The Wisdom of Murray Rothbard

Since 1970 I have firmly and decidedly considered myself a Rothbardian. Murray Rothbard has been my mentor, the shining star which has guided my path exploring Libertarianism as my ideological world view and political belief system. But throughout all these decades there has existed one major difference between Rothbard and myself. It was his revisionist view of the foreign policy stance of the Soviet Union.  While Rothbard posited some excellent insights and analysis in formulating his thesis I considered his overall conclusion fundamentally flawed and untenable.

My principal objections to it were three fold. (1) they were based on his neglect in focusing upon the pivotal role of Soviet espionage (NKVD/KGB and GRU) and the Communist International (Comintern) in waging subversive covert warfare against the internal state structures and civil societies of other countries, and (2) the possible adoption of Stalin of the Icebreaker thesis put forth by Viktor Suvorov.

Many prominent libertarians (such as Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, John V. Denson,  Jacob G. HornbergerRichard M EbelingDavid Gordon, and the intrepid “Bionic Mosquito“) have been intrigued with the grand geopolitical strategies concerning the origins of the Second World War put forth in several controversial works by Viktor Suvorov (Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun). Suvorov is a prolific Russian writer, historian and a former Soviet military intelligence officer who defected to the United Kingdom. Suvorov made his name writing Icebreaker and several follow-up books on the history of World War II, including The Chief Culprit: Stalin’s Grand Design to Start World War II

If true and historically verifiable and accurate this would invalidate the purely defensive Soviet strategy outlined by Rothbard. According to Lew Rockwell we know that Rothbard was aware of Survorov’s writings in Icebreaker and intended to comment upon them but never did before his untimely death.

Lastly (3)  Antony C. Sutton’s monumental research documenting how the US and other Western nations built the Soviet military industrial complex and (along with Edwin Black’s independent documentation) enabled the German National Socialist Warfare State’s essential military infrastructure in order to wage WWII.

Perhaps it was unfair to censure Rothbard because of all the material he omitted in his analysis but I always thought he told an incomplete story. I now think his cogent analysis stands on its own merit. Perhaps in my old age and with the Ukraine/Russia war drums sounding their martial beat I am mellowing and finally seeing the light.

I ask you in this time of tension regarding the Ukraine/Russia conflict to take a few minutes to carefully review it, especially regarding what he posits as the central foreign policy stance of the USSR since the days of Lenin (and we may now say which has continued in the post-USSR Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin): protection of the political and territorial integrity of the Russian nation-state against potential invaders or attempts of absorption of its territory.

Facing Unpleasant Facts: What You aren’t Supposed to say about the War in Ukraine, by Joseph Solis-Mullen, is perhaps the most clear and straight-forward presentation of fact-based opinion and reasoned assessment of the war in Ukraine I have encountered.

A neutral Ukraine formally renouncing joining NATO or any other military alliance jeopardizing Russian security, removal of all missiles potentially deployed or aimed at threating the Russian homeland, and guarantees of the independence of Crimea and those independent Russian speaking republics wishing to ally with Russia, should be on the negotiation table to end this war.

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6:23 pm on March 19, 2022