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SOCIALISM
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Titles in the Liberty Fund Library of the Works of Ludwig von Mises
Edited by Bettina Bien Greaves
The Anti-capitalistic Mentality
Bureaucracy
Economic Freedom and Interventionism: An Anthology of Articles and Essays
Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
Interventionism: An Economic Analysis
Liberalism: The Classical Tradition
Nation, State, and Economy: Contributions to the Politics and History of Our Time
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War
On the Manipulation of Money and Credit: Three Treatises on Trade-Cycle Theory
Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work
A Collection of Essays and Addresses
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
Theory and History: An Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution
The Theory of Money and Credit
The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method
Edited by Richard M. Ebeling
Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises
Volume 1: Monetary and Economic Policy Problems Before, During, and After the Great War
Volume 2: Between the Two World Wars: Monetary Disorder, Interventionism, Socialism, and the Great Depression
Volume 3: The Political Economy of International Reform and Reconstruction
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SOCIALISM
An Economic and Sociological Analysis
by
LUDWIG VON MISES
Translatedby J. KAHANE B.Sc. (Econ.)
Indianapolis
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This book is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.
The cuneiform inscription that serves as our logo and as a design element in Liberty Fund books is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
Foreword © 1981 by Liberty Fund, Inc. This edition of Socialism follows the text, with correction and enlargement of footnotes, of the Jonathan Cape edition publishing in London in 1969. The edition was based on the 1951 edition by Yale University Press which slightly enlarged the first English edition published by Jonathan Cape in 1936, translated from the German by J. Kahane.
Cover image of Ludwig von Mises used by permission of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama.
In the print edition of this book, the pagination from the 1951 edition appears in the margins. In this eBook edition, the pagination from the 1951 edition precedes the relevant paragraph, in a smaller font.
This eBook edition published in 2013.
eBook ISBNs:
Kindle 978-1-61487-029-6
E-PUB 978-1-61487-150-7
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CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE SECOND ENGLISH EDITION (1951)
PREFACE TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION (1932)
1 The success of socialist ideas
2 The scientific analysis of Socialism
3 Alternative modes of approach to the analysis of Socialism
PART I LIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM
3 The theory of violence and the theory of contract
4 Collective ownership of the means of production
5 Theories of the evolution of property
1 The state and economic activity
2 The “fundamental rights” of socialist theory
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CHAPTER 3—THE SOCIAL ORDER AND THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION
1 The policy of violence and the policy of contract