Intra-society factional warfare shaped the launch of rival neoliberal organizations

Evidence

Röpke emphasized that he hoped to create the Forum Atlanticum “without rivalry” and maintained that it could exist in harmony with the Mont Pèlerin Society. Given the lingering resentments created by the Hunold affair and the direct solicitations that the establishment of such an or ga ni za tion required, however, his profession of a noncompetitive stance was disingenuous. Rüstow’s attempt to incite a mass resignation from the Mont Pèlerin Society was broadly perceived as an implicit and unseemly declaration of war. Hunold deliberately held on to his membership in the society long after Röpke’s resignation in order to publish further polemics in the Mont Pèlerin Society Quarterly, which he hoped would inspire further resignations before he folded the publication into its successor or ga ni za tion. The Forum Atlanticum struggled to overcome the impression that it was created primarily in an act of belligerence against the Mont Pèlerin Society, and only secondarily in order to pursue its own in de pen dent goals. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 370

Categorization

  • XREF: Echoes the pattern of ideological schisms within movements — analogous to factional splits in other intellectual/political traditions the reader studies. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s founders believed ideological change demanded deliberate collective organization — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 218; Neoliberal networks organized their intellectual labor as military-style artillery divisions — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 87; Anti-war splinter groups radicalized into theatrical protest tactics via factional chain — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York…, 2009 (+2 more)

Broader Connections