Making Economic Sense
Making
Economic Sense
by Murray Rothbard
(Contents
by Publication Date)
Chapter 94
A Trip to Poland
In March 1986, I spent a fascinating week at a
conference at a hotel in Mrogowo, in the
lake country of northern Poland (formerly East Prussia). The
conference, a broad-ranging
symposium on "Economics and Social Change," was hosted by the Institute
of Sociology at the
University of Warsaw, and sponsored by a group of English conservative
and free-market
scholars.
Even though economically, as one of the Western
participants noted, Poland is a "giant
slum," its countryside, small towns, and cities in evident and grim
decay, this gallant nation is
intellectually the freest in the Eastern bloc. There is no other
country in the Soviet orbit at which
a conference of this sort could possibly be held.
The only restriction was that the announced titles
of the papers had to be ideologically
neutral. But, once the conference ran that particular gauntlet, and the
meeting was approved by
the authorities, anyone could--and did--say whatever they wished. (In
my case, I bowdlerized the
title of my paper, "Concepts of the Role of Intellectuals in Social
Change Towards Laissez-
Faire," by discreetly omitting the last three words, although the
actual content of the talk
remained the same.)
The first paper of the meeting was delivered by
Professor Antony Flew, a distinguished
English philosopher, who likes nothing better than to deliver--with
intelligence and wit--zingers
at the Left. Flew pulled no punches, pointing out the importance and
necessity of property rights
and the free market. The fascinating thing was that no Polish eyebrow
was raised, and no Polish
scholar reacted in horror. Quite the contrary. And it was enormously
inspiring to see every one of
the twenty-odd Polish scholars denouncing the government, even though
it was obvious to every
one of us that there was a government agent listening intently to the
proceedings. (The
agent--the travel guide and director of the trip--was obviously highly
intelligent, and aware of
what was going on.)
The Poles ranged from libertarian to
middle-of-the-road to dissident Marxist, but it was
markedly evident that not one of them had any use whatsoever for the
Communist regime. In
addition to being opposed to Communism, none of the Polish scholars at
the meeting had much
use for any government. One told me, "of course,
any act of government is done for the power
and wealth of the government officials, and not for the public
interest, common good, general
welfare, or any other reasons offered."
"Yes," I said, "but the government's propaganda
always says that they perform these
actions for the common good, etc." The Polish professor looked at me
quizzically: "Who
believes government propaganda?" I replied that, "unfortunately, in the
United States, many
people believe government propaganda." He was incredulous.
The Polish scholars all knew English very well, a
virtue that unfortunately we Westerners
couldn't begin to reciprocate. Nevertheless, a real camaraderie
developed. One amusing culture
gap was the Polish waiters in our hotel (what passes for a "luxury
hotel" in Poland is roughly
equivalent to a low-end interstate motel in the U.S.) having to deal
with the "kids" of the
conference, two young English scholars who are insistent vegetarians.
Poland is a land with a
very high meat consumption per capita (the Communists never
collectivized agriculture), but
where meat is now rationed, and it was beyond the comprehension of the
Polish waiters that two
young privileged Westerners would keep calling for "more vegetables"
while turning down
top-grade beef and pork. Fortunately, there was always a Polish
professor nearby who could
serve as interpreter for these outlandish requests.
The most moving moment of the meeting came at the
banquet on the final night, when
the English sociologist who directed the conference, after thanking our
Polish hosts, raised a
glass and offered a heartfelt toast to "a free, sovereign, and Catholic
Poland." Every one of us
understood his intent, and everyone in that room, Protestants and
unbelievers included, raised a
glass and drank with fervor. Including the government agent.
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