Socialism and the Classical Liberal Critique

About this Collection

Modern socialism emerged in the 1830s and 1840s in France and England at a time when classical liberalism was beginning to have an impact with reforms such as the First Electoral Reform Act of 1832 and the success of the Anti-Corn Law League. The success of socialist ideas in the revolutions of 1848 meant that classical liberals increasingly had to turn their attention to combatting calls for government intervention in the economy from the “Left” as Frederic Bastiat did in the last few years of his life. As classical liberalism began to decline in the late 19th century it fell to a handful of radical individualists like Thomas Mackay and Herbert Spencer to oppose the gradualist, Fabian school of socialism in Britain, and to strict laissez-faire advocates like Eugen Richter in the German parliament. It was only after the rise of the Bolsheviks to power in Russia after the First World War that the most coherent and devastating critique of socialism appeared in the work of Ludwig von Mises and later in that of Friedrich Hayek.

Key People

Titles & Essays

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. 3 vols.

Karl Marx (author)

A three volume criticism of the capitalist system by one of the leading theorists of socialism. Only vol. 1 appeared in Marx’s lifetime (1867); the other two vols. were published posthumously by Engels (1885, 1894). Marx prided…

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Volume I: The Process of Capitalist Production

Karl Marx (author)

Vol. I of the major work of criticism of the capitalist system by one of the leading theorists of socialism. Only vol. 1 appeared in Marx’s lifetime; the other two vols. were published postumously by Engels. Marx prided himself on…

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital

Karl Marx (author)

Vol. II of the major work of criticism of the capitalist system by one of the leading theorists of 19th century socialism. Only vol. 1 appeared in Marx’s lifetime; the other two vols. were published postumously by Engels. Marx prided…

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole

Karl Marx (author)

Vol. III of the major work of criticism of the capitalist system by one of the leading theorists of socialism. Only vol. 1 appeared in Marx’s lifetime; the other two vols. were published postumously by Engels. Marx prided himself on…

Ce qu'on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848

Amédée de Noé (author)

A panel of six anti-socialist cartoons which ridicules the ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Pierre Leroux, Étienne Cabet, Victor Considerant, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, and Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.

The Challenge of Facts and other Essays

William Graham Sumner (author)

A large collection of Sumner’s shorter writings, newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, etc. on socialism, economic growth, the social question, legislation, democracy, and sociology.

The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume V - Essays on Economics and Society Part II

John Stuart Mill (author)

Vol. 5 of the 33 vol. Collected Works contains a number of Mill’s essays on economic topics, including the Chapters on Socialism.

Economic Sophisms (FEE ed.)

Frédéric Bastiat (author)

The Foundation for Economic Education’s translation of Bastiat’s series of short essays in which he tries to correct common misunderstandings about the free market.

Fabian Essays in Socialism

George Bernard Shaw (editor)

This collection of essays by the so-called “Fabian Socialists” (who advocated socialism by means of gradual political and economic reform instead of by revolution as preferred by the Marxists) prompted a vigorous defense of…

The Illusion of the Epoch: Marxism-Leninism as a Philosophical Creed

H.B. Acton (author)

Written nearly fifty years ago, at a time when the world was still wrestling with the concepts of Marx and Lenin, The Illusion of the Epoch is the perfect resource for understanding the roots of Marxism-Leninism and its implications…

Individualism: A System of Politics

Wordsworth Donisthorpe (author)

Donisthorpe provides a theory of politics from the individualist standpoint in the tradition of Herbert Spencer and Auberon Herbert. He also attacks the rise of socialism which he regards as the greatest threat to social progress.

The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Ljubo Sirc

Ljubo Sirc (author)

Sirc draws upon his experiences of fighting in the Resistance and the Yugoslav Army, his political opposition and arrest under communism to discuss the economics of socialism and life under communism.

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie

Karl Marx (author)

This is a German edition of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie which appeared between 1867 and 1894. Only the first volume appeared in Marx’s lifetime. The others were edited and published by…

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie. Buch 1 (1867)

Karl Marx (author)

This is the first German edition of volume 1 of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie which appeared between 1867 and 1894. Only this volume appeared in Marx’s lifetime. The others were edited and…

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Buch 1 (1890)

Karl Marx (author)

This is the fourth German edition of volume 1 of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (1867-1894) which appeared in 1890. Only this volume appeared in Marx’s lifetime - see the first edition…

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Buch 2 (1885)

Karl Marx (author)

This is the first German edition of volume 2 of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (1867-1894) which appeared in 1885. Here we have a facsimile PDF of the 1885 edition. An HTML version can be…

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Buch III, erster Theil (1894)

Karl Marx (author)

This is a German edition of volume 3 part 1 of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (1867-1894) which appeared in 1894. Here we have a facsimile PDF of the 1894 edition. An HTML version can be…

Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Buch III, zweiter Theil (1894)

Karl Marx (author)

This is a German edition of volume 3 part 2 of Karl Marx’s multi-volume work Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (1867-1894) which appeared in 1894. Here we have a facsimile PDF of the 1894 edition. An HTML version can be…

Karl Marx and the close of his system, a criticism

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (author)

A translation of Böhm-Bawerk’s devastating review of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital vol. 3 which had been published posthumously in 1894 by Engels.

An HTML version of the text can be found here. The German language original can be found…

Liberty and Liberalism (1888)

Bruce Smith (author)

Smith was a follower of Herbert Spencer and the English Liberty and Property Defence League. His book is a critique of the growing intervention of the state in economic and civil matters in Australia and elsewhere in the late 19th…

The Man versus the State, with Six Essays on Government, Society and Freedom (LF ed.)

Herbert Spencer (author)

This volume contains the four essays that Spencer published as The Man Versus the State in 1884 as well as five essays added by later publishers. In addition, it provides “The Proper Sphere of Government,” an important early essay by…

Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei. Veröffentlicht im Februar 1848

Friedrich Engels (author)

Written in late 1847 and published during the February Revolution in 1848, this pamphlet outlines Marx’s theory of history and his demands for revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

A Manifesto. Fabian Tracts No. 2 (1884)

George Bernard Shaw (author)

The “Fabian Society” was founded in England in 1884 with the aim of bringing about a socialist society by means of intellectual debate, the publication of books and pamphlets, and the “permeation” of socialist ideas into the…

Manifesto of the Communist Party

Friedrich Engels (author)

The classic late-19th century translation of the Communist Manifesto done with the assistance of Engels. See also:

the German original an HTML version of the English translation

LIBERTY MATTERS

Perspectives on Mises' Socialism After 100 Years (August 2022)

Virgil Henry Storr (contributor)

In 1922 Ludwig von Mises published his third book,Die Gemeinwirtschaft:Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus, translated into English in 1936 under the titleSocialism. The LibertyClassics edition was published in 1981....

LIBERTY MATTERS

Perspectives on Mises' Socialism After 100 Years (August 2022)

By: Virgil Henry Storr, Alberto Mingardi, Yana Chernyak, and Clemens Schneider

In 1922 Ludwig von Mises published his third book, Die Gemeinwirtschaft: Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus, translated into English in 1936 under the title Socialism. The LibertyClassics edition was published in 1981. It seems…
Pictures of the Socialistic Future

Eugen Richter (author)

Pictures of the Socialistic Future is Richter’s satire of what would happen to Germany if the socialism espoused by the trade unionists, social democrats, and Marxists was actually put into practice. It is thus a late 19th century…

A Plea for Liberty: An Argument against Socialism and Socialistic Legislation (LF ed.)

Thomas Mackay (author)

This collection of essays was originally published in 1891 in response to a collection of Fabian Essays on Socialism which advocated policies which would eventually lead to the modern welfare state. The theoretical and empirical…

A Plea for Liberty: An Argument against Socialism and Socialistic Legislation (1891 ed.)

Auberon Herbert (author)

This collection of essays was originally published in 1891 in response to a collection of Fabian Essays on Socialism which advocated policies which would eventually lead to the modern welfare state. The theoretical and empirical…

A Policy of Free Exchange

Thomas Mackay (editor)

The companion volume to A Plea for Liberty which continued the argument against the Fabian Socialists and for a policy of strict non-intervention in the economy by the government.

Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis

Ludwig von Mises (author)

This is a newly annotated edition of the classic first published in German in 1922. It is the definitive refutation of nearly every type of socialism ever devised. Mises presents a wide-ranging analysis of society, comparing the…

Socialistic Fallacies

Yves Guyot (author)

Guyot wrote sseveral books attacking socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here he provides a brief history of socialist ideas, especially utopian thinking from Plato to Paraguay, and an extensive critique of modern…

Les Soirées de la Rue Saint-Lazare (1849)

Gustave de Molinari (author)

Following the rise of socialism in France during the 1840s and the 1848 Revolution, Molinari wrote this fictitious “dialogue” between an economist, a conservative, and a socialist, to expose the folly of socialism, demonstrate how…

Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Mises applies his theory of methodological individualism to an analysis of history. Along the way he debunks other theories of history which are based upon notions of race, dialectical materialism (Marxism), and determinism.

Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution (LF ed.)

Ludwig von Mises (author)

Theory and History is primarily a critique of Karl Marx, his materialism, and his prediction of the inevitability of socialism. This book discusses the theory of economics, i.e., the study of purposive human action, and with history,…

The Tyranny of Socialism

Yves Guyot (author)

One of several books Guyot wrote attacking socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this volume, in the tradition of Bastiat, he criticises what he calls “socialistic sophisms,” socialistic legislation, strikes,…

Where and Why Public Ownership has Failed

Harriet Franc Baker (translator)

One of several books Guyot wrote attacking socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this volume, drawing upon his experience as the French Minister for Public Works, Guyot discusses the differences between public and…

Zum Abschluss des Marxschen Systems

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (contributor)

The German original of Böhm-Bawerk’s devastating review of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital volume 3 which had appeared posthumously in 1894.

An HTML version of his essay can found here. An English translation of this can be found here in PDF…

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Quotes

Socialism & Interventionism

Frédéric Bastiat argues that socialism hides its true plunderous nature under a facade of nice sounding words like “fraternity” and “equality” (1850)

Frédéric Bastiat

Socialism & Interventionism

Mises on “interventionism” as a third way between the free market and socialism (1930)

Ludwig von Mises

Notes About This Collection

For additional information about Socialism and the Classical Liberal Critique see the following: