In a message dated 8/12/02 8:49:19 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< I haven't read Tucker, but I've always thought that Von Mises is correct when he says that the essential mark of socialism is that "one will alone, acts, irrespective of whose will it is" (Human Action, p 695.) To me, this "essential mark" implies an absence of private property rights. Alex Robson >> I suspect that Von Mises' insight refer more to the brands of socialism popular in his era, such as communism, social democracy (Austria, France, Germany), Labour Party socialism (Britain), and of course Nazism, rather than to all socialisms throughout modern history. As Elizabeth Tamedly points out in _Socialism and International Trade_, most forms of socialism historically have not advocated an abolition of private property. Most have advocated some mixture of private property and government control. If you want to argue that the more the government control, the less the substance of private property ownership, I'd certainly agree, noting that there's something of a spectrum of government control, with communism on one extreme. Not all government control is created equal (thankfully). David Levenstam
