We already know that road

We still believe that until quite recently we were governed by 19th century ideas or the principle of laissez-faire. Compared with some other countries, and from the point of view of those impatient to speed up the change, there may be some justification for such a belief.

This was written in 1944. The passage continues:

But although until 1931 this country had followed only slowly on the path on which others had led, even by then we had moved so far that only those whose memory goes back to the years before the last war know what a liberal world has been like.

I look forward to reading the rest of The Road to Serfdom.