Mont Pèlerin founders framed market advocacy as skepticism against rigid laissez-faire ideals

Evidence

The French economist Maurice Allais chose not to sign its statement of aims on the ground that its “dogmatic stance” on private property left it “much closer to the laissezfairism of the nineteenth century than to a genuine revival of liberalism.” … Most of his colleagues in the society, however, saw themselves as defenders of theoretical complexity against Communists and planners who advocated misleadingly simple solutions for the social ills of the time. … This superfi cial mode of analysis, he argued, helped provoke the misguided assumption that revolutions could solve the central problems of human history. “Revolutions are sometimes inevitable, but they are almost always a misfortune,” he told the members. “They destroy irreplaceable goods.” … The early members of the society represented their market advocacy as emerging from a skepticism about, rather than a rigid adherence to, theoretical ideals. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 274

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction early MPS members drew between genuine liberal revival and nineteenth-century laissez-fairism.
• XREF: Connects to Aron’s The Opium of the Intellectuals and the broader postwar critique of revolutionary intellectuals. — connects to: Hayek founded the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947 to rebuild market advocacy networks. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 30; Mont Pèlerin founders deliberately adopted progressive rhetoric to defend markets after the Depression — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 276; Mont Pèlerin neoliberalism framed market economy as governed by an elite citizenry’s social conscience — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1306 (+4 more)
• QUESTION: Which specific early MPS members shared Allais’s objection, and how did the statement of aims get worded to accommodate them?

Broader Connections

• Mont Pèlerin founders deliberately adopted progressive rhetoric to defend markets after the Depression #corroborates (0.85) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 276
• Mont Pèlerin founders rejected laissez-faire and libertarian labels as politically unviable #expands (0.78) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 306
• Mont Pèlerin neoliberalism framed market economy as governed by an elite citizenry’s social conscience #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1306
• Early Mont Pèlerin members were willing to abandon popular sovereignty to protect markets #qualifies (0.72) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 305