While Hayek attributed the UDHR's social and economic rights to the Marxism of the Russian Revolution, the Soviet delegates shared much of his cynicism about the practical effects of declaring such rights. In a capitalist country, the Soviet bloc delegates argued, there would always be a 'flagrant contradiction' between what was said in the declaration and the reality. The declaration of a right to rest, for instance, 'had a hollow ring in a society in which a small group always rested, while the overwhelming majority worked all the time'.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 225