Mises Wire

Why Classical Liberalism Rejects War

Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises

"The liberal critique of the argument in favor of war is fundamentally different from that of the humanitarians.  It starts from the premise that not war, but peace, is the father of all things.  What alone enables mankind to advance and distinguishes man from the animals is social cooperation.  It is labor alone that is productive:  it creates wealth and therewith lays the outward foundations for the inward flowering of man.  War only destroys; it cannot create.  War, carnage, destruction, and devastation we have in common with the predatory beasts of the jungle; constructive labor is our distinctively human characteristic."

—Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: The Classical Tradition

All Rights Reserved ©
What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member
Mises Institute