THE main issue in present-day social and political conflicts is whether or not man should give away freedom, private initiative, and individual responsibility and surrender to the guardianship of a gigantic apparatus of compulsion and coercion, the socialist state. Should authoritarian totalitariani~m be substituted for individualism and democracyr, Should the citizen be transformed into a su,bject) a subordinate in an allembracing army of conscripted labor, bound to obey unconditionally the orders of his superiors? Should he be deprive~ of his most precious privilege to choose means and ends and to shape his own life?. | BUREAUCRACY BY LUDWIG VON MISES NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1944 Copyright 1944 BY Yale University Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form except by reviewers for the public press without written permission from the publishers. PREFACE The main issue in present-day social and political conflicts is whether or not man should give away freedom private initiative and individual responsibility and surrender to the guardianship of a gigantic apparatus of compulsion and coercion the socialist state. Should authoritarian totalitarianism be substituted for individualism and democracy . Should the citizen be transformed into a subject a subordinate in an allembracing army of conscripted labor bound to obey unconditionally the orders of his superiors Should he be deprived of his most precious privilege to choose means and ends and to shape his own life Our age has witnessed a triumphal advance of the socialist cause. As much as half a century ago an eminent British statesman Sir William Harcourt asserted We are all socialists now. 1 At that time this statement was premature as far as Great Britain was concerned but today it is almost literally true for that country once the cradle of modern liberty. It is no less true with regard to continental Europe. America alone is still free to choose. And the decision of the American people will determine the outcome for the whole of mankind. The problems involved in the antagonism between socialism and capitalism can be attacked from various viewpoints. At present it seems as if an investigation of the expansion of bureaucratic agencies is the most expedient avenue of approach. An analysis of bureaucratism offers an excellent opportunity to recognize the fundamental problems of the controversy. Although the evolution of bureaucratism has been very I. Cf. G. M. Trevelyan A Shortened History of England London 1942 p. .
