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[The following essay originally appeared in Plain Talk,  Volume 3, no. 4, January 1949, pp. 57-64, and has been widely reprinted since] 1. What the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences says about Laissez Faire For more than a hundred years the maxim  laissez faire, laissez passer  has been a red rag to harbingers of totalitarian despotism. As

[This is the last formal talk of Ludwig von Mises [1881–1973], delivered May 2, 1970 at an economic seminar sponsored by The Society of Praxeology in Seattle, Washington. It was attended by 600 students, teachers, and others. This text was transcribed from audiotape by Bettina Bien Greaves and edited, primarily for syntax and punctuation, by Percy

War is harmful, not only to the conquered but to the conqueror. Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking. Peace and not war is the father of all things. Only economic action has created the wealth around us; labor, not the profession of arms, brings happiness. Peace builds, war destroys. ( Socialism , p.

An Excerpt from Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War , originally published in 1944 by Yale University as the first full-scale examination of German-style National Socialism as a species of socialism in general. The Mises Institute is very pleased to offer the entire text online by special lease arrangement with the

[An excerpt from  Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War , originally published in 1944 by Yale University as the first full-scale examination of German-style National Socialism as a species of socialism in general.] 1. The Ancient Regime and Liberalism It is a fundamental mistake to believe that Nazism is a revival or a

[ From Omnipotent Government (1944)] The Nazis did not invent polylogism. They only developed their own brand. Until the middle of the 19th century no one ventured to dispute the fact that the logical structure of mind is unchangeable and common to all human beings. All human interrelations are based on this assumption of a uniform logical

Bureaucratic management means, under democracy, management in strict accordance with the law and the budget. It is not for the personnel of the administration and for the judges to inquire what should be done for the public welfare and how the public funds should be spent. This is the task of the sovereign, the people, and their representatives.

[Written in 1944] Nazism wants to combat the Jewish mind. But it has not suc­ceeded so far in defining its characteristic features. The Jewish mind is no less mythical than the Jewish race. The earlier German nationalists tried to oppose to the Jewish mind the “Christian-Teutonic” world-view. The combination of Christian and Teutonic is, however,

[ The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (1954)] Critics level two charges against capitalism: First, they say, that the possession of a motor car, a television set, and a refrigerator does not make a man happy. Secondly, they add that there are still people who own none of these gadgets. Both propositions are correct, but they do not cast blame upon the

The following, written in 1940, is excerpted from Interventionism, An Economic Analysis , which was originally part of Nationaloekonomie , the German predecessor to Human Action. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini constantly proclaim that they are chosen by destiny to bring salvation to this world. They claim they are the leaders of the creative youth