Reinventing Socialism

THE 1990s increasingly reminds me of the 1890s-that decade, exactly one hundred years ago, when Joseph Pulitzer was directing the New York World from his yacht and Lord Northcliffe was founding the Daily Mail. That, too, was an era of new technology and new markets when peace seemed universal and everything seemed possible. The French still call it la Belle Epoque.

That world was mostly divided between the great European powers. But they were, after all, liberal powers. They generally operated according to a rule of law, certainly more so than most of their subjects had seen before-or, in all too many cases, have seen since.

RM

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Rupert Murdoch

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British Conservative Party

THE 1990s increasingly reminds me of the 1890s-that decade, exactly one hundred years ago, when Joseph Pulitzer was directing the New York World from his yacht and Lord Northcliffe was founding the Daily Mail. That, too, was an era of new technology and new markets when peace seemed universal and everything seemed possible. The French still call it la Belle Epoque.

That world was mostly divided between the great European powers. But they were, after all, liberal powers. They generally operated according to a rule of law, certainly more so than most of their subjects had seen before-or, in all too many cases, have seen since.