Some MPS founders rejected abolishing strikes as antidemocratic

Evidence

Ilau disagreed with proposals for the elimination of the right to strike or the right of self-organization, such as those by Lewis. According to Ilau, “politically it is not conceivable to abolish these institutions in a free society. Therefore the only problem is to endeavor to prevent inflation risk due to the abuse of these rights by labor unions. This seems to me the central point. I do not believe that labor legislation can do much here” (Ilau 1958, 4). Ilau instead saw that the way forward was to domesticate trade-union leaders and thereby accustom labor unions to accept wage moderation, as well as to prevent recourse to strikes, as in the Swiss case since 1937. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 976

Categorization

• XREF: Documents the genuine intra-MPS disagreement over union policy in the founding years, complicating the common picture of a uniformly anti-union Mont Pèlerin Society. — connects to: MPS founders disagreed sharply over whether unions were inherently harmful. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1004; Hayek’s anti-union radicalism won out by silencing rival MPS views — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 979

Broader Connections

• MPS founders disagreed sharply over whether unions were inherently harmful. #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1004
• Hayek’s anti-union radicalism won out by silencing rival MPS views #contradicts (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 979