds two pernicious ideologies working against the interests of the people
POPULIST MANIA: Supporters cheer for Trump at a primary elec
Features / 22 November 2024
22 November 2024
ZOLTAN ZIGEDY argues Trump’s victory shows the deep failure of liberal calculations that write off huge swathes of the electorate and mirrors the worldwide rise of right-wing populism amid Establishment collapse