"Parasites, Plunderers, and Plutocrats": An Anthology of Libertarian/Classical Liberal Class Analysis from La Boetie to Buchanan

Compiled by David M. Hart [this is a work in progress]

[Created: 16 August, 2016]
[Updated: 9 July, 2017 ]

Table of Contents

Note: Items in bold have yet to be added to the anthology.

The collection of 65 extracts totals just over 1 million words.

History of CL Class Analysis

  1. Leonard P. Liggio, "Charles Dunoyer and French Classical Liberalism" (1977)
  2. Ralph Raico
    1. Ralph Raico, “Classical Liberal Exploitation Theory: A Comment on Professor Liggio's Paper” (1977)
    2. Ralph Raico, "Classical Liberal Roots of the Marxist Doctrine of Classes" (1988, 1992)
  3. Mark Weinburg, "The Social Analysis of Three Early 19th Century French Liberals: Say, Comte, and Dunoyer" (1978)
  4. Tom G. Palmer, "Classical Liberalism, Marxism, and the Conflict of Classes: The Classical Liberal Theory of Class Conflict" (1988, 2009)
  5. David M. Hart, "Bastiat's Theory of Class: The Plunderers vs. the Plundered" (2016)

Classic Works of CL/Libertarian Class Analysis

16th and 17thC Works

  1. Étienne de la Boétie, "Discourse of Voluntary Servitude" (1549, 1576)
  2. Levellers:
    1. [Richard Overton], The Frogges of Egypt, or the Caterpillers of the Commonwealth (August, 1641).
    2. Anon., A Dialogue betwixt a Horse of Warre and a Mill-Horse (2 January, 1644).
    3. William Walwyn, An Antidote against Master Edwards his old and new Poyson (10 June 1646).

18thC Works

  1. Trenchard and Gordon, Cato's Letters (1721)
    1. No. 16. John Trenchard, "On the Nature of Political Parties" (Feb. 11, 1721)
    2. No. 17. John Trenchard, "On wicked and desperate Ministers" (Feb. 128, 1721)
    3. No. 33. Thomas Gordon, "On the natural Encroachments of Power" (June 17, 1722)
    4. No. 72. Thomas Gordon, "On Government as a Gradation of Tyrants" (April 7, 1722)
    5. No. 96. Thomas Gordon, "On the Behaviour of Political Parties in and out of Power" (Sept. 29, 1722)
  2. Edmund Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
  3. Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767)
    1. Part III, section II "The History of Subordination" (also known as "The History of Political Establishments")
    2. Part VI, section V "Of Corruption as it tends to Political Slavery" and
    3. section VI "Of the Progress and Termination of Despotism"
  4. John Millar, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks (1771)
    1. Chapter IV: "The Authority of a Sovereign, and of Subordinate Officers, over a Society Composed of Different Tribes or Villages"
    2. Chapter V: "The Changes Produced in the Government of a People, by Their Progress in Arts, and in Polished Manners"
  5. Turgot, Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches (1776) - selections: chaps 8, 15-18, 61, 65, 93-96, 99-100
  6. David Hume, creation of government (to come)
  7. Adam Smith: selections
  8. Thomas Paine
    1. Thomas Paine, Rights of Man. Part Second, Combining Principle and Practice (1792)
      1. Chap. 1. Of Society and Civilisation
      2. Chap. 2. Of the Origin of the Present Old Governments
      3. Chap. 3. Of The Old and New Systems of Government
    2. Thomas Paine, "Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the late Proclamation (June, 1792)
    3. Thomas Paine, The Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance (1796)
  9. William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793)
    1. Vol. 2, Book V.: Of Legislative and Executive Power
      1. CHAP. V.: Of courts and ministers;
      2. CHAP. VI.: Of subjects;
      3. CHAP. XI.: Moral effects of aristocracy.
    2. Book VI.: Of opinion considered as a subject of political institution.
      1. CHAP. IX.: of pensions and salaries.
  10. Vicesimus Knox, The Spirit of Despotism (1795)
    1. SECTION XXIX. Of the Despotism of Influence; while the Forms of a free Constitution are preserved.
    2. SECTION XXX. The Spirit of Despotism delights in War or systematic Murder.
    3. SECTION XXXII. On Political Ethics; their chief Object is to throw Power into the Hands of the worst Part of Mankind, and to render Government an Institution calculated to enrich and aggrandize a few, at the expense of the Liberty, Property, and Lives of the many.

19thC English Radicals

  1. William Cobbett, articles:
    1. "Paper Aristocracy" (24 Sept. 1804)
    2. "Duke of York. (Continued)", Political Register, (February, 1809)
    3. Letters 2 and 3 from Paper against Gold (1810)
    4. Letter "To the People of the United States of America, On the Present Internal Situation of England, as far as regards Finance" (12 Dec. 1815)
    5. "The Royal Family of England", (Feb. 10, 1816)
  2. Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Philosophical View of Reform (1820), Chap. II "On the Sentiment of the Necessity of Change"
  3. John Wade,The Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses in Church and State (1835):
    1. John Wade, "Dedication to the People" (1 Feb. 1831)
    2. John Wade, Chap. I. "Church of England" (1835)
    3. John Wade, Chap. V. "Civil List" (1835)
    4. John Wade, Chap. VII. "The Aristocracy" (1835)
    5. John Wade, Chap. XI. "Taxation and Government Expenditure" (1835)
    6. John Wade, Chap. XV. "Places, Sinecures, Reversions, Half-Pay, and Superannuations" (1835)
  4. Thomas Hodgskin
    1. Thomas Hodgskin, Travels in the North of Germany (1820)
      1. CHAPTER XII.: Hannover—Government.
      2. CHAPTER XV.: Hannover.—The Army.—Revenue.—Taxes.
    2. Thomas Hodgskin, The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted, "Letter the Third. The Legal Right of Property" (1832)
  5. The Benthamites and Philosophic Radicals
    1. Jeremy Bentham, selections:
      1. Section III. "Causes of the Above and All other Mischiefs" in Plan of Parliamentary Reform (1817)
      2. Section XIII. "Exclusion of Placemen, &c. from the Right of Voting" in Plan of Parliamentary Reform (1817)
      3. IX. "Honourable House incorrigible: this Disorder incurable: the Constitution subverted by it" in Plan of Parliamentary Reform (1817)
      4. Section 1. "In every Political State, the greatest happiness of the greatest number requires, that it be provided with an all-comprehensive body of law", in Codification Proposal (1822)
      5. "Historical Preface" to A Fragment on Government (1823)
      6. Chap. VII "Popular Corruption (ad superbiam)" in The Book of Fallacies (1824)
      7. Chap. IX "The Demand for Political Fallacies: How created by the State of Interests" in The Book of Fallacies (1824)
      8. Chap. XXIV "Special Juries," Principles of Judicial Procedure (1827)
      9. Chapter IX. "Good Rule and Bad Rule. (Patronage) English Government. IV.: All Branches taken together," in Constitutional Code (1827-30)
      10. Chapter X. "Corruption," Constitutional Code (1827-30)
      11. Section X.: The Few,—Enemies of the Many,—the Many not of the Few," Constitutional Code (1827-30)
    2. James Mill, selections:
      1. "Caste," Encyclopaedia Britannica (1824)
      2. "Government," Encyclopaedia Britannica (1824)
      3. "State of the Nation," The London Review (Apr. 1835)
      4. "Aristocracy," The London Review (Jan. 1836)

English political economists

  1. J.S. Mill, 1st chapter from The Subjection of Women (1869)
  2. John Elliot Cairnes, The Slave Power (1862)
    1. Chap. III. "Internal Organization of Slave Societies"
    2. Chap. V. "Internal Development of Slave Societies"

19thC French Classical Liberals

  1. Jean-Baptiste Say (to come)
  2. Benjamin Constant, The Spirit of Conquest and Usurpation (1814)
  3. Charles Comte
    1. Charles Comte, "De la multiplication des pauvres, des gens à places, et des gens à pensions," (On the Increase of Poor People, People with Government Jobs, and Government Pensions) Le Censeur européen, ( 1818)
    2. Charles Comte, "De l'influence de l'esclavage domestique sur l'esprit et la nature l du gouvernement," Traité de législation (1827)
  4. Charles Dunoyer
    1. Charles Dunoyer, "De l'influence qu'exercent sur le gouvernement les salaires attachés à l'exercice des fonctions publiques" Le Censeur européen (Feb. 1819)
    2. Dunoyer, Chap. X. "La Recherche des Places" (Political Place-Seeking), Nouveau Traité (1825, 1830)
  5. Augustin Thierry
    1. Augustin Thierry, "Des factions" (1817)
    2. Augustin Thierry, "Rise of the Bourgeoisie of the Middle Ages" (1853)
  6. Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui, "Introduction" to History of Political Economy in Europe, (Paris: Guillaumin, 1837; English translation by Emily Leonard, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1880).
  7. Gustave de Beaumont, Ireland: Social, Political, and Religious (1839)
    1. Beaumont,"A bad Aristocracy is the primary cause of all the evils of Ireland" (1839)
    2. Beaumont,"The privileges of the Aristocracy must be abolished" (1839)
  8. F. Bastiat:
    1. Bastiat on "The English Oligarchy" (1845)
    2. "The Physiology of Plunder" (ES2 1) (late 1847)
    3. "Two Moral Philosophies" (ES1 2) (late 1847)
    4. "Property and Plunder: 5th Letter" (24 July, 1848)
  9. Ambroise Clément
    1. Ambroise Clément, "De la spoliation légale," Journal des économistes, (1848)
    2. Clément, "Functionaries", DEP (1852) and Lalor's Cyclopedia (1899)
  10. Charles Renouard, "Parasites", DEP (1852) and Lalor's Cyclopedia (1899)
  11. Gustave de Molinari
    1. Molinari, "Noblesse" (Nobility) DEP (1852)
    2. Molinari, "Servage," DEP (1852) (en français)
    3. Molinari, "Les Révolutions et le despotisme envisagés au point de vue des intérêts matériels" (1852) - parts 2 and 3 (en français)
    4. Molinari, "The French Revolution," Évolution politique (1884)
  12. Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution (1859)
    1. Book Second: CHAPTER II.: THAT WE OWE "ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRALIZATION," NOT TO THE REVOLUTION OR THE EMPIRE, AS SOME SAY, BUT TO THE OLD REGIME
    2. Book Second: CHAPTER V.: HOW CENTRALIZATION CREPT IN AMONG THE OLD AUTHORITIES, AND SUPPLANTED WITHOUT DESTROYING THEM
    3. Book Second: CHAPTER IX.: THAT THESE MEN, WHO WERE SO ALIKE, WERE MORE DIVIDED THAN THEY HAD EVER BEEN INTO PETTY GROUPS, EACH INDEPENDENT OF AND INDIFFERENT TO THE OTHERS
  13. Hippolyte Taine - state functionaries and the bureaucratic state under Napoleon (1890) (to come)
  14. Yves Guyot (to come)

19thC English Classical Liberals and Cobdenites

  1. Richard Cobden, Speeches (1842-1850)
    1. FREE TRADE. II. CORN-LAWS.—MR. VILLIERS' ANNUAL MOTION. HOUSE OF COMMONS, FEBRUARY 24, 1842.
    2. FREE TRADE. XIV. LONDON, JANUARY 15, 1845
    3. FREE TRADE. XVIII. BIRMINGHAM, NOVEMBER 13, 1845.
    4. FREE TRADE. XIX. LONDON, DECEMBER 17, 1845.
    5. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. I. HOUSE OF COMMONS, JULY 6, 1848.
    6. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. II. LONDON, NOVEMBER 26, 1849.
    7. FREE TRADE. XXIV. LEEDS, DECEMBER 18, 1849.
    8. FINANCE. III. HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 8, 1850.
  2. Herbert Spencer
    1. "The Class Bias" in Principles of Sociology (1873)
    2. Part V. "Political Institutions" in The Principles of Sociology, vol. 2 (1882)
      1. Chap. IV. "Political Differentiation"
      2. Chap. XVII. "The Militant Type of Society"
      3. Chap. XVIII. "The Industrial Type of Society"
  3. James Bryce (to come)
  4. A.V. Dicey, (to come)
    1. "The Balance of Classes" in Essays on Reform (1867)
    2. A.V. Dicey, "The Period of Collectivism"
  5. Auberon Herbert, Voluntaryist Creed (to come)
  6. J.A. Hobson, Imperialism (1902)
    1. Chapter IV: Economic Parasites of Imperialism
    2. Chapter V: Imperialism Based on Protection

Other 19thC Theorists

  1. Karl Marx
    1. Marx, "The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850", (January - October 1850)
    2. Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoléon (1852)
      1. Chap. 4
      2. Chap. 7
    3. Marx "Letter to Joseph Weydemeyer" (5 March 1852)
    4. Marx, Letter to Engels [London,] 27 July 1854
  2. Gaetanto Mosca, The Ruling Class (1896)
    1. Chap. II "The Ruling Class"
    2. Chap. XV "Principles and Tendencies in Ruling Classes"
  3. Vifredo Pareto, The Rise and Fall of the Elites (1900)
    1. Chap. 3 "The Decline of the Old Elite"
    2. Chap. 4 "The Rise of the New Elite"
  4. Max Weber, Chap. XXIX "The Rational State" in General Economic History, trans. Frank H. Knight (1927) (to come)

19thC American Theorists

  1. John Taylor, An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1814)
    1. Chap. IV. "Funding"
    2. Chap. VIII. "Infusing Aristocracy into the Policy of the United States"
  2. John C. Calhoun, "A Disquisition on Government" (1849)
  3. Frederick Douglass (to come)
  4. William Legget, Editorials (1834)
    1. TRUE FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT, Evening Post, November 21, 1834.
    2. RICH AND POOR, Evening Post, November 4, 1834.
    3. UNCURRENT BANK NOTES, Evening Post, March 10, 1835.
    4. THE COURSE OF THE EVENING POST, Evening Post, May 18, 1835.
    5. THE STREET OF THE PALACES, Plaindealer, December 10, 1836.
    6. THE CREDIT SYSTEM AND THE ARISTOCRACY, Plaindealer, August 26, 1837.
  5. Lysander Spooner
    1. Lysander Spooner, "On the real governing power in the country" in No Treason VI (1870)
    2. Lysander Spooner, "Natural Law contrasted with Legislation" (1882)
  6. Benjamin R. Tucker, "State Socialism and Anarchism" (1888)
  7. William Graham Sumner, Essays (1883)
    1. "The Forgotten Man" (1883)
    2. "On the Case of a Certain Man who is never thought of" (1884)
    3. "The Case of the Forgotten Man farther considered" (no date)
    4. "What makes the Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer?" (1887)
    5. "State Interference" (1887)
    6. "Earth Hunger or the Philosophy of Land Grabbing" (1896)
    7. "Separation of State and Market" (no date)
    8. "Democracy and Plutocracy" (no date) which also includes "Definitions of Democracy and Plutocracy" and "The Conflict of Plutocracy and Democracy"

20thC Works - pre-1945

  1. Franz Oppenheimer, "The Genesis of the State"," (1908)
  2. Hillaire Belloc, The Servile State (1912) (LF, 1977) (to come)
    1. Sction 1 "Definitions"
    2. Section 9 "The Servile State has Begun"
  3. Albert J. Nock, Our Enemy the State (1935)
    1. Chap. I "Social Power vs. State Power"
    2. Chap. II "The Origins of State and Class"
  4. Lionel Robbins, "The Economic Basis of Class Conflict" (1937)
  5. John T. Flynn, As We go Marching (1944), "The Good Fascism: America."
  6. Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944) (University of Chicago Press, 1976). (not available)
    1. VIII. "Who, Whom?" pp. 101-18
    2. X. "Why the Worst get on Top", pp. 134-52
  7. Ludwig von Mises (to come)
    1. Mises, Socialism (1922) (LF, 1981)
      1. Chap. 20. "The Clash of Class Interests and the Class War"
    2. Mises, Bureaucracy (1944) (LF, 2007)
      1. "V: The Social and Political Implications of Bureaucratization "
    3. Ludwig von Mises, "The Clash of Group Interests" (1945)

20thC Works of Theory (and History) of Class by Modern Libertarians and Other Economists - post-1945

  1. Murray N. Rothbard
    1. "The Anatomy of the State" (1965) in Egalitarianism as a Revolt against Nature and Other Essays (Washington, D.C.: Libertarian Press Review, 1974), pp. 34-53.
    2. "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty" (to come)
    3. A New History of Leviathan. Essays on the Rise of the American Corporate State, ed. Ronald Radosh and Murray N. Rothbard (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1972).
      1. "War Collectivism in World War I," pp. 66-110. [also in War Collectivism: Power, Business, and the Intellectual Class in World War I (Auburn, AL.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 21012). "War Collectivism in World War I," pp. ??
      2. "Herbert Hoover and the Myth of Laissez-Faire," pp. 111-45.
    4. "The State," in For a New Liberty (New York: Macmillan, 1973), pp. 47-78.
    5. "From Hoover to Roosevelt: The Federal Reserve and the Financial Elites," (2002) in A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2002, 2005), pp. 263-347. (to come)
  2. Roy A. Childs
    1. Liberty against Power (not available)
    2. "Big Business and the Rise of American Statism" (1969, 1971)
  3. Walter E. Grinder & John Hagel III
    1. Walter E. Grinder and John Hagel, "Toward a Theory of State Capitalism: Ultimate Decision-Making and Class Structure (1974)
    2. John Hagel III and Walter E. Grinder, "From Laissez-Faire to Zwangswirtschaft" (1975)
  4. Gordon Tullock and James Buchanan et al. (not available)
    1. Gordon Tullock, Selected Works (LF)
      1. vol. 5. The Rent-Seeking Society (LF, 2005)
      2. vol. 6. Bureaucracy (LF, 2005
        1. "The Politics of Bureaucracy" (1965) - "The Politician's World"
      3. vol. 8. The Social Dilemma of Autocracy, Revolution, Coup d'Etat, and War (LF, 2005)
        1. "The Exploitative State" (1974)
        2. "The Goals and Organizational Forms of Autocracies" (1987)