Book Reviews

114 A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK How Democracies Perish by John Chamberlain T he first thing to say about Jean Francois Revel's How Democracies Perish (Dou bleday, Garden City, New York, 376 pp., $17.95) is that it was written by a Frenchman. It represents a profound break with the neo-Marx ism of the Paris intellectual commu nity, the Gides and the Sartres who, even though they might differ with the Moscow line on some occasions, still considered Marxism-Leninism to be the wave of the future. The book is ably translated by William Byron. Revel is something of a secular hu manist (he likes the United States be cause it is willing, as he phrases it, to get along without either Marx or Je sus), but his values are Christian nonetheless. As a pragmatist he ob serves that democracy, with its capi talism, works, and he is certain that, in the long run, the Communist na tions of the Eastern bloc' are going to collapse. But what frightens him is the prospect that the democracies of the West will fall to pieces while Moscow still packs its ICBM nuclear lead that gives it blackmail power in spite of its own economic weaknesses.

The thesis is similar to that of Schumpeter, who thought that capi talism, though successful, would be fatally undermined by critics who insist on contrasting it to their dream of socialist perfectionism. In the real world, of course, the existing socialist bloc lives off what it can scrounge from nations that depend on market economies. Revel goes back to Alexis de TOG queville in order to make a running start. Tocqueville had been greatly im pressed by the democracy of the young United States, but he also noticed that when a society becomes richer it rebels against authority' 'in proportion as its needs are met." The more that claims are satisfied, the greater the clamor for something better. In the third quarter of the Twentieth Century the democracies were more affluent than they had ever been. But, perversely, they tended to be "increasingly un stable, explosive, ungovernable." It is not stagnation that breeds revolu tions, says Revel, echoing Tocque ville, "but progress, because it has al ready created the wealth that makes revolution viable."

The Communist societies don't have this trouble. Says Revel, "Where the State is everything and civilian so ciety is nothing, economic stagnation and social sclerosis foreclose all hope, and the absence of freedom blocks the spread of discontent." The Commu nist dictators cover their weakness by a calculated military expansionism. What we get is the survival of the least fit. It would not be so if the democ racies only realized that they could bring about the collapse of Commu nism by matching it in military might and, at the same time, depriving it of access to western foodstuffs and west ern technology. R evel gives us a long history of western failure to unite on a common anti-Communist pol icy that might have blocked Soviet ex pansionism. We didn't have to give Stalin the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin Island in the Far East, for example. We might have let General Patton's tank forces stay in Prague at the close of military op erations in Europe in 1945, which would have given us the "Bohemian bastion" that Bismarck regarded as the key to the continent. We might have beaten the Russians to Berlin if Eisenhower hadn't been ordered by Roosevelt to let the Soviets take Ger many up to the Elbe River.

Revel is sarcastic about Roosevelt's feeling that he could "handle" Uncle Joe Stalin by making him laugh and Truman's statement that "old Joe" was a decent sort who couldn't do what he wished "because he was the Politburo's prisoner." "I like old Joe," said Truman a couple of years after Potsdam. But Truman, unlike Roosevelt, lived to make amends for his mistake about Stalin's character, and about Marxism-Leninism in general. Truman, with his aid to Greece, did manage to check the Soviet advances after World War II. But we never really fought the Cold War as it should have been fought. As for detente, it was a disaster. The democracies, says Revel, have always failed to reckon with the con stancy of the Soviet plan to take over the world by eating it leaf by leaf, like an artichoke. The Soviets never take a single defeat as final. They make 115 . I b I HOWtac~lca retreats, ut on y to renew DEMOCRACIES then attacks elsewhere. When they PERISH were pursuing detente in eastern Europe, they were girding themselves for takeover in Asia, Africa and Central America.

Revel considers our handling of the Polish bankruptcy threat to be symp tomatic of our general failure to use economics as a weapon. We were afraid that if we were to force Poland into the political equivalent of a re ceivership, we would panic all the Third World countries that owed us so much money. We could have handled this fear selectively by refinancing the loans to non-Communist nations while we were denying such favors to the Communists. The Third World would have been grateful, and Moscow would have had to like it or lump it. Revel thinks it ridiculous that we made $70 billion in loans to the Soviet bloc in the decade of the Seventies. The Communists didn't use this money to feed their own people. In stead, the money went into more and better ICBMs, and into financing sub version around the world. The Western willingness to lend money at low rates to build the gas pipeline from Siberia to central Eu rope is another thing that outrages Revel. Looking back, he likes Jimmy Carter for one thing. Carter had enough spunk to embargo American grain sales to Russia.

There could be more of an argu ment about this than about most of Revel's criticisms, as he himself rec ognizes. If the Soviets are forced to pay in gold 01\ foreign exchange for wheat, it means that they will have to keep people digging for gold in Sibe ria. People who are employed in such digging won't be manufacturing tanks and armored lorries to send to Angola or Nicaragua. This is a first-rate book in spite of small objections to detail. It teaches us that Marxism has a plan for uni versal conquest, and that we must meet it if we are to live free. 0 116 OTHER BOOKS Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary by David Hume edited and with a foreword, notes and glossary by Eugene F. Miller Liberty Classics, 7440 North Shadeland, Indianapolis, Indiana 46250 • 1985 •679 pages, $11.00 cloth Reviewed by John K. Williams S tudents of the freedom philos ophy are indebted to Liberty Fund. From that body comes Liberty Classics, a superbly produced series of works of inestimable value to any person desirous of making the ac quaintance of the great thinkers of history who defended political and economic liberty.

The latest addition to that series is David Hume's Essays: Moral, Polit ical, and Literary. The volume's edi tor, Eugene F. Miller, has contributed a foreword, notes, and glossary of in terest to any reader but invaluable to students of Hume's writings. In cluded also is a brief autobiographical outline of Hume's life and a moving letter penned by Hume's admiring and fond friend, Adam Smith. Then come no less than forty-nine essays, graced by the subtlety of insight and clarity of expression typical of Hume. It would be unfortunate if readers of The Freeman who peruse this vol ume merely study Hume's essays deal ing with explicitly economic issues (those on trade, interest, and money, for example). Hume's comments on the' 'Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature," on "National Characters," on "Civil Liberty," on "Passive Obe dience," and on the "Study of His tory" merit thoughtful consideration.

All students of Hume's works will be delighted to find in this volume the full and accurate text of two of Hume's most controversial essays: "On Suicide" and "On the Immor tality of the Soul." The freedom philosophy needs en thusiastic advocates. It also needs in formed advocates. Shallowness of historical insight does not become any person who wishes to further the cause of liberty. We ~ll do _well to steep our selves in the .works of the great think ers who have explored and expounded the philosophy that is ours. Liberty Classics has long made available the works of such thinkers in an attrac tive, and remarkably inexpensive, form. This edition of Hume's essays is a significant addition to an already distinguished series. 0 Free Trade: The Necessary Foundation for World Peace edited by Joan Kennedy Taylor FEE, Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 • 1986 • 144 pages, $5.95 paperback Reviewed by Roy A. Childs, Jr.

W hen, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the classical liberals took up the cause of free trade against the ruling doctrines of mercantilism, protection ism, and colonialism they did so not only out of a high regard for freedom of commerce. They did so to promote peaceful relations between nations, as well. They believed that by confining the functions of government to the protection of life, liberty, and prop erty, the tensions between nations would gradually disappear, and that free trade would usher in a new era of international harmony, free of the scourge of war. Today we have the benefit of hind sight, and these liberals seem to have been right. The nineteenth century was the closest we have come to a century of free trade, and peace seemed to fol low. The twentieth century, on the other hand, has witnessed the aban donment of laissez faire ideals and the growth of statism of all varieties. It is no accident that it has also been the bloodiest century in history. The movement from limited government to unlimited government, from free trade to economic nationalism, has produced a century of conflict and violence.

This volume collects fifteen short essays by thirteen authors, most culled from the pages of The Freeman over the past three decades, to put some meat on the bones of this argument. The authors of these essays will for the most part be familiar to The Free man's readers, because they have been frequent visitors here: Bettina Bien Greaves and Hans Sennholz, Henry Hazlitt and Ludwig von Mises, Fred eric Bastiat and Frank Chodorov join with others in making out a complex case. They tell us convincingly that free trade not only brings prosperity, but may help peace along, as well. Frank Chodorov reminds us that ,'the will to live is not merely a craving for existence; it is rather an urge to reach out in all directions for a fuller enjoyment of life, and it is by trade that this inner drive achieves some measure of fulfillment." People ful fill their needs through production and exchange, and erase conflicts through cooperation, bargaining and voluntary trade. And this process does not stop at a nation's borders. That is why Chodorov finds that "any inter ference with the marketplace, how ever done, is analogous to an act of war," and why Mises reminds us that "economic nationalism is incompati ble with durable peace."

Unfortunately, in turning our backs to the ideal of limited government, and embracing forms of socialism and the welfare state, we have got more than we bargained for. Once an im partial arbiter of disputes, government has decided to help some citizens at the expense of others. It wants to "protect" some producers at the ex pense of consumers, by putting road blocks in the way of free trade. When tariffs aren't enough, as Bettina Bien Greaves points out, they stoop to other kinds of restrictions on trade: "quotas, embargoes, 'Buy American' acts, licensing requirements, quaran tines, food and drug standards, anti dumping laws," and the like. All of these restrictions are meant to stop domestic consumers from voluntarily buying the products they desire from foreign producers. A result is the rise of aggressive na tionalism, which, as Mises argues, "is the necessary derivative of the eco nomic policies of intervention and na tional planning. While laissez faire eliminates the causes of international conflict, socialism and government interferences with business create con flicts for which no peaceful solution can be found." (emphasis added) This book is a call for us to step back from the brink of economic na tionalism and trade wars to consider what we are doing. It is concerned si multaneously with principles and real ity. And its authors focus clearly on some of the great issues of our time: world hunger, foreign aid, interna tional investment, unemployment and international conflict are all seen through the eyes of principles that en able us to understand what is happen ing to our world. In doing that, it makes a bold case for the reexami nation of the ideals we have so thoughtlessly abandoned: individual rights, private property, economic freedom, limited government and free trade. In the nineteenth century these ideals helped promote peace; in the twenty-first, perhaps they can do so again. D 117 OTHER BOOKS Special offer A Pattern for Failure: Socialist Economies in Crisis, by Swedish economist Sven Ry denfelt, underscores the necessity for our commitment to freedom. He shows how gov ernment domination in fifteen socialist coun tries throughout the world has brought impov erishment and misery to their citizenry.

Dr. Rydenfelt offers the solution to these so cieties in crisis: "The new ideas of the philo sophies of freedom and entrepreneurship are revolutionary in the true sense of the word and will everywhere transform the societies in which they work." Dr. Rydenfelt's remarkable book performs an immense service in bringing together detailed evidence on the performance of fifteen widely separated countries in which the government plays a dominant role in organizing economic activity. No one who reads Dr. Rydenfelt's account of the course of events in these countries can fail to recognize the uniformity of their experience. This highly thoughtful, original, and provocative book deserves a wide readership. -From the introduction by Milton Friedman Originally published at $22.95, A Pattern for Failure is available to Freeman readers at $10.95 FEE pays all postage on prepaid orders. Order from: The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-an-Hudson, New York 10533 The Argentine Crisis The article, "The International Debt Problem: The Case of Argen tina" (December), is excellent. Mi chael Adamson envisages the Argen tine state of affairs with more accuracy than many people living in this country.

Deliberately provoked misinfor mation and a great lack of under standing of political, social, and eco nomic matters have allowed many governments to mislead the Argentine population. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Argentina had reached a prosperous situation in the world. It lasted till the early twen ties. Prospects and conditions began to decline when rulers got wrong ideas about their duties. Instead of realizing that circumstances had given them a responsibility, they felt anointed by the Almighty to execute His will on earth. The perverse creation called the welfare state was the excuse for those messianic governments to assume missions and to perform charity with plunder taken from some to benefit others. The result of this redistribu tion of wealth was crisis and poverty for all. There will be no solution to the Argentine problem unless the oversized budget of this bureaucracy is reduced. Further international loans will only make this situation worse.

Congratulations to Mr. Adamson for writing and to The Freeman for publishing the facts about such irre sponsible behavior. Pablo Klimann Buenos Aires Argentina The Bishopsand IndividualRights The second draft of the Bishops' letter on the economy is now public. The most that can be said for it is that it's not as bad as the first. Economic fallacies still abound, as pointed out by the articles by Charles Baird and William Kern in your De cember issue. But there is an addi tional political problem. The only hope we have of limiting the power of government is the rule of law, the nonarbitrary application of general principles based on indi vidual rights. The bishops' proposal that incomes be determined by moral merit would require some individual or group to be aware of all the motives that prompt anyone to do anything and to reward or punish accordingly. Acquiring such information, even were that possible, would be incom patible with the cherished right to be secure in one's home and person.

The bishops do not seem to under stand the totalitarian overtones of their own proposal. Eloquent rhetoric about the sanctity of human rights stands next to calls for the govern ment to determine which industries should be "socialized," which regu lated, and which left alone. But what is this if not a grant of unlimited ar bitrary power to government? The bishops apparently assume that since they are referring to property, human rights are unaffected. Nothing could be further from the truth. The free dom to use one's honestly acquired property is a fundamental human right. David Osterfeld St. Joseph's College Rensselaer, Indiana 119 TO THE EDITOR 120 THE FREEMAN MARCH 1986 The New Format As a long time reader of The Free man, I'm very impressed by the new size and design. Efforts like these to revitalize such a well-established pub lication will undoubtedly expand its audience. I believe that you will at tract many new, young readers to join the ranks of those already aware of The Freeman's excellent coverage of subjects vital to the cause of liberty.

Andrea Millen Rich New York City, New York I'm sorry to say that I don't like your new size for The Freeman. One big advantage to me and, I be lieve, to others of your prior size was that it would fit into my coat pocket. As a result, it was more handy to take with me to read while I was waiting in offices for appointments. Why has the Reader's Digest its large circulation? I believe its size is one reason. Harry H. Hoiles Tustin, California I was surprised to see the new for mat and cover of the first 1986 issue of The Freeman. It looks most at tractive. Did one of your generous sponsors offer to pay that added cost? I wish FEE every success in its great work. May it move forward in spread ing the word on freedom. George F. Platts Ormond Beach, Florida Editors' Note: We would like to thank our readers for their many comments on the new Freeman format. Our goal, as always, is to provide the very best in the literature of freedom in an at tractive and accessible format. We welcome your comments and support as we move forward in this task.

Coming of Age Twenty-four years ago I was given a list of several hundred recom mended books, most of which I had never heard. It was from these that I discovered The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek and became acquainted with The Freeman and thus The Law by Frederic Bastiat. These put foun dations under beliefs and principles I already held but to which I had not given deep thought. In recent years it has been encour aging to witness a growing awareness that there might be some relation be tween morality and the free market. The dawning was evident when Leon ard E. Read expressed his observa tions in Reflections on Coming of Age, written after twenty-one years of FEE. He had come to the realization that teaching free market economics was not enough, that it was also nec essary to stress the virtues that make a moral society. Would it be proper to suggest that the free market is the natural evolve ment from a practicing morality?

Phil Clark Carthage, Illinois A Team Effort I have just read "Production Is a Team Effort," by Bettina Bien Greaves in the December Freeman. She has put it so clearly that it seems to me it ought to be sent to all labor leaders in the country. It is such a shame that many of our basic industries are being priced out of the world market due in large part to excessive wage demands on the part of union leaders. B.C. Carlson Weston, Connecticut The Declineof OPEC The recent collapse in crude oil prices seems to have taken OPEC by surprise. Perhaps they would have been better prepared had they read University of Virginia Professor S. Fred Singer's 1984 anthology, Free Market Energy.Ad dressing the question of "Future Oil Demand," Singer wrote: "Saudi Arabia and the other 'core' producers made two principal mistakes: (1) in 1979-80 they permitted the price of oil to rise; and (2) they did not bring it down right away ... The Saudis apparently misjudged the degree of con servation the price rise would precipitate among consumer countries ....

"When consumers expect prices to rise, they will install insulation and other heat-saving devices or buy more fuel-efficient cars. Once the investments have been made, they are not likely to be reversed, even if oil prices go down. Industry has been particularly effective in making such changes, introducing new and efficient processes and replacing old machinery with energy-saving equipment, with particular emphasis on substituting other fuels for oil." Consumer sovereignty, more than any other factor, has reduced world oil prices to current levels. PERSPECTIVE BorrowedTime The national debt recently topped $2 trillion, and is climbing ever higher. What does this mean for the aver age American? According to a recent study by the Tax Foundation, for every man, woman, and child in the United States, the Federal debt will reach $8,600 by the end of 1986, an increase of nearly $900 in a single year.

This figure has quadrupled in little more than ten years. What is the cause of this burgeon ing debt? The study concludes: "The debt grows because the Amer ican people are receiving government benefits, but passing on the costs of these goodies to future generations. More importantly, the debt is growing because interest charges on the debt are growing and the principal is not being repaid. In other words, more and more of the debt is caused by debt. And the process seems locked in an inescapable spiral." ThirtyYearsAgo In the April 1956 Freeman, Leon ard E. Read, founder and president of The Foundation for Economic Edu cation, contributed his insightful es say, "On That Day Began Lies." He started by quoting one of his favorite authors, Leo Tolstoy: "From the day when the first mem bers of councils placed exterior au thority higher than interior, that is to say, recognized the decisions of men united in councils as more important and more sacred than reason and con science; on that day began the lies that caused the loss of millions of human beings and which continue their un happy work to the present day."

These are powerful words, evoking images of Star Chambers, pogroms, and concentration camps. We Amer icans are inclined to feel safely re moved from such proceedings. But coercion is often subtle, and when we act in a group, it is sometimes difficult PERSPECTIVE to see the full import of our actions. Read brought the issue home with a parable he was to use in hundreds of FEE seminars: Imagine this: Joe Doakes passed away and floated up to the Pearly Gates. He pounded on the Gates and St. Peter appeared. "Who are you, may I ask?" "My name is Joe Doakes, sir. plead admittance." St. Peter scanned his scroll and said, "Yes, Joe, you are on my list. Sorry I can't let you in. You stole money from others, including widows and orphans." "Mr. St. Peter, I had the reputation of being an honest man. What do you mean, I stole from widows and orphans?" "Joe, you were a member, a finan cial supporter, and once on the Board of Directors of the Updale Do-Good Association. It advocated a municipal golf course in Updale which took money from widows and orphans in order to benefit you and a hundred other golfers."

"Mr. St. Peter, that was The Up dale Do-Good Association that took that action, not your humble appli cant, Joe Doakes." St. Peter scanned his scroll again, slowly raised his head, and said some what sadly, "Joe, The Updale Do Good Association is not on my list, nor any foundation, nor any chamber of commerce, nor any trade associa tion, nor any labor union, nor any P.T.A., nor any church. All I have listed here are persons, just persons." How to stop the collectivized lies which threaten people everywhere? Read concluded: "It is simply a matter of personal determination and a resolve to act and speak in strict accordance with one's inner, personal dictate of what is right-and for each of us to see to it that no other man or set of men is given permission to represent us otherwise." D Publisher: Paul L. Poirot Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Book Review Editor: Edmund A. Opitz Contributing Editors: Robert G. Anderson Howard Baetjer Jr.

Bettina Bien Greaves Gregory E Rehmke Joan Kennedy Taylor The Freeman is published monthly by The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, New York 10533. (914) 591-7230. FEE is a nonpolitical, non profit, educational champion of private prop erty, the free market, and limited government. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are in vited in any amount. Subscriptions to The Freeman are available to any interested per son in the United States for the asking. Single copies $1.00; 10 or more, 50 cents each. For foreign delivery, a donation of $10.00 is re quired to cover direct mailing costs. Copyright © 1986 by The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, provided appropriate credit is given .and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foundation.

Bound volumes of The Freeman are available from the Foundation for calendar years 1969 to date. Earlier volumes as well as current is sues are available on microfilm from Univer sity Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial submissions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our author's guide is available on request.