1. ** Membership was probably mandatory for all employees of public and semi-public organizations.**" Evidence please, Steve. 

2. Was it probably mandatory for Mises to join the official Fascist social club? 

3. Why did Mises become a card-carrying Austro-Fascist (1 March 1934) two months before Dollfuss created a one-party state (1 May 1934)?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Horwitz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, 29 May, 2014 12:22:25 AM
Subject: Re: [SHOE] The Hayek question

-----Original Message-----
From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Leeson
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2014 6:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] The Hayek question


>>1934: Mises becomes a card-carrying Austro-Fascist and member of the official fascist social club: Hülsmann, J. G. 2007. Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Let's once again take a look at Leeson's supposed "scholarship."

The organization in question was the Vaterlandische Front (Patriotic/Fatherland Front).  Hulsmann's footnote reads as follows, my emphasis:

"Mises became a member on March 1, 1934 at the Patriotic Front's Kammer branch office.  ** Membership was probably mandatory for all employees of public and semi-public organizations.**"  

The remainder of the note provides the membership card information and where it can be found.

Leeson completely fails to include the rather crucial piece of information about the membership likely being mandatory.  That, of course, can reconcile Mises's membership and the facts presented by Richard Ebeling.  Given that the VF was about to declare itself a monopoly political party, it's not surprising that they would require membership from those groups. 

An honest scholar would have included the relevant information from his source material about the likelihood of Mises's membership being mandatory rather than a matter of choice.  Using that membership card as evidence about Mises's supposed fascist sympathies is not the work of serious scholar. 

Steve