Book Reviews

Save for those who are w~ak, all of them are guilty, whether they happen to be communist, capitalist or "middle way" socialist. In his second book, Power Through Sub316 vers'ion (Public Affairs Press, $8) , Mr. Beilenson explores the long and lamentable history of the vari ous ways in which nations have tried to weaken each other as they pursue the game of balancing the power. Curiously, this is the first history of its kind. But who, as we seek a "generation of peace," will read it? Must Mr. Beilenson's larynx fail him again as the auto mobile moves toward the blind man? Various "Blades" of Subversion Mr. Beilenson begins by clarify ing the ambiguous words he is forced to use. He speaks of the various "blades" of subversion. An "influencing subversion" will use the blades of propaganda, agita tion or offensive terror to get an other government to follow certain policies without actually trying to overthrow it. A "decisive subver1972 POWER THROUGH SUBVERSION 317 sion" will employ an armed fifth column within an enemy state to change the government without actually using the means of ex ternal warfare. -"Traditional sub version" is subversion before Lenin. "Spigot subversion" is when you turn it on and off. There is "auxiliary subversion," "oppor tunist subversion," "spotty sub version," the "Vergennes Varia tion," and the "Lenin Adaptation."

The last is the worst, for, as Mr. Beilenson makes plain, it never sleeps and it never ends. Lenin actually developed no new "blade" of subversion. He learned without benefit of Marx, by going to the history of Bourbon and Hapsburg Europe and by studying the way Napoleon spread the French Revolution. Traditional subversion, using such "blades" as bribery and the smuggling of arms, usually preceded the march ing of armies. Britain employed "spigot subversion" to keep con tinental Europe off balance. The Vergennes Variation The Vergennes Variation was employed by France to help Amer ica. Vergennes expected no imme~ diate benefit by sending arms to help the colonists defeat the Brit ish Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga. The French foreign minister expected that an independent republic in America would follow its own in terest, even to the point. of rank ingratitude. All he wanted out of the deal was to keep the British from deriving strength from America in wars still to come.

The young United. States ful filled Vergennes' expectation of ingratitude the .moment when it became profitable to our Founding Fathers to sign a treaty of peace with Britain. A century and a half later Truman, Marshall and Ache son used the Vergennes Variation on their own to help France through Marshall Plan money and the NA TO alliance. De Gaulle proved just as ungrateful as America's John Jay had proved at the end of the Eighteenth Cen tury. But an ungrateful France, says Mr. Beilenson, is better for the United States than a Com munist France. The Lenin Adaptation The Lenin Adaptation has made use of all the traditional blades. But where "traditional subver sion" often ended in open war, Lenin used his own adaptation as a substitute for war. Lenin did not believe in an adventurous policy. He had a fanatic's fixation on preserving his socialist base. He believed that one could recognize a revolutionary situation, but he 318 THE FREEMAN May made no pretense to being· a prophet about timing. In 1848 there were revolutionary situa tions all over Europe. But the rev olutions were either aborted or repressed .. Since nobody could be sure about timing, Lenin believed in the long-term financing of for~ eign Communist parties, fronts and secret agents who would be on the spot if a revolutionary sit uation should become ripe. Khru shchev, who followed Lenin's strat egy, couldn't have known that Castro would turn the anti-Batista revolution into a fullfledged Com munist revolution. But the Com munists had their party and their "sleepers" ready to exploit Cas tro's discovery that he had always been a Marxist.

What burns Mr. Beilenson up is that "bourgeois" statesmen can never seem to realize that Com munist nations believe in having their mounts "well shod on all four feet" even when the talk is of detente, or coexistence, or peace. All Communist agreements are like· pie crusts, made to be broken if a revolutionary situation de velops. Ho Chi Minh waited for twenty years to take over in North Vietnam. Mao Tse-tung was will ing to enter a coalition with Chiang Kai-shek in 1946, but when the Soviets gave him all those captured Japanese arms he would settle for nothing less than the total defeat of the Kuomin tang. Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk with Imperial Ger many to'. take Russia out of World War 1. But when the Soviets opened an embassy in Berlin, they used it to spread subversion inside the country that had permitted Lenin to ride to the Finland. Sta tion in a sealed car. The Lenin Adaptation makes no connection with gratitude.

The Cautious Soviets As Mr. Beilenson sees it, the Soviets, in using the Lenin Adap tation, err on the side of super caution. If the United States hadn't been obsessed with Suez in 1956, Khrushchev would never have dared send his tanks into Hungary to suppress the revolt. The Soviet army had withdrawn from Budapest in fear that Brit ain and America might send help to the Hungarians. But when it became plain that Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles were giving priority to their dispute with Eng land, France and Israel, the Soviet army returned to Hungary. This does not mean that the Soviets will always be cautious. Lenin believed'in the inevitability of war with the capitalist world, and if the Soviets ever thought they could win that war without 1972 POWER THROUGH SUBVERSION 319 risk to the socialist base they would certainly fire off their mis siles and send their armies marching. The Not-So-Cautious Chinese Mao Tse-tung's aphorisms are all paraphrases of Lenin's words.

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" is simply Lenin's "supremacy of violence." "Enemy advances, we retreat; enemy tires, we attack; enemy retreats, we pursue" is Mao's way of express ing Lenin's "doctrine of the situ ation." "Fight no battle you are not sure of winning" is Lenin's "caution about war" in Chinese. But Mao has been· more adven turous than Lenin in risking his forces. After all, the Red Chinese invaded North Vietnam and have tried to capture Quemoy and Matsu. Mr. Beilenson would like to see the United States develop an "American Adaptation" to be di rected against Communist rulers who are trying to destroy our form of government. Alas, in our current state of mind, this won't be done. Our "advocates of a good on-paper world" would consider American subversion a breach of international law. Our friends would welcome an American sub version, but we are too soft in the head to see it. Poor Mr. Beilenson.

~ MAN, ECONOMY AND STATE by Murray N.. Rothbard (Los An geles: Nash Publishing Co., 1971, 987 pp., two-volume hard cover $30, one-volume paper $10) Reviewer : Tommy W.Rogers THIS is a welcome reissue of an excellent treatise which originally appeared in 1962. Rothbard devel ops the edifice of economic science in the manner of the old-fashioned "principles" approach - slowly and logically building an integrated and coherent edifice of economic truth from a few simple and basic axioms. First, the Fundamental Axiom of a:ction-that men employ means to achieve ends, followed by two subsidiary postulates: that there is a variety of human and natural resources, and that leisure is a consumers' good. Beginning with the immediate implications of the action axiom, Rothbard discusses various types of interpersonal and social rela tions; the economics of voluntary exchange, the economics of con sumption, the pricing of consumer goods, and production theory. A "radical" feature of Rothbard's analysis of production is a com plete break with the "short-run"

theory of the firm and its replace ment with dynamic Austrian the ory of marginal value productivity and capitalization.

320 THE FREEMAN May The author emphasizes the im mense benefits accruing to all par ticipants in the system of free ex change, and demonstrates the harmful effects of political inter ventions in the marketplace. A cen trally planned economy, Rothard observes, is a centrally prohibited economy. The concept of "social engineering" is a deceptive meta phor, since in the social realm, it is largely people who are being planned rather than machinery and resources. Furthermore, bureau cracy, incompetent enough at handling a stationary system, is vastly more incompetent at planning a progressive one. This book frankly takes off from Mises' Human Action, attempting to spell out some of the implica tions of the earlier work, but also devoting considerable space to the refutation of opposing doctrines. It has meat enough to satisfy the professional economist, but it is not beyond the thoughtful layman.

A book like this one is indeed a basic instrument of economic ed ucation. I) HANDSOME BLUE LEATHERLEX FREEMAN BINDERS $2.50 each ORDER FROM: THE FOUNDATION fOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 10533 tIle Freeman VOL. 22, NO.6. JUNE 1972 When Men Appeal from Tyranny to God Edward Coleson 323 A bicentennial for the men behind the freeing of slaves in England. Pollution and Property Oscar W. Cooley 336 Not the socialists but the capitalists have the solution to pollution. The Founding of the American Republic: 11. The War for Independence Clarence B. Carson 341 Concerning the distinction between declaring for independence and achieving it in practice. The Cure for Poverty Henry Hazlitt 355 Those who truly wish to help the poor will save and invest to create more and better-paying jobs. The Educational Dilemma Donald M. Dozer 359 Identifying the lines of authority and responsibility in educational affairs.