Best of
Politics

1922

Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis


Ludwig von Mises - 1922
    . . . An economic classic in our time.—Henry HazlittMore than thirty years ago F. A. Hayek said of Socialism: "It was a work on political economy in the tradition of the great moral philosophers, a Montesquieu or Adam Smith, containing both acute knowledge and profound wisdom. . . . To none of us young men who read the book when it appeared was the world ever the same again."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 results of socialist planning with those of free-market capitalism in all areas of life.Friedrich Hayek's foreword comments on the continuing relevance of this great work: "Most readers today will find that Socialism has more immediate application to contemporary events than it had when it first appeared."Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of Economics throughout most of the twentieth century. He earned his doctorate in law and economics from the University of Vienna in 1906. In 1926, Mises founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research. From 1909 to 1934, he was an economist for the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Before the Anschluss, in 1934 Mises left for Geneva, where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940, when he emigrated to New York City. From 1948 to 1969, he was a visiting professor at New York University.

Free Thought and Official Propaganda


Bertrand Russell - 1922
    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

At the Cafe: Conversations on Anarchism


Errico Malatesta - 1922
    He had shaved off his usual beard but he was still taking a risk. Especially as this wasn't an anarchist cafe, but had a variety of customers including the local policeman. The conversations he had in this cafe became the basis for the dialogues that make up this book. For the first time in English, Malatesta, in his usual commonsense and matter-of-fact style, sets out and critically analyses the arguments for and against anarchism. Translated by Paul Nursey-Bray, this is a classic defence of anarchism that anticipates the rise of nationalism, fascism and communism.

1905


Leon Trotsky - 1922
    PART ONERussia’s Social Development and Tsarism Russian CapitalismRussian CapitalismThe Peasantry and the Agrarian QuestionThe Driving Forces of the Russian RevolutionThe SpringJanuary NinthThe Strike in OctoberThe Creation of the Soviet of Workers’ DeputiesOctober EighteenthWitte’s MinistryThe first Days of the “Freedoms”The Tsar’s Men at WorkStorming the Censorship BastiliesOpposition and RevolutionThe November StrikeEight Hours and a GunThe Peasant RiotsThe Red FleetOn the Threshold of Counter-RevolutionThe Last Days of the SovietDecemberSumming UpAnnexesThe Proletariat & the Russian RevolutionOur DifferencesThe Struggle for PowerOn the Special Features of Russia’s Historical DevelopmentPART TWOInstead of a Preface to the Second Part Trial of the Soviet of Workers’ DeputiesThe Soviet and the ProsecutionMy Speech Before the CourtThereBack

The Myth of a Guilty Nation


Albert Jay Nock - 1922
    The book came out in 1922 and has been in very low circulation ever since. In fact, until this printing, it has been very difficult to obtain in physical form.The narrative has incredible staying power. The burden of the book is to prove American war propaganda to be false. The purpose of the war was not to liberate Europe and the world from German imperialism and threats. Today most everyone knows and understands this, but this was not known in 1922. If there was a conspiracy, it was by the allied powers to broadcast a public message that was completely contradicted by its own diplomatic cables.Nock's book reminds us of what most everyone has forgotten, namely, that this was sold as a war for freedom and self-determination over imperial ambition. Along with that came some of the most rabid war propaganda ever fabricated until that point in time, all designed to make Germany into a devil nation. Nock's brave book took on that idea and demonstrated that there was fault enough to go around on all sides. All through the 1920s, a Nockian-style retelling of the facts behind the war led to a dramatic shift in public opinion against World War I.As the introduction by Anders Mikkelsen points out, "Nock makes the reader aware of the great extent to which the allied politicians continually lied to blame Germany and justify the war, or at least told stories with no regard for the truth. No wonder Hitler found British propaganda so inspiring. In fact the story at the time made it sound like Germany was trying to overrun Europe the way Hitler temporarily did a few decades later."What makes this book worth reading is not whether this is the best explanation for WWI. It is worth seeing how small groups of state officials engaged in secret actions that led to a catastrophic war, and continually lied throughout the whole process to provide themselves ideological cover."For lovers of Nock's work, this book is a fantastic addition. For those who have never encountered his writing, this book shows how he came to be such a powerful force in the world of literature and letters in the years between the wars. Copied From:http://mises.org/resources/6647

The Driver


Garet Garrett - 1922
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Chameleon: Being the Book of My Selves


Benjamin De Casseres - 1922
    Excerpt: ... THE INTANGIBLE LIFE IFE is a manifestation of uncon scious ideas, a flowerlike exfolia -*-- tion from an unseen, unknown within to a visible, known without, of which death is the rim. The mind, the earlier mind, of man, half opened, as a flower just before dawn, beholding, fearing, this rim--this almost tangible cessation of the activities of the beloved body--reacts upon itself in thought, seeking blindly for something of the infinite beyond matter; dreaming thus of gaining for mental, spiritual intensity what so soon must be lost in space and time; asking, as it were, a concession from Fate by a steady withdrawal from participation in her more obvious empire, the external world. So is the dream born; and from the unmapped territories in the atoms in the brain there springs a being within a being--the imaginative-prophetic soul, forerunner of the Intangible Life, the subverter and sapper of the external world, a thing that shall function in the limitless. To beings so elected--few and unique among those who live literally, the mudworms--the nearest thing is the remotest thing. They are never quite socketted in their environment, never quite come into contact with their own bodies. Extension, encounter and impact of bodily things are not true for them. They stand with one hand upon the door-bolt, about to go forth from their enchanted souls into the grooves of practical life; but they never make the motion that is decisive. Merely they stand there to listen apperceptively, or they peer through the knot-hole of sense at the elaborate rituals of buffoonery. Standing farther away from life, they stand nearer to that which gives life; moving not anywhere, they are everywhere. They are never real in the sense that a wall is real, being at...

The Kronstadt Rebellion


Alexander Berkman - 1922