Liberty and Property.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

32Liberty and Propertyto the ways of regular fellows, all people inRussia are perfectly happy. We may leave itundecided whether this happiness was alsoshared by the millions of Ukrainian peasantswho died from starvation, by the inmates ofthe forced labor camps, and by the Marxianleaders who were purged. But we cannotpass over the fact that the standard of livingwas incomparably higher in the free countriesof the West than in the communist East.In giving away liberty as the price to be paidfor the acquisition of prosperity, the Russiansmade a poor bargain. They now haveneither the one nor the other.