There is this book, Quotable Mises. I checked the quotes there on Marxism. After reading them, I came up with an idea to restructure them. Of course, this article does not contain the complete perspective of Ludwig von Mises on Marxism. Just consider this as introductory. He has thicker books dealing with the subject in greater detail. Having said this, let me just divide under nine points the quotes that I gathered from that book:
- As to Marxist view of the supremacy of proletarian logic:
Marxism is right because it is a product of proletarian logic and it is “inspired by the supreme power that determines the destiny of mankind.”
The essence of Marxian philosophy is this: We are right because we are the spokesmen of the rising proletarian class. Discursive reasoning cannot invalidate our teachings, for they are inspired by the supreme power that determines the destiny of mankind. Our adversaries are wrong because they lack the intuition that guides our minds (Human Action, p. 84; p. 83).
In the eyes of the Marxians, Ricardo, Freud, Bergson, and Einstein are wrong because they are bourgeois; in the eyes of the Nazis they are wrong because they are Jews (Omnipotent Government, p. 145).
Marxism with its doctrine of the supremacy of proletarian logic and with its claim to scientific character of its revolutionary process is in reality anti-logic and anti-science.
Logic and reasoning, which might show the absurdity of such dreams of bliss and revenge, are to be thrust aside. . . . It is against Logic, against Science and against the activity of thought itself (Socialism, p. 7).
- In its view of capitalism:
The economic understanding of the followers of Marx applauded as sophisticated in the academe is in reality immature and naive.
They have no greater perception of the essentials of economic life than the errand boy, whose only idea of the work of the entrepreneur is that he covers pieces of paper with letters and figures (Socialism, p. 189).
In its most fundamental contentions Marxism has never risen above the level of a doctrine for the soap box orator (Socialism, p. 305).
Marxist’s economic teachings are a distorted revision of the theories of Adam Smith and Ricardo.
Marx’s economic teachings are essentially a garbled rehash of the theories of Adam Smith and, first of all, of Ricardo (Theory and History, pp. 124–25).
The doctrine of the irreconcilable conflict of interest between social classes is in reality a flop.
“For Marx and his parties, the interests of the individual classes are irreconcilably opposed to each other. Each class knows precisely what his class interests are and how to realize them. Therefore, there can only be warfare” (A Critique of Interventionism, p. 118).
“He did not know what to say in the planned 52nd chapter of the third volume and this embarrassment induced him to desist from finishing his great treatise. The essential dogma of the Marxian philosophy, the class conflict doctrine which he and his friend Engels had propagated for many decades, was unmasked as a flop” (Economic Freedom and Interventionism, p. 121).
Marxism teaches “that capitalism results in a progressive impoverishment of the wage earners.”
Even the most orthodox Marxians are not bold enough to support seriously its essential thesis, namely, that capitalism results in a progressive impoverishment of the wage earners” (Human Action, p. 691; p. 694).
- Marxist cannot show us the proof that socialism is the inevitable future destiny of mankind.
The Marxian dogma according to which socialism is bound to come ‘with the inexorability of a law of nature’ is just an arbitrary surmise devoid of any proof (Planning for Freedom, p. 33).
- Marxism is revolutionary in the sense that it “declares that the design of the prime mover will be accomplished by civil war. . . . Hence the “liquidation of all dissenters” is necessary to “establish the undisputed supremacy of the absolute eternal values.” And such revolutionary doctrine is being sold to the public as scientific.
Marxism is a revolutionary doctrine. It expressly declares that the design of the prime mover will be accomplished by civil war. . . . The liquidation of all dissenters will establish the undisputed supremacy of the absolute eternal values. This formula for the solution of conflicts of value judgments is certainly not new. It is a device known and practiced from time immemorial. Kill the infidels! Burn the heretics! What is new is merely the fact that today it is sold to the public under the label of ‘science’ (Theory and History, p. 51).
- Marxism is the revelation imparted to prophet Karl Marx by the mysterious powers that determine the course of human history, which he aims to communicate to the people.
All the sophisticated syllogisms of the ponderous volumes published by Marx, Engels, and hundreds of Marxian authors cannot conceal the fact that the only and ultimate source of Marx’s prophecy is an alleged inspiration by virtue of which Marx claims to have guessed the plans of the mysterious powers determining the course of history. Like Hegel, Marx was a prophet communicating to the people the revelation that an inner voice had imparted to him(Human Action, p. 691; p. 695).
- The success of Marxism is due to the fact that it promises an earthly paradise and humiliation of the stronger and winners in the game of life, which are deeply imbedded in the human soul.
The incomparable success of Marxism is due to the prospect it offers of fulfilling those dream-aspirations and dreams of vengeance which have been so deeply imbedded in the human soul from time immemorial. It promises a Paradise on earth, a Land of Heart’s Desire full of happiness and enjoyment, and— sweeter still to the losers in life’s game—humiliation of all who are stronger and better than the multitude (Socialism, p. 7).
- Only Marxism, the proletarian opium has the power to replace religion, the people’s opium.
The Bolshevists persistently tell us that religion is opium for the people. Marxism is indeed opium for those who might take to thinking and must therefore be weaned from it” (Socialism, p. 7).
- The followers of Marx, conscious that their stance is indefensible and therefore resolve to specialize in their polemic not against the argument but always against the person of their opponent.
Marx and Engels never tried to refute their opponents with argument. They insulted, ridiculed, derided, slandered, and traduced them, and in the use of these methods their followers are not less expert. Their polemic is directed never against the argument of the opponent, but always against his person (Socialism, p. 19).
- Marxism spells the doom of freedom.
Within Marxism there is no place for free thought (Socialism, p. 319).
The Marxians’ love of democratic institutions was a stratagem only, a pious fraud for the deception of the masses. Within a socialist community there is no room left for freedom. There can be no freedom of the press where the government owns every printing office. There can be no free choice of profession or trade where the government is the only employer and assigns everyone the task he must fulfill. There can be no freedom to settle where one chooses when the government has the power to fix one’s place of work. There can be no real freedom of scientific research where the government owns all the libraries, archives, and laboratories and has the right to send anyone to a place where he cannot continue his investigation. There can be no freedom in art and literature where the government determines who shall create them. There can be neither freedom of conscience nor of speech where the government has the power to remove any opponent to a climate which is detrimental to his health, or to assign him duties which surpass his strength and ruin him both physically and intellectually” (Omnipotent Government, pp. 51–52).
Studies in Economics 