The Mont Pèlerin Society’s founding statement was deliberately vague to hold divergent members together.

Evidence

Perhaps their most important task was to develop a formal account of what the goal of this new or ga ni za tion would be. In doing so, they would have the opportunity to frame the pa ram e ters of the “new” liberalism Hayek had summoned them to construct, and to identify the points of commonality that held their sometimes divergent perspectives together. Their fi rst draft of such a statement was written by a committee of fi ve members, who sought to employ language that one of them described as “broad enough to be meaningful, and not detailed enough to split us up.” They produced a list of foundational convictions that assailed the socialist menace, lauded the virtues of the competitive market, and drew connections between economic freedoms and the “intellectual freedom” that totalitarians sought to erode. … Even in this vague initial form, their statement inspired controversy among the participants, who erupted in debate about whether it excessively or insuffi ciently emphasized the importance of private property, whether its reliance on the concept of a “moral code” should be expanded or removed, and whether it embraced the forwardlooking language of progressivism strongly enough. Some members questioned whether their diffi culties were a sign that the society’s members did not share many commonalities after all. If the group could not agree “on a fairly general scheme of ideas,” George Stigler remarked, “then it seems that there would be very little purpose or reason, in forming a society.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 267

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mont Pèlerin founders rejected laissez-faire and libertarian labels as politically unviable — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 306; The Mont Pèlerin Society’s growth threatened its philosophical unity — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 325; The Mont Pèlerin Society contained rival, incompatible conceptions of the market — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2126

Broader Connections

• The Mont Pèlerin Society contained rival, incompatible conceptions of the market #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2126
• Mont Pèlerin founders rejected laissez-faire and libertarian labels as politically unviable #qualifies (0.75) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 306
• The Mont Pèlerin Society’s growth threatened its philosophical unity #qualifies (0.70) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 325