http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destructionMarxism Unmasked gathers nine lectures Ludwig von Mises delivered at the San Francisco Public Library in the summer of 1952, taken down in shorthand by Bettina Bien Greaves.The first five lectures are philosophical, dismantling the Marxian claim that a person's economic class dictates his very ideas, morality, and logic, and tracing how that notion fed class conflict, nationalism, and the modern cult of political violence. The final four turn to economics, explaining in plain language how saving, investment, and economic calculation create prosperity; how sound money differs from credit expansion and the boom-and-bust cycle; and how profit, loss, and private property steer production toward what people actually want.The result is at once a demolition of Marxism "from delusion to destruction" and a lucid defense of the market economy—not because capitalists are admirable, Mises insists, but because free enterprise benefits mankind and safeguards liberty.With an introduction by Richard M. Ebeling.enLudwig von MisesSerialnohttps://cdn.mises.org/images/2026-07/Marxism-Unmasked_Mises_2400.jpghttp://mises.orgMises Institutemisesmedia@gmail.comhttp://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/introduction-marxism-unmaskedRichard M. EbelingWed, 08 Jul 2026 13:52:10 -0500145426Richard M. Ebeling recalls the world of 1952, when socialism seemed ascendant everywhere, summarizes Marx’s system of historical materialism and class struggle, and introduces Mises as one of its most formidable critics.

]]>noPolitical Theory, Socialism, World History1http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/mind-materialism-and-fate-manLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 13:59:52 -0500145427Mises opens the philosophical half of the course by arguing that Marx’s materialism—the claim that a person’s economic class shapes his very ideas and logic—dominates modern thought, and he begins to dismantle it.

]]>noOther Schools of Thought, Philosophy and Methodology, Praxeology2http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/class-conflict-and-revolutionary-socialismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 14:19:06 -0500145428Marx’s doctrine of class and class conflict: the claim that class interests determine how people think and set the classes in irreconcilable conflict—with Mises noting that Marx never actually defined what a class is.

]]>noPolitical Theory, Socialism, The Police State3http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/individualism-and-industrial-revolutionLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 14:29:06 -0500145429The liberal ideal of the individual and rational, welfare-serving law, and a defense of the Industrial Revolution against the myth that early capitalism degraded the common man.

]]>noLiberalism, Poverty, Rationalism4http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/nationalism-socialism-and-violent-revolutionLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 14:54:15 -0500145430How Marxism claims that truth itself is attainable only in a classless society, and how the cult of “action” and violence—by way of Georges Sorel and French syndicalism—fed into Leninism, fascism, and Nazi racial doctrine.

]]>noPhilosophy and Methodology, Political Theory, The Police State5http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/marxism-and-manipulation-manLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 15:08:21 -0500145431Why Marxism spread so widely while going long unchallenged, how its slogans slipped into everyday speech, and the Marxian urge to “organize” society by treating individuals as raw material to be arranged.

]]>noLanguage, Planning, Socialism6http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/making-modern-civilization-savings-investment-and-economic-calculationLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 15:20:21 -0500145432The first economics lecture: how saving, capital goods, and investment build modern prosperity—illustrated by the fisherman who forgoes today’s catch to make nets—and why capital must be guided by economic calculation.

]]>noLanguage, Planning, Socialism7http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/money-interest-and-business-cycleLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 15:55:29 -0500145433The two great confusions about money and interest, from Aristotle’s “money cannot beget money” to modern credit expansion, and how monetary manipulation by banks and governments produces inflation and the business cycle.

]]>noBusiness Cycles, Monetary Theory, Money and Banking8http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/profit-and-loss-private-property-and-achievements-capitalismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 16:22:21 -0500145434The crucial difference between physical “capital goods” and “capital” as an accounting concept, and how profit and loss, private property, and economic calculation steer production toward what consumers actually want.

]]>noCapitalism, Entrepreneurship, Private Property9http://mises.org/podcasts/marxism-unmasked-delusion-destruction/foreign-investments-and-spirit-capitalismLudwig von MisesWed, 08 Jul 2026 16:33:23 -0500145435How the Industrial Revolution and foreign investment made some nations rich while others stayed poor, closing with Mises’s defense of capitalism—not because capitalists are good people, but because the market economy benefits mankind and safeguards freedom.

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