Tag Archives: Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard’s 97th birthday

Murray Rothbard continues to be an inspiration, even 28 years after his untimely death. Here are some of the kind words written in honor of his memory.

Continue reading

review of the Anarchist Handbook

Michael Malice‘s book The Anarchist Handbook is a collection of essays from anarchists of many varieties, each introduced by the author. Ancaps looking at the rest of the present-day anarchist movement might conclude that there is nothing to learn. However, it is instructive to see how close the idols of other anarchist philosophies came to libertarianism, and how their errors led to things like anarcho-socialism, anarcho-communism, and the like.

Malice, of course, includes some of the best essays in anarchist thought. Featured are Lysander Spooner‘s “No Treason #6“, an excerpt from David Friedman‘s “The Machinery of Freedom“, and the entirety of Murray Rothbard‘s “The Anatomy of the State“.

Continue reading

Murray Rothbard on Keynes

The Mises Institute has Murray Rothbard’s copy of John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Rothbard was not afraid to make comments in the margins, so looking inside is like listening in on Murray’s private thoughts. A quite a few thoughts there are:

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

If you liked the portrait of Keynes on the top of page 316, you’ll love the doodles on the cover pages:

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA

One of my favorite comments is Rothbard’s reply to Keynes when Keynes wrote, “Those who are strongly wedded to what I shall call ‘the classical theory’, will fluctuate, I expect, between a belief that I am quite wrong and a belief that I am saying nothing new.”

SANY1007

To see more, visit the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

Review of For a Libertarian Communism

for_a_libertarian_communism

For a Libertarian Communism is a collection of translations from the French communist writer Daniel Guerin. The title implies that the theory inside will include or at least make use of libertarianism, but this is not the case. Instead, Guerin has a slightly different flavor of communism that he is trying to sell.

Unfortunately, Guerin’s brand of communism is not novel enough that the average ancap needs to learn about it. Only those who are doing historical research are likely to benefit from reading this book. You can read the full text here.

Guerin says that, in pursuit of equality and liberty, the libertarian communist movement must resign itself to:

…imposing its will on the majority, first and preferentially through persuasion, and, if persuasion fails, by force.

Needless to say, the closest Guerin comes to libertarian ideas is Continue reading