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The introduction to this stunning work is by Murray Rothbard, who calls French radical Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) the great innovator in the market provision of security. Indeed, he might be regarded as the first proponent of what is called anarcho-capitalism. Molinari was steeped in the old liberal worldview of Bastiat and hence was a dedicated champion of private property and free markets. But Molinari took matters further to argue that markets were also better at providing the service that the state claimed was its monopoly privilege: the provision of security itself. His singular contribution, then, was to lead us away from the false assumption of Hobbes that somehow the state was necessary to keep society from devolving into chaos. On the contrary, argued Molinari, the voluntary society is the source of order that comes from freedom itself. There is no contradiction or even tension between liberty and security. If free enterprise works well in one sector, it can work well in other sectors too. Molinari was indeed a radical but in the sense that foreshadowed the development of American libertarian thought: a radical for capitalism in all areas of life, which is another way of saying that he was a consistent champion of the fully free society. Perhaps there was a time when people could regard the government monopoly on police and courts as benign, part of the "night watchman" state advocated by the old-time classical liberals. But the march of the police state has changed that: we are more likely to understand that the state's "security" services are the gravest threat to liberty we face. In that sense, Molinari is the man of the hour.
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The Production of Security Gustave de Molinari Translation by J. Huston McCulloch This essay was originally published as “De la production de la sécurité,” in Journal des Economistes (February 1849): 277–90. This translation by was originally published as Gustave de Molinari, The Production of Security, trans. J. Huston McCulloch, Occasional Papers Series #2 , Richard M. Ebeling, ed. (New York: The Center for Libertarian Studies, May 1977). © 2009 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and published under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Ludwig von Mises Institute 518 West Magnolia Avenue Auburn, Alabama 36832 www.mises.org ISBN: 978-1-933550-57-2 The interests of the consumer of any commodity whatsoever should always prevail over the interests of the producer. — Gustave de Molinari C o n t e n t S Preface by Murray N. Rothbard. . . . . . . 9 The Production of Security . . . . . . . . 15 The Natural Order of Society. . . . . . . 17 Competition in Security?. . . . . . . . . 22 Security an Exception?. . . . . . . . . . 25 The Alternatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Monopoly and Communism . . . . . . . 29 The Monopolization and Collectivization of the Security Industry. . 33 Government and Society. . . . . . . . . 41 The Divine Right of Kings and Majorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Regime of Terror. . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Free Market for Security . . . . . . . 53 The Production of Security Preface By Murray N. Rothbard (1977) N ever has laissez-faire thought been as dominant as it was among French economists, beginning with J.B. Say in the early nineteenth century, down through Say’s more advanced followers Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer and to the early years of the twentieth century. For nearly a century, the laissez-faire economists controlled the professional economic society, the Societe d’Economie Politique and its journal, the Journal des Economistes, as well as numerous other journals and university posts. And yet, few of these economists were translated into English, and virtually none are known to English or A