The Mont Pèlerin Society’s intellectual mission deliberately avoided propaganda roles

Evidence

Crane’s response to Hayek indicated his deepening interest in the Society and his willingness to be involved—he even showed a distinct enthusiasm for taking a backseat role to the scholars. He agreed with Hayek that businessmen and dilettantes should not be publicly associated with the Society: “The conclusions reached, the philosophy developed, the suggestions made, and the points raised for further inquiry will have, coming from men of the highest scholarship, profound influence in the realm of ideas.” Perhaps most surprisingly, the specifically nonpragmatic program of the MPS appealed to Crane. The new organization should not, he thought, attempt to get involved in politics, or even to participate in the types of broad ideological campaigns being organized by the National Association of Manufacturers. “To attempt wide propaganda would in my opinion be quite unwise and would indeed weaken the potential usefulness of the society. That, as the need for it becomes manifest, can be carried on by other instruments created for that very purpose.” — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1450

Categorization

• QUESTION: Crane insists the Society stay out of politics and propaganda — fascinating that a wealthy backer wanted the MPS to be purely scholarly, and that this apparently held. Worth checking how this no-propaganda stance coexisted with later claims that the MPS was a coordinated political project.
• XREF: connects to: Hayek insisted the Mont Pèlerin Society stay private and philosophical, not engage in propaganda — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 333; Mont Pèlerin Society economists drove academic changes, contrary to conventional wisdom. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 2170; Hayek designed the Mont Pèlerin Society as a closed ideological academy — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 193 (+2 more)