Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis

Preface to the New Edition

Ludwig von Mises — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 14:34:02 -0600

Writing as the Cold War hardens, Mises observes that the two camps denouncing each other share an ultimate end: abolishing private enterprise and substituting government control for the market. He extends the point to the self-styled progressives and the Fascists and Nazis before them, who differed over who should do the regimenting rather than whether there should be any.

Preface to the Second German Edition

Ludwig von Mises — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 14:40:06 -0600

Mises traces when the socialist idea first became clear, crediting the writers Marxism dismisses as Utopians, and notes that socialism only became international once the Free-Traders had demonstrated the gains from the division of labor. He defends his definition—socialization of the means of production—against attempts to redefine the term once criticism began to bite.

Introduction

Ludwig von Mises — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 14:44:03 -0600

Mises surveys the dominance of socialist ideas over the modern mind, quoting Sidney Webb on a century of policy drifting toward socialism and noting that Russia has already attempted the thing at a stroke. He also sets out what he will not do: Marx and Engels, he observes, never tried to refute opponents by argument but insulted, derided, and traduced them.

Ownership

Ludwig von Mises — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 14:48:49 -0600

Mises separates the sociological fact of ownership—the power to dispose of a good—from the legal concept, which distinguishes the physical has from the lawful ought to have. He then argues that law originated not as perfect justice but as the protection of existing holdings, because peace requires securing the present state of affairs from violent disturbance.