Forword

This is the question I faced in these lectures, delivered in Buenos Aires during April 1958 under the sponsorship of Centro de Difusion de la Economia Libre. Centro was organized in 1956, patterned in many respects after the Foundation for Eco nomic Education. The mutual objective of the two organiza tions is the iniproved understanding and practice of freedom. [9 I accepted the invitation from Centro with agreement that all lectures would be before the same small audience, num bering from 35 to 70 persons, with ample opportunity for dis cussion. The invitees were to be in sympathy with the philosophy of liberty; there would be no effort to reform anyone. To everyone's amazement, the 160 seats in the lecture room were filled the first evening and 25 people were standing. The same was true for the entire series-testifying to an intense interest in liberty. My introduction to the seminar group was made by Raul Lamuraglia, President of Centro, business leader and distin guished patriot of Argentina. Juan Domingo Peron, in the book he wrote after his fall from power, lists Senor Lamuraglia first among those responsible for his banishment.

Senor Lamuraglia summarized some of the material, cul tural, and spiritual differences and similarities between Anglo Saxon Americans and Latin Americans. These excerpts from his introduction may help the reader appreciate the setting in which the lectures were delivered: Liberty is an outward creation of man which he has adopted for himself and whose use and enjoyment he reserves for mankind as a whole, for which he struggles and to which he dedicates con sciously or unconsciously his highest efforts. But at the same time we must admit, without any exceptions, that ~'liberty" cannot be broken down into smaller or greater parts according to our own. ideas or interests, nor can the word "libertarian" be applied to any of these parts while the remainder are denied or rejected. Liberty must be taken as a whole, composed of different values that are inseparable because they all affect or refer to the individual and are reHected in the societies composed of individuals. We shall not be libertarians while upholding merely freedom of trade and at the same time being social or political planners. Neither shall we be libertarians if we attend to the needs of democracy and plan everything else.

The Centro de Difusion de la Economia Libre covers a wider field than its name implies. If it has chosen to defend freedom in 10 ] the economic field, this does not mean that it denies the principle that freedom must be enjoyed by man as a whole, or at least that he should aspire to such enjoyment, to which all his efforts are directed. We, the members of this spirited group, know that the task is long and difficult, but we do not resort to mere oppo sition to the wrongheaded planning mentality to be seen every where or nearly everywhere, but rather to broadcasting the ideas of liberty that seem today to be rather a luxury for man than the inevitable necessity of the extraordinary development of his civilization. The Spanish edition of this book is available through Centro de Difusion de la Economia Libre, Avenida Leandro Alem 36, Buenos Aires. LEONARD E. READ May 1958 [ 11 ~ovetnmentAn ';J.tleal Con£epf ~ Successful communication is based on mutual understand ing of the terms of discourse. At the outset, therefore, it would appear necessary that we establish-if possible-a common ground. We need a frame of reference, a datum line, to use as a guide in these lectures. For, unless we understand our point of departure as well as our destination, we can hardly hope to steer a consistent course. We must, if we are to pro gress in understanding, start from sound premises and then make proper deductions as we attempt to apply them step by step.