The Cultural Background of Ludwig von Mises

Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

riting for Americans born in 1881 in Lwów, the capital background, and by the time he about the cultural of what was known as Galicia. A was twelve years old, he knew the Wbackground of Ludwig kingdom and crownland of Austria, Germanic, the Latin, the Cyrillic, von Mises, an eminent Galicia was called “Lesser Poland.” the Greek, and the Hebraic script. former compatriot of mine, poses At the time, the majority of the city As to languages, he spoke German, some difficulties: how to present was Polish; more than a quarter was Polish, and 4rench, and understood you with a world radically different Jewish; a small minority was Ukrainian. The year he was born from yours, a world far away, Ukrainian; and a tiny percentage which in many ways no longer was Austro-German officials. How- exists. 4or example, the birthplace ever, the upper classes were dis- of this eminent economist was for tinctly Polish. nearly fifty years within the con- The eastern part of Galicia had fines of the Soviet Union. Who belonged to Poland since the four- was this great man and scholar? In teenth century, but became what ambiance did he live before Austrian at the first Polish parti- he came to the United States, tion in 1772, and it was returned where he continued to publish his to Poland in 1918. It is important crucially important works and to to realize all this in order to inspire new generations of econo- understand Mises’s cultural as well mists? We have to go back to the as psychological upbringing, and Karl, Ludwig, and Richard von Mises. old Austro-Hungarian Empire, the roots of his life-philosophy. then the second-largest political His Jewish roots, his Polish cul- his grandfather—head of the Israeli unit in Europe. Only Russia was ture, his Austrian political frame Cult Community—was ennobled bigger, although Germany’s popu- and allegiance are all intertwined. with the title Edler, which means lation was slightly larger. Mises was Variety was the keynote of his The Noble, a distinction not so rare for Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, a very well-to- do railroad enterpriser, made sure Ludwig got the very best classical education. He did the same for his other son, Richard, who became a professor of mathematics at the University of Berlin and then later at Harvard. The Poles enjoyed complete freedom in “Lesser Poland,” unlike in Russia or Prussia, and had two universities of their own. The Mises family with Ludwig at the left. In the Austrian Parliament in STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM

Vienna, they played a very impor- was not always a solidly Catholic country, at the invitation of King tant role as true pillars of the country. In the sixteenth century it Casimir the Great, and they came multinational Habsburg Empire, was one-third Presbyterian and mostly from Germany. In and many Poles saw in that dynasty one-third Unitarian (Socinian), Germany they had the privilege to the future rulers of a liberated and but the Catholic Church regained settle in ghettoes where they had resuscitated Poland. its vast majority thanks largely to complete self-government. (See the Jesuits and their cultural We must keep in mind that Guido Kisch’s magistral work, The endeavors: their schools accepted long before the catastrophe of the Jews in Medieval Germany, Chicago, pupils from all denominations, and partitions, the Poles, as an aristo- 1942.) Since by their own ritual supported good architecture, cratic nation, strongly upheld per- they were not permitted to take painting, and, above all, theater. more than 2,000 steps on the sonal freedom. Movements for lib- (The Jesuits were the initiators of erty, as a matter of fact, have typi- Sabbath, they could not dwell too our stage technology.) There was far from the synagogue. Of course, cally been carried on by the nobil- no inquisition, neither stake nor ity, which always opposed central- efforts were made to convert rope. Poland was, unlike England, them, and if they accepted bap- izing pressure and control. We the most tolerant European coun- saw this in England with the tism, they automatically—as rela- try. Polish liberty was such that tives of our Lord—became mem- Magna Carta, in Hungary with the when, in 1795, at the last partition, Golden Bull, in Aragon by the bers of the nobility. Antisemitism? stubborn Grandes, and in 4rance by As anywhere else, it came from the !ronde. In this respect, Poland very simple people to whom the went further; it became an elective descendants of Abraham seemed monarchy in 1572 and called itself odd in their rituals, their clothing, a republic. One of the slogans of their language, and their behavior, this very independent nobility was: although orthodox Jews, above all, “Menace the foreign kings and were people of great piety and resist your own!” Political power honesty. rested with the nobility, which Poles and freedom! Not only in (before the partitions) had no their own country did they practice titles, and its claimants comprised it; Polish freedom fighters were a fifth of the population. (4or a active in many parts of the world.

comparison, take Alpine Austria Two noblemen survive in the with a third of one percent or memory of ‘ the United States— Prussia with much less!) It was a Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Kazimierz nobility without legal distinctions Pulaski, the only U.S. general who and a proverb said: “The noble- Mises in his military uniform, died in the War of Independence

man in his farmhouse is equal to August 1901 in Vienna. on American soil. (Nor should‘ one the magnate in his castle.” And when the 4ree Royal Polish City of forget Henryk Dembinski and since all noblemen were equals, Danzig was incorporated by Józef Bem, who played a similar they could not be ruled by majori- Prussia, the citizens, mostly role in the Hungarian Rising of ties. In the parliament, the Sejm, German Lutherans, fought valiant- 1848–49.) In the battle of the opposition of a single man— ly for their freedom. Many of the Liebnitz, the Poles and the German the Liberum Veto—annulled any leading families emigrated, so the Knights diverted the Mongols from legal proposition. Schopenhauers went to Hanseatic the plains of Northern Europe; the Hamburg. Poles defeated the Turks in 1683 A SENSE O REEDOM How did the Jews fare? They at the gates of Vienna; and in 1920 This sense of freedom also per- came to Poland in the fourteenth they defeated the Bolsheviks in vaded the religious scene. Poland century, then a wholly agrarian front of Warsaw. Three times they

2 The Ludwig von Mises Institute THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF LUDWIG VON MISES saved Western civilization. Does Nietzsche, of Albert Einstein, and practical areas which followed the the world realize it? Of course not! also of 4riedrich August von long introduction, the study of His Polish, more than his Hayek! Young Mises, of course, economics is prominent. Jewish background, was decisive got a classical education: the mod- Mises found the law lectures at for Mises’s earliest years, but that ern languages he learned privately. the University of Vienna to be very did not conflict with his attach- one-sided and the teaching of eco- ment to Austria and the monarchy. STUDYING THE LAW nomics, with a few exceptions, Indeed, I met Mises for the first After getting his baccalaureate, below par. Already as a young man time in New York, in the company Mises studied law. Here we have he had a most critical sense. He of our former crown prince, to explain the character of Contin- was very much aware of the fact Archduke Otto von Habsburg, ental universities which have no that our universities, all perfectly whom he greatly admired. undergraduates: they are graduate autonomous bodies, state-financed Young Ludwig did not study in schools pure and simple. They tra- but not state-controlled, were one of the two linguistically Polish ditionally have four schools: of inevitably dominated by cliques universities of Lwów or Cracow, but theology, law, medicine, and phi- and factions; in the appointments, in Vienna. In order, however, to losophy, the last covering a multi- even family ties played a consider- understand his intellectual growth, tude of disciplines, almost all able role. belonging to the humanities. The it is important to realize how the The rector was addressed as Continental system of education Your Magnificence, and the uni- works. It differs radically from the versities were so sacrosanct that Anglo-American pattern. After the police were not permitted to four years of elementary training, enter them. Criminals hiding one enters—if the parents are there had to be arrested by the ambitious—a school which re- Academic Legion, composed of motely resembles a combination of high school and college lasting students, and then were dragged eight (in Germany, nine) years. outside where they were handed over to the “arm of the law.” The There are three models of that freedom to teach was limitless. school: a classic one with eight (“Academic freedom” is a term years of Latin and six of Greek, a translated from German.) Even a semi-classic with Latin and one or professor, who, instead of lectur- two modern languages, and a more ing, read newspapers, could not be scientific one with only modern professors were chosen by the fac- languages. In all three types (the ulties, which constituted a self- dismissed. Every professor had classic one being naturally more perpetuating body. tenure up to the age of sixty-five or prestigious than the others), the On the Continent, the study of sixty-seven, when he had to retire local language, mathematics, law—then as now—was radically at eighty-two percent of his final geometry, history, geography, and different from legal studies in salary. The qualities of the profes- religion are taught regularly; either Britain or in the United sor as a teacher bore no weight: the physics, chemistry, biology, and States. The first three semesters professor was expected not to be mineralogy only occasionally; and are dedicated entirely to the histo- an educator, but a scholar who gave there is an introduction to philos- ry and philosophy of civil and the students a chance to listen to ophy in the classic type for only canon law. It is needless to say that him. It is obvious that this system two years. Often these very hard in our countries we follow the tra- had serious drawbacks, but the pro- school years hung like a black dition of a codified Roman law. fessors, nevertheless, had immense cloud over families. 4ailure in just Case histories play no role, status. As a matter of fact, no career one subject required repetition of because precedents would not was considered to be so desirable as a whole year. This was the fate of bind us in any way. In the more that of a university professor, with

The Ludwig von Mises Institute 3 STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM the possible exception of the diplo- Bismarck, originally a Conservative In Germany, as well as in matic corps and the general staff. and a Prussian patriot, had broken Austria, two areas, which prior to with the Conservatives and the German–Prussian War of 1866 received wholehearted support TO BEAPROESSOR had belonged to the Austrian-led from the National Liberal party, German League, the National I mention all these details whose backers were the grande Liberals were, oddly enough, cul- because they played a major role in bourgeoisie moneyed interests, big turally and politically, though not the life of Mises. As one can imag- industry, and the adherents of a economically, Liberals. As nation- ine, it was his ambition from his mild form of Pan-Germanism. The alists they wanted a strong state student days to become a profes- National Liberals were also moti- and thus they were by nature sor. (The same was true of his vated by an anticlerical bias direct- interventionists; in order to arrest brother, Richard.) Yet Ludwig’s ed against the Catholic rather than the growth of socialism, they pro- dream was never completely ful- moted the Provider State. filled, neither in his home country Bismarck alternatively fought the nor in the New World. The pri- Socialists (who called themselves mary reason for this was that the Social Democrats) or cooperated universities of Austria, and especial- with them, especially in the earlier ly that of Vienna, were dominated days when 4erdinand Lasalle was by two factions: the National still alive, a man hated by Marx Liberal and the Left. There was who persecuted him with the also a very small minority of pro- worst antisemitic insults. fessors who could be termed This fact has to be faced: our “Clerical” Conservatives. Bear in German Liberals were secretly mind, however, that Emperor state-worshippers because they 4rancis-Joseph, who symbolized hoped that a powerful state would that whole age in Austria, was a break the “forces of yesterday.” Liberal in the worldwide (as Hence they were by no means opposed to the American) sense, identical with, let us say, the and that the Liberal parties for a British Liberals of the Gladstone very long time dominated the type. Thus a situation arose, even Austrian scene until 1908, when against the Lutheran clergy. in the Austrian universities, in the disastrous “one man-one vote” which Liberals and Socialists were principle was introduced. Con- Bismarck’s Kulturkampf, his struggle against the Catholic Church leading not so far apart. Yet, at the same servatism in Austria was limited to time, one also could perceive the the church, the army, the aristoc- to the imprisonment of bishops, the expulsion of the Jesuits, and the growth of some sort of Romantic racy, and part of the peasantry. It Catholic Conservatism that was had no influence in the adminis- introduction of compulsory civil anti-capitalist, anti-liberal, and tration, in the schools, and not marriage (aping the 4rench), fit anti-socialist. It was desperately really at court. very well into this pattern. Obviously, all this was not to the looking for an economic “Third liking of Prussian Conservatives, to Way” and, unavoidably, toyed with A STRANGE SYNTHESIS whom Bismarck was a man of the the idea of a state based on the The synthesis of ethnic nation- Left. Of course, the “Iron ancient corporations and guilds alism (German, Czech, Polish, Chancellor” was anything but a tra- rather than on parties. There Slovene, Italian, or Ukrainian), and ditionalist. The new German flag, always existed a Continental classical liberalism, might seem a Prussia’s black and silver, was Catholic Conservatism based on a bit strange to Americans, but it was broadened with the red of the deep-seated suspicion of the nevertheless a reality. A similar sit- Revolution. Prussian Conservatives Calvinist and Lutheran manufac- uation prevailed in Germany where naturally stuck to the old colors. turers and the Jewish bankers. (In

4 The Ludwig von Mises Institute THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF LUDWIG VON MISES

1930, of the ten regents of the political matters; they were “pro- published by the Intercollegiate Bank of 4rance, five were gressive,” anticlerical, in philo- Review (4all 1997). To confuse my Protestants, four were Jews, and sophic matters profoundly skepti- readers even more, let me mention

one was “nondescript.”) Hence, cal, and convinced that dogmatic the fact that I write for‘ a Polish also, the Catholic opposition beliefs automatically led to intoler- periodical called Stancyzk which against “Old Liberalism.” One ance. They frequently (though not calls itself Conservative, Liberal, finds this clearly in Article eighty always) failed to share the antide- and Monarchist. of the famous Syllabus Errorum. mocratic feelings of the Early Liberals, favored the separation of NATIONAL LIBERALISM OUR SCHOOLS church and state, and not rarely Still, the Germanic type of Here again we have to inject were allied with (deistic) 4ree- National Liberalism held illiberal, another digression. There are four masonry. mercantilistic views in the domain genuine Liberalisms. Pre-Liberal- The Neo-Liberals appeared of economics. Reflecting upon the ism’s outstanding representative is only after World War II. They collectivistic character of National- Adam Smith (and one might add: were strongly inspired by Early ismus, our word for ethnicism, this Edmund Burke). The Pre-Liberals Liberalism and differed from the is not so surprising. Any collec- did not use the Liberal label simply because this term was only born in tivism must come into conflict 1812, when it was applied to the with genuine Liberalism. The old supporters of the Spanish Consti- order, in our part of the world, tution of Cádiz. The Liberal appel- was “vertical” and patriotic, not lation was promptly adopted in “horizontal” and nationalistic. Our 4rance, and in 1816 Southey used dynasties, as a rule, had foreign the Spanish word liberales for the origins, were ethnically mixed, and first time in an English text, and usually married foreigners. The Sir Walter Scott spoke of libéraux same was true of the aristocracy. with a 4rench spelling. Soon we With the powerful rise of the mid- see the rise of the “Early Liberals” Old Liberals by their greater sym- dle classes all this was challenged. on the Continent, mostly aristo- pathy for Christian values, their And it was obvious that Mises did crats with Catholic roots, initiating greater toleration for some state not feel Jewish or Polish or an intellectual movement which intervention, and their leanings German, but Austrian. With pro- lasted until the end of the nine- toward Conservatism. Their most found anxiety he looked into the teenth century. Tocqueville, eloquent spokesman was Wilhelm future, terrified that collec- Montalembert, and Acton were its Röpke. The rupture between Old tivism—ethnic and socialist— main representatives, but I would and New Liberals became evident would tear the monarchy asunder. like to add the name of an agnostic in 1961 when the Neo-Liberals He feared once the Dual Basel patrician—Jacob Burckhardt. left the Mont Pèlerin Society. Monarchy was destroyed, the area This second phase of Liberalism However, what today is called would fall under the sway of Berlin had a primarily cultural and politi- Liberalism in the United States or Moscow or be partitioned cal, not an economic character. (and nowhere else) is the very between them. All these events The Old Liberals constituted a opposite of all forms of Liberalism took place between 1938 and third phase. and is nothing but watered-down 1945. The immediate menace, socialism. North America, being a however, was what Sir Denis MISES’S LIBERALISM gigantic island in the world ocean, Brogan and Raymond Aron called This is where Mises more or is frequently the victim of the per- “The Second War of Austrian less fitted in. The Old Liberals version of terms. I described the Succession,” which started in were strongly interested in eco- sad fate of the term “Liberalism” 1914, to be followed by a third one nomics, but also in cultural and in the United States in an essay in 1939.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute 5 STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM

MISES STANDS ALONE He never became a full professor. University of Vienna was just one of All these frightening historic Envy, the old cancer of Austria the many places of higher learning, events Mises faced as an isolated (and not only of Austria), made but there remains the impressive thinker. He never fully belonged to itself felt especially in the domains fact that if one speaks of the a specific camp. He was always a of intellectual and artistic life— “Austrian School” one has to make square peg in a round hole, a fact and that included the universities. it clear which of the Austrian which 4riedrich August von Hayek Besides studying the humani- Schools is meant. There is a musi- emphasized in his preface to ties, Mises concentrated on eco- cal, ethnological, philosophical and, Mises’s memoirs entitled Erin- nomics. Without a certain philo- last, but by no means least, an nerungen (Stuttgart, 1978). He said sophic, theological, psychological, Austrian Economic School known that one knew Jews who were con- historic, and geographic back- all over the world except in Austria itself. Mises was one of the most firmed leftist intellectuals of the ground, economics is not under- outstanding representatives of this socialist stamp, one also knew standable. The “economist” who Austrian School, along with Jewish bankers and industrialists knows nothing but finance, pro- 4riedrich August von Hayek. who advocated free enterprise, but duction, and sales data is, accord- here was a solid thinker who stood ing to Mises (and to all devotees of for a truly rightist, genuinely liberal the Austrian School), a barbar- THE CHAMBER O doctrine. To make matters worse, ian—and a bad economist. Of COMMERCE Mises was consciously a nobleman, course, the Austrian, especially the Viennese scene, even during Given the opposition Mises a true gentleman, who rejected all encountered at the university, he compromise and never concealed the 4irst Republic, which lived off the intellectual capital accumulated looked for steady employment in during the monarchy, provided the Handelskammer, the semi-offi- Mises with a rich heritage. It was cial Chamber of Commerce. After also obvious that many brilliant 1920, the Austrian government minds were not connected with the was mostly in the hands of the university. 4reud had merely the Christian Social Party, a Clerical– honorary title of a professor, but no Conservative party, which eventu- professorship. (Nor had his antago- ally fathered the dictatorship of nist, Alfred Adler.) 4reud was polit- Dollfuss and his Patriotic 4ront. ically a man of the Right—vide also This party had to fight the interna- his devastating judgment of tional socialists, and, later, the Woodrow Wilson. The situation in National Socialists. Mises, as an Germany was not dissimilar: neither agnostic and a genuine Liberal, had Schopenhauer nor Spengler were no innate enthusiasm for the university professors. Christian Socials, but, judging his thoughts or his convictions. If Austria’s precarious situation dis- somebody or something was plain- passionately, knew that a decent, VIENNA’S INTELLECTUAL ly stupid, he said so, nor could he responsible man had to collaborate tolerate cowardice or ignorance. A SCENE with that government. As a finan- man with these qualities was sus- The intellectual scene in Vienna cial and economic advisor, he had pect to the philistines who were so was rich, richer than in Berlin, close contacts with the 4ederal well represented in the various because Vienna, until 1918 was the Chancellor, Monsignor Seipel, departments of our universities. metropolis of an empire compris- whom he called “a noble priest,” a Thus he had difficulties even in ing a dozen nationalities and six wonderful man who eventually becoming a privatdozent (an unpaid large religious bodies. The German- died from a bullet fired by a assistant professor) and later an speaking area had, however, no Socialist fanatic. (Dollfuss was ausserordentlicher Professor (let us call intellectual center like 4rance— later murdered by the National it an unpaid associate professor). with Paris and the Sorbonne. The Socialists.) Mises’s advice was often

6 The Ludwig von Mises Institute THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF LUDWIG VON MISES taken, but at other times ignored. effective help. The only possible The works of his colleagues are by Let us bear in mind that in the protector of Austria was 4ascist now all forgotten, but the unpop- years of a clerical government, this Italy, which, unlike 4rance or ular Mises lives on, and will do so aristocratic Jewish intellectual was Britain, bordered on the remain- for all time to come. Whether an “odd man out,” and fit into no ders of the Danubian monarchy, those in power will follow his established pattern. but Anthony Eden drove Mussolini advice and take heed of his admo- into Hitler’s hands. “The British nitions is, of course, a very differ- THE MENACE O SOCIALISM are simply unteachable!” was ent matter. Mises had a most constructive Mises’s frequent outcry. He fore- saw the Anschluss (blessed by the mind, but given the situation of THE PRIVATE SEMINAR the 4irst Austrian Republic, he was “democracies”) and, just in time, accepted an invitation from the Besides the official seminars and remained a pessimist because attended by ordinary students, he realized that he lived in an age Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes, a postgraduate school in Mises, always eager to spread his when the appetites and the idio- ideas, also held a private seminar. cies of the masses dominated the Geneva, where after 1934 he taught while still keeping in touch In one large room of the Chamber scene. The sole advantage he saw of Commerce, he invited every in democracy was the same one with his beloved Chamber of Commerce in Vienna. But even in fortnight a group of postgraduate emphasized by Sir Karl Popper, students and persons of distinc- i.e., the bloodless transition from Geneva he did not feel completely safe and the Swiss government, ter- tion, men and women, who later one government to another, in their lives left their mark in the though Mises also knew only too rified by the aggressiveness of the well that such a change could be Third Reich, tried to silence the for the worse, infinitely worse if refugees living within its borders. one remembers the years 1932–33 Thus, Mises strove for the safer in Germany. Reading his Erin- shores of the New World, and suc- nerungen one is struck by his con- ceeded in attaining them during tempt not only for the Spiesser, the the war. philistine, but also for the unthink- ing masses. One should not forget MISES AS TEACHER that, as Allan Bloom told us in The How effective was he as a Closing of the American Mind, first- teacher? His lectures at the !.A.Hayek with Mises rate European minds were always University of Vienna were well on the Right. Mises, naturally, had attended and he put the emphasis, field of economics and other no political ambitions, but as an quite naturally, on his seminar. domains. Here I would like to independent thinker, he wanted to But most professors disliked mention 4riedrich Engel von be heard. He always expressed his Mises, and a student whose record Jánosi, a noted Austrian historian, views in a straightforward manner, proved that he had studied under who also taught in American uni- and tolerated no cant. him was treated with the utmost versities. But the three best known In the 4irst Republic (1918– severity. Thus some of the stu- economists in the group were 1933), he saw not only the incom- dents asked Mises to admit them 4riedrich August von Hayek, petence of the various govern- to his seminar without entering Gottfried von Haberler, and 4ritz ments, the totalitarian menace of this fact in the Index, the passbook. Machlup, all three later became socialism, and German national- Needless to say these timid stu- professors in the United States. ism–racism degenerating into dents did not receive “credit” (to Hayek, I would like to point out, National Socialism, but also the use an American expression) for did not start out as an economist, bottomless ignorance and weakness the seminar. They simply wanted but as a biologist. He took part in of the Western Powers, which gave to profit from the richness of the the last year of World War I (try- the small Alpine Republic no thought of this intellectual giant. ing, like Mises, who was quite

The Ludwig von Mises Institute 7 STUDIES IN CLASSICAL LIBERALISM gravely wounded, to prevent the staged, and many other well subsi- of a far too systematic, rigid, and “world from being made safe for dized theaters. Mises was a great uncompromising way of reasoning. democracy”). This experience theater goer and the other fine arts He was, indeed, not prepared to changed his mind. He decided to meant a great deal to him. As a cul- “assimilate” to his surroundings. take up a career which would bring tured Continental, he obviously He was perhaps not generally liked, him in contact with people, with loved to read what we, in German, but had faithful disciples and, very real life, and not leave him isolated called schöngeistige Literatur (and in deservedly, genuine admirers. He in a laboratory. But, as one knows 4rench belles lettres)—not just “fic- preached individualism and was an from his writings, he never gave up tion.” When I met Mises the first individualist. Adverse to all shilly- his interest in the hard sciences as time he deplored the death of shallying, he did not strive for pop- well as the other humanities, above Robert von Musil in his Swiss exile. ularity, but for truth. To many all political science. I can understand why Mises Americans and Englishmen, some Economics, too, can be housed admired the work of Musil, a some- of his ideas appeared hyperbolic, as in an ivory tower, but in such a what kindred and “very Austrian” for instance, to hand over the mail structure Mises refused to live. He soul. Mises needed the arts to to private enterprise (today a reali- who remained a bachelor for such a counter his growing melancholia ty in many countries). He was not a long time enjoyed wholeheartedly mixed with a real indignation at the “regular fellow,” but very much a the social life of imperial Vienna gradual collapse of Western civiliza- gentleman of the old school, and, and even of the much shabbier tion and culture to which he was so above all, a great scholar who had republican Vienna. What could deeply attached. rediscovered forgotten permanent Vienna offer to a cultured man like truths and deflated new supersti- Mises? There was a plethora of MISES IN AMERICA tions. He never gave up. He battled authors—Schnitzler, Zweig, Broch; until his last breath. Perhaps he In the United States, Mises had composers like von Webern, remembered the first line of the Mahler, Berg, Schönberg; and a considerable resonance in what are called conservative and libertar- Polish National Hymn, which he philosophers like Carnap, Schlick, heard often in his childhood: and Wittgenstein. Max Weber was ian circles. His university career, however, was hampered by petti- “Poland is not lost yet!” Since then guest-professor in Vienna and he it has risen twice from the ashes. became a close friend of Mises. ness and prejudices similar to those he had encountered in Vienna— Well, freedom is not lost yet, if we, There were also names such as like Ludwig Edler von Mises, really Robert von Musil, Rainer Maria although they came from very dif- fight for it. ◗ Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, ferent quarters. Without the aid of painters like Kokoschka, Klimt or generous foundations, his living Schiele, and not forgetting the great conditions would have remained medical men, many of them mem- rather limited. It is a well-known bers of the nobility, who enjoyed in fact that scholarly books of a truly Vienna a status available nowhere high level do not become bestsellers else. In the republic they were hon- (although Human Action was a selec- ored on coins and stamps. In addi- tion of the Book of the Month Club). tion, there were the great entertain- Mises, as one could expect, had ments: first-rate concerts, the two a good grasp of the American scene. opera houses, the Burgtheater, the He quickly discovered the socio- Emperor’s private theater, but psychological reasons why academic quite naturally accessible to the America was veering to the Left. To public, the Theater in der Josefsstadt, the halls of academe Mises seemed a Reinhardt’s repertory theater, very eccentric thinker laboring where the most original plays were under the “Germanic shortcoming” Ludwig and Margit von Mises

8 The Ludwig von Mises Institute