Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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REVIEWS AND COMMENTS BY MURRAY N. ROTHBARD 133 especially likes about this is its lack of true mutual gain—or is it its obvious pointlessness? And, again, must we follow the path of a magic-ridden group of savages? I mentioned that the free society would permit Polanyi or any who agree with him to abandon the market and find whatever other forms suit them. But one thing and one thing alone the free society would not permit Polanyi to do: to use coercion over the rest of us. It will let him join a commune, but it will not let him force you or me into his commune. This is the sole difference, and I therefore must conclude that this is Polanyi’s sole basic complaint against the free society and the free market: they do not permit him, or any of his friends, or anyone else, to use force to coerce someone else into doing what Polanyi or anyone else wants; they do not permit force and violence; they do not permit dictation; they do not permit theft; they do not permit exploitation. I must conclude that the type of world that Polanyi would force us back into, is precisely the world of coercion, dictation, and exploitation. 83 And all this in the name of “humanity”? Truly, Polanyi, like his fellow thinkers, is the “humanitarian with the guillotine.” 84 The naked and open advocacy of force and exploitation would, of course, not get very far; and so Polanyi falls back on the fallacy of methodological holism, treating “society” as a real entity in itself, apart from and above the existence or interests of the individual members. The market, Polanyi thunders, disrupted and sundered “society”; 85 restrictions on the market are “society’s” indispensable 83Rothbard notes, “Unfortunately, historically, most of humanity has lived and suffered, up until the advent of the free market. See K. Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1957).” 84Rothbard notes, “See Isabel Paterson’s profound work of political theory, The God of the Machine (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1943).” 85Polanyi, The Great Transformation, p. 310.
MURRAY N. ROTHBARD VS. THE PHILOSPHERS: UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS 134 ON HAYEK, MISES, STRAUSS, AND POLYANI method of “protecting itself.” 86 All very well, until we begin to inquire, who is “society”? Where is it? What are its identifiable attributes? Whenever someone begins to talk about “society” or “society’s” interest coming before “mere individuals and their interest,” a good operative rule is this: guard your pocketbook. And guard yourself! Because behind the facade of “society,” there is always a group of power-hungry doctrinaires and exploiters, ready to take your money and to order your actions and your life. For, somehow, they “are” society! The only intelligible way of defining society is as the array of voluntary interpersonal relations. And preeminent among such voluntary interrelations is the free market! In short, the market (and the interrelations arising from the market) is society, or at least the bulk and the heart of it. In fact, contrary to the statements by Polanyi and others that sociability and fellowship come before the market, the truth is virtually the reverse; for it is only because the market and its division of labor permit mutual gain among men that they can afford to be sociable and friendly, and that amicable relations can ensue. For in the jungle, in the tribal and caste societies, there is not mutual benefit but warfare for scarce resources! Curiously, in his idyllic picture of tribal life, Polanyi never seems to mention pervasive intertribal warfare. Such warfare is almost necessary because groups of people are fighting over scarce resources: water holes, hunting, etc. Tribalism, not capitalism, is the “rule of the jungle,” for warfare and extermination of the “unfit” is the only way that some of the tribes can keep alive. It is the capitalist market economy which increases resources by mutual benefit, that is able to bypass the rule of the jungle and to rise above such 86 The second part of Part 2 of Polanyi’s volume was entitled “Self-Protection of Society.” Cf. Polanyi, The Great Transformation pp. 167–280. He deals with the movements that tried to limit the market, Owenism, Chartism, unionism, and other social-protection movements of various types.
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ROTHBARD’S UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS I
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Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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