I strongly feel that the chief task of the economic theorist or political philosopher should be to operate on public opinion to make politically possible what today may be politically impossible, and that in consequence the objection that my proposals are at present impracticable does not in the least deter me from developing them.
Friedrich A. Hayek, 1978
On general principles, when we are looking for a solution of a social problem, we must expect to reach conclusions quite opposed to the usual opinions on the subject; otherwise it would be no problem. We must expect to have to attack, not what is commonly regarded as objectionable, but what is commonly regarded as entirely proper and normal.
John Beverley Robinson, 1897
One day societies will be established to agitate for the freedom of government, as they have already been established on behalf of the freedom of commerce.
And now the schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Pacific APA later this week.
30 December 2016
The schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA next week.
5 November 2016
This past summer saw the publication of the first issue of the Molinari Review (details here), as well as Roderick Longs Rituals of Freedom: Libertarian Themes in Early Confucianism (details here).
The 2008 anthology Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?, including articles by our own Roderick Long and Charles Johnson, is now being released in paperback; details here.
William Gillis has previously served as designer, developer and sysadmin for the Center’s various web resources, and before that as editor and publisher of physical media.
Gillis was introduced to anarchism by his activist father as a child and has been organizing politically as an anarchist since 1999. He has consistently and diligently worked to highlight the necessity of markets to leftists and radicals since 2003. His conversion started while locking down the Burnside Bridge in Portland, Oregon the day the US invaded Iraq, when he ended up spending a marathon 8 hours debating a right-libertarian counter-protester and then stayed up through the morning reading.
His writing has emphasized the boundless promethean aspirations of anarchism, highlighted the sometimes complex interpersonal and philosophical commitments entailed by liberty, and has sought to bridge the gaps between various discourses on anarchist economics. He has blogged at Human Iterations since 2003, authoring rants, articles, and monographs that have been republished in numerous collections, including Markets Not Capitalism.
As an anarchist he has organized, founded, led, and collaborated in countless struggles, projects, actions, spaces, and organizations. At the same time he is also the author of Organizations Versus Getting Shit Done.
Former Coordinating Director James Tuttle has stepped down, and will stay on as Financial Coordinator, a new position created to decentralize C4SS’s daily work. Tuttle has served as Director of the Center for over four years to wide and continued praise.
25 March 2016
The schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Pacific APA later this week.
2 January 2016
The schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA later this week.
Both Seymour and Tarn occasionally appeared in the pages of Benjamin Tuckers Liberty. Curiously, theres currently an institute named after Tarn; but its website doesnt have much information.
13 June 2015
Were pleased to announce the addition of our newest Research Fellow, Roger Bissell.
8June 2015
Pick the Molinari Institute as your preferred charity and Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of your purchase price to us through their Amazon Smile program. Details here.
1 June 2015
Weve now set up a special page devoted to information about our tax-exempt status.
16 May 2015
The Molinari Institutes tax-exempt status is now officially listed on the IRS website. (It took a while because they only update the list once a month.)
15 April 2015
The Molinari Institute is delighted to announce that it has been declared by the IRS to be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation; hence donations to the Molinari Institute and thus to the Institutes media center, the Center for a Stateless Society are tax-deductible.
We’re pleased to tell you we determined youre exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3). Donors can deduct contributions they make to you under IRC section 170. Youre also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522. ... We determined youre a public charity under the IRC section [509(a)(2)].
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of market anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Molinari Institute hosts an online open-access library of rare libertarian classics, including new translations of 19th-century French works, and publishes two periodicals: a magazine, The Industrial Radical, and an academic journal, the Molinari Review. The Molinari Society, a daughter organisation, hosts annual symposia at the Eastern and Pacific Divisions of the American Philosophical Association.
The Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS), an autonomous extension of the Molinari Institute, develops and publishes timely written commentary on current events, research pieces and other content from a market anarchist perspective. Each week the Center submits several op-ed pieces to thousands of newspapers and other media outlets globally, and has received about 2500 mainstream media pickups since 2010. The Centers student affiliate network, the Students for a Stateless Society (S4SS), offers opportunities for campus outreach and activism.
Future projects for both the Institute and the Center include book publishing (both classic and original works), conferences, courses (online and otherwise), new translation projects, and media presentations.
Both the Institute and the Center are part of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left, which opposes statism, militarism, cultural intolerance, and the prevailing corporatist capitalism falsely called a free market. The Alliances Distro, in partnership with the Institute and Center, produces and distributes zines and booklets on anarchism, market anarchist theory, counter-economics, and other movements for liberation.
You can donate to support the work of the Molinari Institute here, and the work of the Center for a Stateless Society here.
30 March 2015
The call for abstracts for the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA has been posted.
The Center for a Stateless Society, and thus by extension the Molinari Institute, have severed all ties with recently confessed child molestor Brad Spangler; details here.
24 December 2014
The Molinari Institute is pleased to announce a new interdisciplinary, open-access libertarian academic journal, the MOLINARI REVIEW, edited by Roderick T. Long.
Were looking for articles, sympathetic or critical, in and on the libertarian tradition, broadly understood as including classical liberalism, individualist anarchism, social anarchism, anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarcha-feminism, panarchism, voluntaryism, mutualism, agorism, distributism, Austrianism, Georgism, public choice, and beyond essentially, everything from Emma Goldman to Ayn Rand, C. L. R. James to F. A. Hayek, Alexis de Tocqueville to Michel Foucault.
(We see exciting affiliations among these strands of the libertarian tradition; but you dont have to agree with us about that to publish in our pages.)
Disciplines in which we expect to publish include philosophy, political science, economics, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, theology, ecology, literature, and law.
We aim to enhance the visibility of libertarian scholarship, to expand the boundaries of traditional libertarian discussion, and to provide a home for cutting-edge research in the theory and practice of human liberty.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed. We also plan to get our content indexed in such standard resources as International Political Science Abstracts and The Philosophers Index.
The journal will be published both in print (via print-on-demand) and online (with free access); all content will be made available through a Creative Commons Attribution license. We regard intellectual-property restrictions as a combination of censorship and protectionism, and hope to contribute to a freer culture.
Were especially proud of the editorial board weve assembled, which at present includes over sixty of the most prestigious names in libertarian scholarship.
The journals Associate Editor is Grant Mincy (a Fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society), whose pathbreaking work in the field of anarchist environmentalism you should check out here and here.
For more information on the journal, including information on how to submit an article, check out our website. (Information on subscribing, or ordering individual copies, will be available later.)
Were excited about this new publishing opportunity, and we hope youll help us make it a success!
17 September 2014
The schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA.
6 July 2014
Added to our online library: PDF files of Thomas Hodgskins 1825 Labour Defended and an entry on anarchism from the 1897 Encyclopedia of Social Reforms, with material on individualist anarchism by Victor Yarros, and material on communist anarchism by Pëtr Kropotkin. Thanks to Shawn Wilbur and Matt Zwolinski for assistance in locating these!
3 May 2014
The call for abstracts for the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA has been posted.
11 March 2014
The schedule is up for the Molinari Society meeting at the Pacific APA.
4 October 2013
Updated info on the Molinari Society meeting at the Eastern APA.
22 August 2013
Help fund Molinari/C4SS/ALL travel to Libertopia and elsewhere! Details here and here.
The Liberty Fund exchange on Molinari and his legacy is now completed.
12 May 2013
The Molinari Institute is having a fundraiser to pay for literature, speaker travel, and student scholarships for Libertopia 2013; details here.
2 May 2013
Liberty Fund is hosting an online exchange on Gustave de Molinaris legacy for liberty. Participants include David Hart, David Friedman, and our own Gary Chartier and Roderick Long. Rodericks opening essay has been posted.
1 May 2013
In honour of May Day, the website of the Center for a Stateless Society has just undergone a massive and beautiful redesign.
Law professor joins anarchist think tank
April 12, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Anarchist think tank adds professor of law and business ethics to its board of directors.
AUBURN, ALABAMA April 12, 2013 Molinari Institute
Its a distinct honor to be associated with the Molinari Institute, said Chartier. I welcome this exciting opportunity to join a team of capable philosophers committed to highlighting the liberatory potential of bottom-up social organization and market freedom!
Molinari Institute president Roderick T. Long added, Gary Chartier is one of the best libertarian thinkers working today, and one of the foremost defenders of the liberatory potential of radically freed markets as a humane alternative to both hierarchical capitalism and the monopoly state. Were absolutely delighted to have him on board.
Chartier joins philosophers Roderick T. Long (Auburn University), Charles W. Johnson (Alliance of the Libertarian Left), and Jennifer McKitrick (University of Nebraska Lincoln) on the Molinari Institute board.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism.
Added to our online library: Charles de Brouckères review of De Puydts Panarchy. For commentary, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
18 March 2013
The second issue (Winter 2013) of The Industrial Radical goes to the printer today, featuring articles by B-psycho, Kevin Carson, Gary Chartier, William Gillis, Anthony Gregory, Thomas L. Knapp, Roderick T. Long, Anna Morgenstern, and Darian Worden, on topics ranging from police brutality, gun control, immigration policy, and left-libertarianism to Hugo Chávezs mixed legacy, Noam Chomskys inconsistencies, Rand Pauls anti-drone filibuster, the intersection between anarcho-syndicalism and agorism, and of course Star Wars. Subscribe here.
A pdf file of the first issue (Autumn 2012) is now available online.
There was a strong Molinari/C4SS turnout at Libertopia 2012, with presentations by Gary Chartier, Charles Johnson, Stephan Kinsella, Roderick Long, Stephanie Murphy, and Sheldon Richman; plus Less Antman and Ross Kenyon were around though not presenting. See the schedule. We also had a Molinari/C4SS booth with literature and buttons; and several of us were interviewed. More info here.
A preliminary draft of Liberty Funds new translation of Molinaris 1849 Soirées on the Rue Saint-Lazare is now online.
19 May 2012
Added to our online library: Charles Gides 1899 review of Molinaris Society of the Future. For commentary, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
18 May 2012
Added to our online library: Thomas Hodgskins 1849 review of Herbert Spencers Social Statics. For commentary, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
5 May 2012
New from David Hart and Robert Leroux: an anthology of French Liberalism in the 19th Century, including works by C. Comte, Dunoyer, Thierry, Say, Destutt de Tracy, Constant, Staël, Bastiat, Wolowski, Tocqueville, and Molinari. Details here.
The Molinari Society has posted a call for papers for December 2012.
10 April 2012
Check out these pics from the Molinari Society panel in Seattle (7 April 2012). Left to right at the table: Roderick Long, David Hart, Daniel Silvermint. Click for enhanced magnitude.
Photo credit: Norbert Chen.
27 March 2012
Check out the schedules for our Molinari/C4SS/ALL panels at APEE (Las Vegas, 1-3 April) and the Pacific APA (Seattle, 4-7 April).
The Molinari Society has posted information about its December 2011 symposium.
29 April 2011
Were happy to announce (somewhat belatedly) the publication of our own Gary Chartiers Conscience of an Anarchist. Some endorsements:
Im absolutely giddy about The Conscience of an Anarchist; this book could electrify a generation! Brad Spangler (Center for a Stateless Society)
Given the popular myth that anarchists are masked kids in Circle-A T-shirts smashing windows, this book couldnt have come at a better time. Clear and easy to understand, its the best basic explication of anarchist ideas since Alexander Berkmans The ABC of Anarchism. Kevin A. Carson (author, The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand)
The best of the political conscience books. Stephan Kinsella (Center for the Study of Innovative Freedom)
Anarchism, it has been said, is the radical notion that other people are not your property. Gary Chartier eloquently demonstrates that, far from being a recipe for disorder as the centers of power self-servingly wish us to believe anarchism is rather the surest foundation for social cooperation, freedom, prosperity, and peace. Sheldon Richman (author, Tethered Citizens)
6 March 2011
The Molinari Society symposia originally scheduled for the Eastern APA (27-30 December 2010, in Boston) but cancelled owing to inclement blitzcraft and blizzardry have been rescheduled, with one moving to the Austrian Scholars Conference (10-12 March 2011, in Auburn) and the other to the Pacific APA (20-23 April 2011, in San Diego). Details here.
1 December 2010
Our own Gil Guillory has been awarded the Alford Prize for his co-authored article The Role of Subscription-Based Patrol and Restitution in the Future of Liberty; details here.
Good news for market anarchists: David Friedmans The Machinery of Freedom, one of the most influential free-market anarchist works of the last 100 years, is now available online (in PDF format); and our own Kevin Carsons latest book, The Homebrew Industrial Revolution, is now in print.
C4SS announces additional staff member and a promotion.
AUBURN, ALABAMA January 1, 2010 Center for a Stateless Society The Center for a Stateless Society announced personnel changes today, with the addition of Darian Worden as the third C4SS News Analyst and promotion of Thomas L. Knapp to Senior News Analyst.
Worden becomes the Centers sixth paid part-time staff member. C4SS Director Brad Spangler said Darian is a rising young talent among anarchist writers and activists. When some angel donors came to us with a proposal to make earmarked contributions to pay for his first quarter of work with the Center, we pounced on it immediately.
Darian Worden is an individualist anarchist writer with experience in libertarian activism. His fiction includes Bring a Gun To School Day and the forthcoming Trade War. His essays and other works can be viewed at his personal website. He also hosts an internet radio show, Thinking Liberty, on PatriotRadio.com.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism. The Center for a Stateless Society is the Molinari Institutes media center.
The papers, and one of the commentaries, for the upcoming Molinari Society session in New York this coming week are now online.
19 August 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Market anarchist media center names advisory panel.
AUBURN, ALABAMA August 19, 2009 Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS) Center for a Stateless Society Director Brad Spangler today announced formation of an advisory panel for the market anarchist media center.
As we gradually build our base of supporters and step up the operations their dedicated support enables, we want to ensure that first rate ideological and operational oversight is in place from prominent fellow advocates of market anarchism who are not otherwise affiliated with us organizationally, remarked Spangler.
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The Center for a Stateless Society is the Molinari Institutes media center. The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism.
Several Molinari/C4SS-affiliated people are tentatively scheduled to speak at a forum on free-market anti-capitalism at the 2010 APEE meetings in las Vegas; details here.
7 August 2009
The Molinari Society has posted information about its December 2009 symposium.
Check out our own Charles Johnson talking about agorism:
27 April 2009
Gil Guillory named Research Associate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Libertarian writer and entrepreneur Gil Guillory has been named Research Associate.
AUBURN, ALABAMA April 27, 2009 Libertarian writer and entrepreneur Gil Guillory has been named Research Associate of the Molinari Institute. In his role, Guillory will continue his research programme on a business model for private security, Subscription Patrol and Restitution.
Guillory has authored, co-authored, and presented papers on Subscription Patrol and Restitution since 2006. All of the work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution, and is available on a web archive. Guillory has written for strike-the-root.com, anti-state.com, lewrockwell.com, and mises.org. His most recent publication was The Role of Subscription Patrol and Restitution in the Future of Liberty, co-authored with Patrick Tinsley, and published in Libertarian Papers.
Molinari Institute President Roderick Long said of the move Gil has demonstrated a commanding knowledge of private security, taking a hard-nosed business approach to market anarchism. Were very pleased to announce Gil is joining the Institute.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism.
Veteran libertarian activist and internet news publisher becomes second C4SS paid staff member.
AUBURN, ALABAMA March 20, 2009 Center for a Stateless Society Prominent libertarian activist and news publisher Thomas Knapp has joined the Center for a Stateless Society as the Centers second paid part-time staff member. In his role as News Analyst beginning April 1st, 2009, Knapp will be producing one or more op-ed pieces per week as well as mentoring volunteer contributing writers.
Knapp has long been associated with the libertarian wing of the Libertarian Party and is the founder of its breakaway ultra-faction, the Boston Tea Party. As well as being a prolific blogger on the side, Knapp brings over a decades experience with online news writing, editing, publishing and team leadership; first for the former Free-Market.Net and later for his own publication, Rational Review. He is author of the e-book Writing the Libertarian Op-Ed, among other works.
C4SS Director Brad Spangler said of the move Knapp was the logical choice for the position. His continuing editorship of Rational Review News Digest immerses him in the news cycle so thoroughly that it can only be likened to a fish in water. This is the man who produces the daily crib notes for an entire eco-system of libertarian online content producers. His wealth of experience means he is uniquely suited to explain to the general public how libertarian principles, consistently applied, reach beyond the inconsistent market liberalism of figures like U.S. Congressman Ron Paul into full-blown market anarchism. Were very pleased to announce Tom is joining the Center.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism. The Center for a Stateless Society is the Molinari Institutes media center.
A call for papers for the 2009 symposium is also online. Topic: intellectual property.
24 January 2009
Added to our online library: Wilson Folletts 1916 review of Isabel Patersons novel The Shadow Riders. For commentary, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
AUBURN, ALABAMA November 15, 2008 Center for a Stateless Society Kevin Carson, author of Studies in Mutualist Political Economy and a forthcoming major work on anarchist organizational theory has joined the Center for a Stateless Society as the Centers first paid staff member. In his role as Research Associate beginning January 1st of 2009, Carson will be producing quarterly short research studies for the Center to publish as well as writing news commentary.
C4SS director Brad Spangler said of the move, Were developing a new fundraising initiative and early on in that process an anonymous donor stepped up to fund the first quarter of Kevins research work and the first month of his news analysis for us. Were very pleased to announce this, as Carson has been a key figure on the radical end of the libertarian movement. Supporting his work means hell be able to do more and better of what he already does amazingly well.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism. The Center for a Stateless Society is the Molinari Institutes media center.
Molinari gets a mention in two recent issues of The Economist:
Visiting the city of Colón in 1886, Gustave de Molinari, a liberal Dutch economist, noted that in comparison the worst parts of Genoa and Istanbul deserved a prize for good maintenance.
Panama: The Poor Relation (The Economist, 15 May 2008)
SIR You describe Gustave de Molinari as a liberal Dutch economist (The poor relation, May 17th). Even though Molinari was born in what was at the time the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, he became a Belgian at the age of 11 at the time of Belgiums independence. His most important essays were written in French and he spent most of his life in France and Belgium. So he hardly qualifies as a Dutchman.
QUENTIN MICHON
Paris
Questionable Cit[i]zenship (The Economist, 29 May 2008)
The Molinari Society has posted information about its December 2007 symposium.
Molinarians Charles Johnson and Roderick Long will also be presenting papers at the Alabama Philosophical Societys September 2007 meeting; see abstracts here and
here.
Added to our online library: Florence Finch Kellys 1916 review of Isabel Patersons novel The Shadow Riders. For commentary, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
10 October 2006
Anarchists launch major media offensive
October 10, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A tiny think tank has set out on a project to provide ongoing news commentary in order to promote their set of views, known as market anarchism.
AUBURN, ALABAMA October 10, 2006 Center for a Stateless Society The Molinari Institute, a market anarchist think tank, today launched a new media effort aiming to put their agenda to abolish government front and center in US political discourse. Dubbing their project the Center for a Stateless Society (www.c4ss.org), institute officials laid out plans to publish and distribute news commentary written by anarchists with radically free-market oriented views on economics taking market anarchism out of the realm of academia and obscure internet blogs in order to put it in the public eye.
Molinari Institute President Roderick Long explained For too long libertarians, and I mean anarchist libertarians, have treated market anarchism almost as an esoteric doctrine. Its time to put market anarchism front and center in our educational efforts, time to start making it a familiar and recognizable position. The Center for a Stateless Society aims to bring a market anarchist perspective to the popular press, rather than leaving it confined to scholarly studies and movement periodicals.
Naming longtime radical libertarian activist and freelance web developer Brad Spangler as the first Director of the Center, Long unveiled the Centers new web site at www.c4ss.org for Molinari Institute supporters and the public.
Said Spangler Im honored to accept the post. In anticipation of this moment, weve developed a database of thousands of US media outlets for email distribution of content which these publishers will be able to use free of charge. Additionally, the c4ss.org web site makes use of stable, reliable and free as in freedom open source web technologies. Weve developed the site in such a way as to make maximum possible use of social bookmarking services, web syndication feeds and search engine optimization techniques. With this site, we aim to awaken more Americans than ever before to the brutal reality that all governments everywhere are essentially nothing more than murderous bandit gangs and show them the shining light of hope for a world without the State.
###
ORGANIZATIONAL SUMMARY
The mission of the Molinari Institute is to promote understanding of the philosophy of Market Anarchism as a sane, consensual alternative to the hypertrophic violence of the State. The Institute takes its name from Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), originator of the theory of Market Anarchism. The Center for a Stateless Society is the Molinari Institutes new media center.
Added to our online library: three more chapters of Francis Tandys 1896 Voluntary Socialism. Chapter 6 attempts to reconcile the labour theory of value with the principle of marginal utility. (Followers of the Mutualist/Austrian debate, take note.) Chapters 7 and 8 defend a mutualist approach to money, credit, and banking along the lines of Proudhon, Greene, and Tucker.
For more information on these two founding classics of the Austrian School, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
20 January 2006
Added to our online library: Robert Collyers poem Saxon Grit not so much for its intrinsic merit, which is not enormous, but because its hard to find, and is referred to in another text well be posting soon.
10 January 2006
The Molinari Institute is pleased to announce that later this year we will begin publishing a magazine of radical libertarian political and social analysis titled The Industrial Radical. (Industrial in Herbert Spencers sense, Radical in Chris Sciabarras sense.) We hereby invite submissions. (See our submissions guidelines and copyright policy. Also note that The Industrial Radical is a popular magazine, not an academic journal; formal, scholarly articles might be more appropriately submitted to, oh, um, say, the Journal of Libertarian Studies.)
Submissions may be of any length, from a brief paragraph to a lengthy essay; we also welcome a diversity of perspectives, whether you dance to the music of F. A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Benjamin Tucker, Henry George, or Emma Goldman. Previously published pieces are fine so long as they meet our copyright requirements. We plan to publish themed issues (see theme topics and submission deadlines here), but please dont refrain from sending us an article just because it doesnt fit an upcoming theme; the themes are designed to inspire submissions, not discourage them.
Please pass the word, by blogpost or email, to anyone you think might be interested in contributing. (Advance subscriptions are available too!)
Added to our online library: an anonymous 1887 critique of Molinaris labour-exchange project, from the anarcho-communist journal Freedom founded by Charlotte M. Wilson and Peter Kropotkin.
In other news, the Molinari Societys symposium on thick and thin libertarianism last week was a success; see Charles Johnsons report here.
We are also pleased to see that the anthology Benjamin R. Tucker and the Champions of Liberty has been made available online, with articles by Paul Avrich, Kenneth Gregg, Wendy McElroy, S. E. Parker, Sharon Presley, Charles Shively, Carl Watner, and several others.
Happy New Year to all!
3 December 2005
Added to our online library: Johan Ridenfeldt has kindly sent us some early Swedish encyclopedia entries on Molinari, along with his translations. Check them out here. (We love the description of Molinari as the law of supply and demand made into man.)
2 November 2005
Today the Molinari Institute remembers Rosa Parks; see Charles Johnsons notice here.
In Gustav Landauers words, The State is a condition, a certain relationship between human beings, a mode of human behavior; we destroy it by contracting other relationships, by behaving differently. Rosa Parks was a priceless pioneer of behaving differently.
1 October 2005
Hear the Molinari Institute President being interviewed by a Molinari Institute Research Fellow!
11 September 2005
Today marks the third anniversary of the Molinari Institute; see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
Things have been so hectic lately that we neglected to announce this earlier but our own Roderick Long is the new editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies, founded by Murray Rothbard in 1977. See the announcement here.
Of course this is just another step on our path to World Domination.
10 October 2004
Added to our online library: the introduction and first seven chapters of Love, Marriage, and Divorce, an 1853 debate among Henry James, Sr. (father of the novelist), Horace Greeley (of o west, young man fame), and Stephen Pearl Andrews (anarchist, abolitionist, feminist, and free-love advocate). Andrews arguments are strikingly relevant to the dispute over same-sex marriage today. More chapters to follow!
Also added: commentary by economist Frédéric Passy (the first libertarian Nobel laureate) and labour activist Hodgson Pratt on Molinaris 1899 Society of the Future.
2 October 2004
Added to our online library: Roy Childs classic 1971 essay Big Business and the Rise of American Statism. Drawing on Austro-Randian methodology and New Left historiography, Childs develops a libertarian interpretation of the Progressive Era, showing that government regulations supposedly designed to curb the power of the big corporations were actually introduced at the instigation and for the benefit of those corporations. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time this excellent specimen of radical libertarian social analysis has been made available online; thanks to Reason magazine for permission to post it!
From these reviews we learn that Molinari was a hard-headed realist, and that he was a utopian idealist; that he was pessimistic about the past but optimistic about the future, and that he was optimistic about the past but pessimistic about the future; that he favoured regulation of marriage in the interest of eugenics, and that he wanted government out of peoples private lives; that he supported trade unions, and that he opposed them; that he was an orthodox conservative, and that he was an anarchistic radical; that he embraced a purely economic approach with no admixture of moral concern, and that he regarded economic analysis as barren unless supplemented by ethical considerations. Go figure. (As we slowly but surely get Molinaris works translated and posted, youll be able to judge for yourself.)
25 September 2004
Added to our online library: the preface and first chapter, newly translated by Roderick Long, of Molinaris 1898 book The Greatness and Decline of War. In these earliest sections Molinari traces the institution of war to its origin in primitive cannibalism. More to follow!
24 September 2004
Added to our online library: Grant Allens 1894 Reminiscences of Herbert Spencer (Allens claim that posterity will rank Spencer high above Aristotle, Newton, and Kant raises even our eyebrows but the billiards story is classic!) and Ljëv Tolstojs 1900 antiwar broadside Thou Shalt Not Kill (Tolstojs portrait of warmongering heads of state so perverted and stupefied by the servility and flattery of those who surround them that without ceasing to do evil, they feel quite assured that they are benefactors to the human race is all too timely).
11 September 2004
Today marks the second anniversary of the Molinari Institute; see Roderick Longs blog entry for today. Longs anarchy lecture is now available in HTML and PDF. Percy Bysshe Shelleys 1818 poem Ozymandias and Ralph Waldo Emersons 1844 essay Politics have been added to our online library.
12 August 2004
The Molinari Institute is pleased to announce the addition of a new Research Fellow, Daniel DAmico. Check out his bio page here.
Roderick Longs August 6th Mises Institute lecture on anarchism is now online.
11 August 2004
The Molinari Societys first symposium has been scheduled for December 28th, at the Eastern APA in Boston. The topic is Libertarianism and Feminism. Details here.
4 August 2004
Good news! The Library of Economics and Liberty has just placed online the entire contents of Joseph Lalors massive 1881 Cyclopædia of Political Science, containing (mainly abridged) entries by many 19th-century libertarian writers, particularly the French économistes of the Say school including Bastiat, Dunoyer, and Molinari. (For more information on the Cyclopædia see Roderick Longs February 1st blog entry.) Its a delight to have this libertarian classic available online at last.
Roderick continues his campaign against the defamers of Herbert Spencer; see his critiques of recent misrepresentations by Spencer-bashers Glen Gibbons and Susan Jacoby.
This is a great service that Elibron provides though its a pity their books dont have ISBN numbers.
10 July 2004
Reprints of Charles Dunoyers books La Révolution du 24 février and Le Second Empire et une nouvelle restauration his analyses of Frances turbulent constitutional history from 1848 to 1862 are available (in French) from Elibron. Dunoyer, a contemporary witness of the events he describes, delineates the effects of collectivist statism with a combination of libertarian logic and righteous wrath.
The eVentura edition of Molinaris Soirées in French ... with index, bibliography, and an introduction by Molinaris contemporary Yves Guyot, as mentioned in our 16 September 2003 entry is now available for online purchase. The Soirées, written in 1849, was the first book to defend Market Anarchism.
Philosophy professor and Molinari Institute director Jennifer McKitrick has just moved from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Congratulations to Jennifer on her new job!
Added to our online library: two pieces by Voltairine de Cleyre her 1902 Letter to Senator Hawley (inviting him to shoot her) and her 1912 (?) Direct Action (an essay on strategy which has been read both as a call for violent revolution and as a call for pacifistic non-resistance) and the Preface and Introduction (with more to follow) to Francis D. Tandys 1896 anarchist manifesto Voluntary Socialism: A Sketch, a synthesis of Proudhon, Mill, Spencer, Stirner, Spooner, Tucker, and even (strangely enough for a work that condemns lending at interest) Böhm-Bawerk.
Youll notice some new photos of de Cleyre. (She described herself as ugly. Go figure.) Weve also managed to track down photos of Liberty authors Victor Yarros and Sarah E. Holmes.
26 March 2004
The Molinari Institute is, thankfully, not the only organisation working to provide online versions of libertarian classics. Several such works have recently been added to Liberty Funds Online Library of Liberty (not to be confused with their other equally marvelous online project, the Library of Economics and Liberty).
Because Lysander Spooners best-known work, No Treason, argues against the Norths right to prevent the South from seceding in the American Civil War, Spooner is sometimes mistaken for a Confederate apologist. That nothing could be farther from the truth is clear from the latest addition to our online library: Spooners 1858 Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, a spirited call for slaves and abolitionists to wage a guerilla war against Southern slaveholders.
16 February 2004
The latest installment of Roderick Longs debate over Market Anarchism with Robert Bidinotto is available here.
14 February 2004
Added to the online library: Mark Twains War Prayer (1904-5), written in protest against the Spanish-American War.
9 February 2004
Added to the online library: Oscar Wildes The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891). Wilde wasnt exactly a Market Anarchist; indeed he seems to have had no particularly clear conception of, or indeed interest in, how economies work. But the considerations his essay raises are ones that Market Anarchists need to take seriously or so Roderick Long argues in todays blog entry.
1 February 2004
Added to the online library: Lysander Spooners No Treason (1867-70), the classic anarchist deconstruction of social contract theory and state authority; Voltairine de Cleyres Sex Slavery (1890), an impassioned defense of free-love advocate Moses Harman; Ralph Waldo Emersons Self-Reliance (1841), a manifesto of individualism (more in the cultural than in the political sense); and Louis Wolowski and Émile Levasseurs Property (1864?), a hard-to-find defense of property rights cited favourably by Rothbard. (For more information about the Wolowski-Levasseur piece, see Roderick T. Longs blog entry for today.)
Three short pieces have just been added to the online library: The Dinner-Party by American individualist anarchist Stephen Pearl Andrews (from his 1852 Science of Society), and two biographical sketches of French individualist anarchist Anselme Bellegarrigue, by Max Nettlau and George Woodcock.
13 January 2004
For some time weve been trying to discover the significance of the reference to Rue St.-Lazare (a street in Paris) in the title of Gustave de Molinaris 1849 Les Soirées de la Rue Saint-Lazare: Entretiens sur les lois économiques et défense de la proprieacute;té (the first book to defend Market Anarchism). Recently weve learned, with the gracious assistance of Cécile Philippe and Hervé de Quengo, that both the title and the three-person dialogue format of Molinaris work were undoubtedly intended as a reference to a posthumously published (1821) work by the authoritarian conservative thinker Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821). The work in question is usually called the St. Petersburg Dialogues in English, but its French title is Les Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, ou Entretiens sur le gouvernement temporel de la Providence. (For online versions see here and here.) De Maistre is sometimes called the French Burke, but in his enthusiasm for warfare and bloodshed he seems even more antiliberal, and certainly creepier, than Burke. Molinaris own Soirées, in which his Conservative antagonist is made to cite de Maistre several times, can be seen as in part a liberal response to de Maistres Soirées. While there may be an as-yet-unidentified reference to some salon or club that really met on the Rue St.-Lazare, the name was most likely chosen mainly to echo de Maistres Saint-Pétersbourg.
Speaking of de Maistre, we recently came across a page of quotations by him. At the top of the page the website editors have written: Great quotes to inspire, empower and motivate you to live the life of your dreams and become the person youve always wanted to be! And then the first de Maistre quote is: In the works of man, everything is as poor as its author; vision is confined, means are limited, scope is restricted, movements are labored, and results are humdrum. Um ... inspiring? empowering? If that were a fortune cookie wed send it back.
5 January 2004
The Molinari Society, a daughter organisation of the Molinari Institute, has just been approved for affiliation with the American Philosophical Association. This means the Molinari Society will be able to sponsor symposia at the APAs Eastern Division meetings. The Molinari Society seeks to promote critical discussion and innovative research in radical libertarian theory, in the tradition of Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912). While the Molinari Institute and the Molinari Society are distinct organisations, it is probable that they will work closely together.
Today we received in the mail Hans-Hermann Hoppes new anthology The Myth of National Defense. We were pleased to see that it is dedicated to the memory of Gustave de Molinari, the first theorist to show how defense services could be provided on the free market.
Unfortunately, the dedication page lists Molinaris dates wrongly, as 1819-1911. In the introduction (p. 9) his dates are listed differently, but still wrongly, as 1818-1912. The correct dates are 1819-1912, as can be confirmed by a look at his tombstone.
10 December 2003
Our sister organization, the Institut Molinari in Brussels, has undergone a slight name change, to the Institut économique Molinari.
Weve just revised the format of our online library page to distinguish more clearly between works hosted on our website and works hosted elsewhere.
On his blog page Roderick Long recently offered a reply to Robert Bidinottos critique of Market Anarchism. A further exchange between Bidinotto and Long is forthcoming.
We recently came across a previously unknown sketch of Gustave de Molinari, which appeared in Lopinion publique, Vol. 11, no. 48 (25 novembre 1880), p. 571. View it here.
In other news, Wirkman Virkkala has uncovered an 1864 review by Lord Acton of Molinaris 1855 Course of Political Economy (a work which we plan eventually to post in both French and English in our online library). The review, titled Spiritual Economy?, is available here. (The justice or otherwise of Actons critique of Molinari will be more easily ascertained once we have posted the text of Molinaris 1892 book titled Religion.)
20 October 2003
Theres good news and bad news in the world of the Internet.
The bad news is that David Harts website, with its wealth of material on the history of classical liberalism including some excellent material on Gustave de Molinari and an indispensable book-length manuscript on Molinaris radical colleagues Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer has lapsed into nonbeing. (The website was at the university where he formerly taught.) Dr. Hart plans eventually to resurrect the website elsewhere; but in the meantime an invaluable resource has been lost to the Market Anarchist community.
The good news is that Mary Ruwart has put the first edition of her book Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle online. Dr. Ruwarts book offers a clear, New-Age-friendly introduction to the principles of voluntary society. A link has been added to our Market Anarchist resources page.
(The more recent edition, titled Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression, updated to address the issue of terrorism, is available for purchase here.)
13 October 2003
The controversy over Edwin Blacks interpretation of Herbert Spencer continues. See Roderick Longs reply to Blacks bizarre accusations.
8 October 2003
Yesterdays issue of Le Monde carried a pair of articles about the Austro-libertarian movement, focusing on Mises, Rothbard, and Auburns other libertarian institute. It is startling, and gratifying, to see a major French newspaper writing casually and sympathetically about the Market Anarchist thesis that the enemy is that entire elite that receives more from the State than it pays to it, and that statism, governmental intervention, will perish from its inevitable contradictions, [paving] the way to its eventual abolition.
Roderick Long has made an English translation of the two articles; the translation has been added to our online library and is available here.
E. L. Godkins The Eclipse of Liberalism, a prophetic look at the decline of classical liberalism written in 1900, has just been added to the online library.
We learn that four of Molinaris works in French Les Soirées de la Rue Saint-Lazare (1849), Lettres sur la Russie (1861), Les clubs rouges pendant le siège de Paris (1871), and Grandeur et décadence de la guerre (1898) have been republished by Elibron. Elibron also republishes a number of works by Herbert Spencer.
In addition, another version of Molinaris Soirées in French, this one with index, bibliography, and an introduction by Molinaris contemporary Yves Guyot, is available from eVentura, though their online ordering service is not yet up.
The line les livres, les brochures et la conservation suffiraient should read les livres, les brochures et la conversation suffiraient. The line lphénomène de la consommation graduelle et de lexcitation finale should read phénomène de la consommation graduelle et de lextinction finale.
These errors have been corrected in our own online French version. Well notify you of other errors if we find them.
11 September 2003
Today is the first anniversary of the Molinari Institute, and the first day of this News & Announcements page.
It is also, of course, the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. For a discussion of the moral of 9/11 for the cause of Market Anarchism, see Roderick Longs blog entry for today.
A number of additions have been made to our online library:
Gustave de Molinaris Soirées de la Rue Saint-Lazare (1849), the first book to defend Market Anarchism, has never been translated into English, apart from David Harts translation of the eleventh chapter. Roderick Long has undertaken to translate the entire work; the preface and first chapter have been completed and are now online.
We recently discovered, to our surprise, that in 1877 the American novelist Henry James wrote a review of one of Molinaris books. This review too is now online.
The Institute now has its own Yahoo discussion list; you can join here.
The Institute also now has a sister organization, the Institut Molinari in Molinaris native Belgium.
Over the summer we were contacted by Maurice Gastaldi, the great-grandson of Molinari. He kindly sent us the Molinari family tree and coat of arms. According to the family tree, M. Gastaldi is the son of Marguerite de Molinari (d. 1966), daughter of engineer Edmond Léon de Molinari (1847-1914), son of the Institutes namesake Gustave Henri de Molinari (1819-1912), who in turn was the son of Philippe de Molinari (1792-1870), the son of François Joseph de Molinari (who, as his Christian name suggests, was an officer in the service of Austria).
The Molinari coat of arms depicts a castle, a crescent moon, a wheel, and a bird, with the motto IN CRUCE LUX. The image is in black and white; I hope to obtain a colour image in the future and to put it online. The accompanying documentation describes the creation of the Molinari family title by Emperor Charles V in 1527.