30.
Economic Class Analysis
The false Marxist
theory of economic class analysis is better know today, however, it was derived
(in the mid-1800's) from a correct theory of economic class analysis originated
by the French intellectuals of the late 1700's. This correct analysis was emulated by James Mill in the
English speaking world of the early 1800's in England.
Mill's analysis saw
the economic classes as the state rulers and those exploited by them. In other words, what American statesman
John Calhoun later called the taxpayers and the tax consumers.
Marx took the valid
theory and (misapplied) it to the relations between employers and the
employed. The Marxian version
suggests an inherent antagonism between the interests of the owners of the
means of production and those who sell their labor to those owners. The truth is that there is a symbiotic
relationship between employers and employed--each specializing in their own
chosen pursuits (savers and investors in the means of production and laborers
selling their labor for current income).
-
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann
"Marxist and Austrian Class Analysis" in Requiem For Marx edited by Yuri N. Maltsev,
(Auburn, Alabama: The Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1993)
pp. 51 - 73.
-
Mises, Ludwig von
The Clash of Group Interests and Other Essays,
(New York: Center for Libertarian Studies, 1978)
pp. 1 - 12.
-
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels
The Communist Manifesto,
(New York: Pocket Books, 1964)
pp. 57 - 79.
-
Raico, Ralph
"Classical Liberal Roots of the Marxist Doctrine of Classes" in Requiem For Marx edited by Yuri N. Maltsev,
(Auburn, Alabama: The Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1993)
pp. 189 - 220.
-
Rothbard, Murray N.
Classical Economics,
(Brookfield, Vermont: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1995)
pp. 75 - 78, 385 - 391.
-
Rothbard, Murray N.
Conceived in Liberty, Volume III,
(New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976)
pp. 350 - 356.
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