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TillS BREAD IS MINE Also By ROBERT LE FEVRE "THE NATURE OF MAN AND HIS GOVERNMENT" by Robert LeFevre Dlustrations by Roy J. Hurst AMERICAN LmERTY PRESS THIS BREAD IS MINE is prhrate prop..~rty. Readers are welcome to enter and browse to their content. It is regretted that the only way open to author or publisher to designate this book as private property is through the government copyright office. Essentially, the same chore could be performed by any good insurance firm or some other free market establishment. Since none such is in existence, and since it is deemed advisable to designate this book as private property, no choice exists for author or publisher. The book must be copyrighted, or it must be placed in that twilight realm where ownership is in doubt. Perhaps in Some future and more enlig-htened time authors and publishers may find a way to designate their efforts as private property without invoking the taxing powers of the government and without calling upon the police powers to hold the world at bay with the threat of violence. Copyright 1960 byR. D. Schwerman, Hales Corners, Wisconsin All Rights Reserved. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-53295 Designed and printed by American Liberty Press, 161 West Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States of America. Published in cooperation with American Liberty Press by Hydra, Inc.­ a Wisconsin Corporation. To ROSE WILDER LANE, whose book Discovery of Freedom, has inspired this effort, among many, to get at the truth of human liberty. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE NO. 1. The Naked Premise ............................ 3 2. Loins of Brass .;............... 33 3. Wild Seeds 47 4. Oblivion to the Right 63 5. Thunder on the Left 77 6. Quiet Flows the River 99 7. Nature's Logic 117 8. Steady Hands 161 9. One Man's Bread 189 10. The Greatest Myth ........................... .. 203 11. Plan of Escape ........... .. ................. .. 217 12. Return of the Hydra 283 13. Once Upon a Time 317 14. Birth of a Man 367 Syllogisms Poem PREFACE A number of definitions of socialism are currently in vogue. Since there are various ways of defining this most important term, something other than a definition is in order. What is desirable is a framework of reference in which to set the definition. Conflicting definitions cancel out each other's usefulness. By examining the background, history and connotations of socialism it may be possible to winnow out the inconsistencies of divergent -definitive terms and come at last to view socialism not so much as a single point on the landscape but as a panoramic whole. By such an approach it is hoped that a desire to grapple with socialism intellectually, rather than to react to it emotionally, will be encouraged. There are a hundred clues all beckoning us to begin. The word itself offers the best clue. Social is an adjective derived from the Latin socius, which means an associate or ally. The French have changed it to socialis and the ~nglish language has borrowed from the French. The addition of the suffix, ism, has converted the adjec­ tive into a noun which connotes a distinctive doctrine, ideal, system or practice. In combination the word social-ism is used to express belief in a societal system in which the essential means of production and distribution shall be collectively or govern­ mentally owned and managed. The word conveys both an economic and a political'syllogism. Socialism tends to create an ethic framework in which it is presumed that all values, rights and duties abide in the masses and that the masses must be served. The proper antonym of socialism is individualism. Individu­ alism presumes that individual initiative, action and interests should be independent of governmental or social control. In ethics, the conception of individualism is that all values, rights and duties originate in individuals, and not in the social whole. Socialism and individualism are, therefore, permanently opposed doctrines. It is the purpose of these pages to explore the relative merits of these two opposing and conflicting theories. FOREWORD ''This Bread. Is Mine" breathes the·spirit of freedom. It is based upon truths of great importance. Upon them are based our individual and personal rights and freedoms. Our progress - spiritual as well as material- could not occur without those rights and freedoms. Robert LeFevre has studied socialisms - "Christian" so- cialism, "scientific" socialism and other socialisms. His treatment of "Christian" socialism - now in vogue in many churches - is the best I have seen. "This Bread Is Mine" has excellent predecessors. In his "Wealth of Nations" (1776) Adam Smith wrote, "The property which every man has in his own labour... is the most sacred and inviolable." LeFevre reasons rigorously from his facts and assumptions to definite conclusions. The work is almost Euclidean. The reader need not go all the way with the author to enjoy his ~uidance and benefit from it. The author shows us that, in government, "there is nothing new, there is only that which has been forgotten." -JAY MORRISON Seattle, Washington AUTHOR'S NOTE: The most remarkable thing in the world is the individual human being. No possible combination of human beings is quite so unique or so fascinating as the nature and characteristics of ONE SINGLE PERSON. For a number of centuries, scholars have interested them- selves in the group activities of human beings. The result is an over-emphasis on groups and a corresponding under-em­ phasis on the importance of the single unit of the human race. Thus, in modem times, we find an active and popular philosophy of "social-ism" with little in the way of an active and popular philosophy of individualism. It is in the hopes of making some small contribution toward such a philosophy that this book has been written. The whole can never be greater than the sum of its parts. Society can never be more than the total of the human units which comprise it. It is from a tendency to create in the name of society a mysterious ADDITIONAL factor, not supplied by any of the units of society, that the doctrine of socialism takes its life. To expound and delineate a philosophy of individualism, a beginning will be made within the doctrine of socialism, for that is the doctrine, in varying degrees, by which men have lived and to which they are fully accustomed. The errors and shortcomings of socialism will provide us an opportunity of laying the groundwork for a better understanding of ourselves as distinct and unique units. It is only when we understand our basic individual characteristics that we can journey into freedom. Robert LeFevre Box 165 Colorado Springs, Colorado THIS BREAD IS MINE CHAPTER 1 THE NAKED PREMISE Socialism must, by definition, put society at the apex of human values. Socialism is the elevation of the mass-man to a pragmatic absolute. The leaders of socialist thought contend that all morals and all ethic values can be determined only by the results which follow a specific practice; and the results must be view-ed in a societal framework. Thus, the socialist argues that it is better to sacrifice the rights and values of an individual if by such sacrifice the masses are served - hence, the inevitable conclusion that ownership 4 - THIS BREAD IS MINE of property, especially productive property, must be on a collective basis. The thought of an individual profiting by his own efforts, while the mass-man appears not to profit, is abhorrent to. all sincere socialists. The individualist likewise serves himseH with pragmatic reasoning. He concludes that any action which harms one individual must, if the process is multiplied, harm all indi­ viduals. His views of morals and ethics are essentially derived from the basis of results achieved, but with the results applied to individuals rather than to society as a whole. No sincere individualist can condone the sacrifice of any individual's rights or values, even though in such sacrifice a majority of others may appear to benefit. The individualist takes a longer view, believing that if justice is to manifest, the sacrifice of one must be followed by a sacrifice of all. He recognizes that a single instance of sacrifice might not harm society as a whole. But he is unwilling to adopt a policy which, by the application of whim or expedient, might subsequently make him the victim of the sacrifice. Since the expedient of THE NAKED PREMISE - 5 "good for the whole" opens the door to "harm for the one," he discovers in such a policy a universal threat to his own rights and values. In such an uncertain climate, he sees that any individual may suddenly, and through no fault of his own, find himself the target of "social leveling." Therefore, he con­ cludes that the rules· to govern society must be promulgated on a base which is consistent with the best interests of each individual in society. To hold to the contrary would effectively eliminate all human values and rights. In fact, as the indi­ vidualist reasons it, any action taken by mass man which harms a single individual, has in large measure destroyed the rights and values of all other individuals. He would, in fact, prefer to run the occasional risk of one individual in society becoming a predator against another member of society, than support a doctrine which makes society itself a predator a­ gainst any individual in that society. Irrespective of the isolation of a single act of injustice perpetrated by "society" against an individual, no individua­ list can support it. He disdains to follow a doctrine wherein 6 - THIS BREAD IS MINE the many can find it to their advantage to favor the sacrifice of a few.

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