http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-traditionIn 1927, with socialism conquering the academy, fascism rising in Italy, and the interventionist state expanding across the West, Ludwig von Mises wrote the most complete defense of classical liberalism ever attempted. He grounded the entire system in a single principle: private property. From that foundation, he derived everything—free trade, peace, freedom of movement, toleration, equality before the law, the separation of church and state, and the radical decentralization of political power through secession. He argued that liberalism is not a party program but the only social arrangement capable of sustaining civilization under the division of labor.The audiobook is short, direct, and written for the intelligent layperson—not the academic. Mises anticipated nearly every objection that would be raised against liberalism over the following century and answered each one. It remains the clearest single statement of what the classical liberal tradition actually stands for, and why every alternative—socialism, fascism, interventionism—leads to the same destination: the destruction of peaceful social cooperation.enLudwig von MisesSerialnohttps://cdn.mises.org/images/2026-07/Liberalism_2400.jpghttp://mises.orgMises Institutemisesmedia@gmail.comhttp://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/foreword-liberalismThomas E. Woods, Jr.Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:15:02 -0500145414Tom Woods frames Ludwig von Mises's book around a single question—when the state may legitimately initiate force—and the classical liberal’s insistence on a very high threshold for it.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property1http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/preface-english-language-editionLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:16:08 -0500145415Ludwig von Mises’s preface to the English edition: what classical liberalism is, why its program rests on private property, and how “liberal” came to mean nearly its opposite in America.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property2http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/introductionLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:17:06 -0500145416Mises defines liberalism as a program for material welfare grounded in reason, ties it to capitalism, and examines the psychological roots of antiliberal resentment.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property3http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/chapter-1-foundations-liberal-policyLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:17:06 -0500145417The first principles of liberal politics—private property, freedom, peace, and equality before the law—with a critique of the doctrine of force, fascism, and the proper limits of government.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property4http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/chapter-2-liberal-economic-policyLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:20:13 -0500145418The economic case for private property and the free market, including the impracticability of socialism, the failures of interventionism, and the problems of cartels, monopoly, and bureaucracy.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Economic Policy, Interventionism, Monopoly and Competition, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property5http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/chapter-3-liberal-foreign-policyLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:32:22 -0500145419Liberalism applied to world affairs: national self-determination, free trade and freedom of movement as the foundations of peace, and critiques of nationalism, imperialism, and colonialism.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property, War and Foreign Policy6http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/chapter-4-liberalism-and-political-partiesLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:40:16 -0500145420Why liberalism differs from interest-based parties, the crisis of parliamentary government, and the misleading charge that liberalism is merely the “party of capital.”

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Interventionism, Political Theory, Politics, Praxeology, Private Property7http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/chapter-5-future-liberalismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:55:29 -0500145421Mises argues that modern civilization rests on liberalism and capitalism, and can be destroyed only from within—by the spread of antiliberal ideas, not by any outside enemy.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Capitalism, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property8http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/appendix-1-literature-liberalismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 09:59:45 -0500145422Mises's guided reading list of the essential works of liberal thought, from Hume, Smith, and Bentham onward, for readers who want to study the tradition in depth.

]]>noAustrian Economics Overview, Capitalism, Interventionism, Political Theory, Praxeology, Private Property9http://mises.org/podcasts/liberalism-classical-tradition/appendix-2-term-liberalismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 10:06:50 -0500145423Mises defends his use of the word: true liberalism is defined by private ownership of the means of production, and he explains why he keeps the name despite its distorted modern usage.

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