Los orígenes del neoliberalismo: del Coloquio Lippmann a la Sociedad del Mont-Pèlerin / The origins of neo-liberalism: of the Lippmann colloquium to the Mont-Pelerin Society

Resumen En este articulo presentamos la historia de una organizacion, la Sociedad del Mont-Pelerin (SMP) que Friedrich Hayek fundo en 1947, con el apoyo decisivo del ordo-liberal Wilhelm Ropke, para reunir a los oponentes intelectuales del socialismo que compartian su oposicion a la tendencia al aumento del papel del Estado en la economia y la sociedad. Desde la creacion de la SMP, e incluso antes a la ocasion del Coloquio Lippmann en 1938, los intelectuales neoliberales forman un colectivo, animado por la ambicion comun, de minar la hegemonia del “socialismo”. El marco general del neoliberalismo surgio en los anos 1930 antes de que Hayek tomara la direccion del movimiento, en 1947 en Vevey, Suiza. Ahi nacio la mas influyente y prestigiosa sociedad de pensamiento completamente dedicada a la causa liberal haciendo la apologia y la propagacion de una economia de mercado a escala mundial. Para Hayek, se trataba de romper el aislamiento de los pensadores liberales en un mundo amenazado por el “colectivismo” y el ascenso de las tesis keynesianas y marxistas. Usando de su prestigio universitario alcanzado a principios de su carrera, Hayek y Ropke se transformaron bajo el choque de la crisis y de la guerra en empresarios de ideologia avidos de ejercer una influencia politica para la construccion de una red neoliberal a escala mundial. Abstract This article presents the history of one organization: The Society of Mont-Pelerin (SMP) which was founded by Friedrich Hayek in 1947, with a decisive support from the ordo-liberal Wilhelm Ropke, to gather the intellectual opponents of socialism who shared his opposition of the tendency to increase the role of the state in the economy and the society. Since the creation of SMP, and even before for the occasion of the Lippmann Colloquium in 1938, neoliberal intellectuals form a collective, encouraged by common ambition, to undermine the hegemony of ¨socialism¨. The general framework of neoliberalism emerged in the 1930´s before Hayek took over the direction of the movement, in 1947 in Vevey, Switzerland. In this moment was born the most influential and prestigious society of thought completely dedicated to the liberal cause making the apology and the prolongation of a market economy on a world scale. Hayek wanted to break the isolation of liberal thinkers in a world threatened by ¨collectivism¨ and stop the rising of Keynesian and Marxist theses. By using their university prestige reached from the beginning of their career, Hayek and Ropke were transformed under the shock of the crisis and the war, into ideological entrepreneurs eager to exercise a political influence for the construction of a neoliberal network on a world scale.