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
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.
© 1983 by Liberty Fund, Inc. Editorial additions © 2006 by Liberty Fund, Inc. First published in 1983 by the Institute for Humane Studies in association with New York University Press.
Front cover photograph of Ludwig von Mises used by permission of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama.
This eBook edition published in 2011.
eBook ISBN: E-PUB 978-1-61487-149-1
CONTENTS
1. The Nation as a Speech Community
2. Dialect and Standard Language
2 The Nationality Principle in Politics
1. Liberal or Pacifistic Nationalism
2. Militant or Imperialistic Nationalism
A. The Nationality Question in Territories with Mixed Populations
B. The Migration Problem and Nationalism
C. The Roots of Imperialism
D. Pacifism
3. On the History of German Democracy
A. Prussia
B. Austria
War and the Economy
1. The Economic Position of the Central Powers in the War
2. War Socialism
3. Autarky and Stockpiling
4. The Economy’s War Costs and the Inflation
5. Covering the State’s War Costs
6. War Socialism and True Socialism
Socialism and Imperialism
1. Socialism and Its Opponents
2. Socialism and Utopia
3. Centralist and Syndicalist Socialism
4. Socialist Imperialism
Concluding Observations
Index
The pages that I herewith submit to the public do not presume to be more than observations about the crisis in world history that we are living through and contributions to understanding the political conditions of our time. I know that any attempt to offer more would be premature and therefore mistaken. Even if we were in a position to see interrelations clearly and to recognize where developments are heading, it would be impossible for us to confront the great events of our day objectively and not let our view be blurred by wishes and hopes. Standing in the middle of battle, one strives in vain to keep cool and calm. It exceeds human capacity to treat the vital questions of one’s time sine ira et studio [without anger and partiality]. I should not be blamed for not being an exception to this rule.
It may perhaps seem that the topics treated in the individual parts of this book hang together only superficially. Yet I believe that they are closely connected by the purpose that this study serves. Of course, reflections of this kind, which must always remain fragmentary, cannot deal with the completeness and unity of the whole. My task can only be to direct the reader’s attention to points that public discussion does not usually take sufficiently into account.
Vienna,