Ludwig Mises’s Lvivian compass of life

Abstract

Ludwig von Mises belonged to the last generation of people born in the Galician Lviv. His life proves that despite the historical catastrophe suffered by Austria, the free spirit of Galicia can be saved and influence the development of modern economics. His uncompromising moral character took shape in Lviv, which he later expressed in Vienna when he adopted Virgil’s injunction as his life motto: “Yield not thou to ills, but go forth to face them more boldly than thy Fortune shall allow thee”. The article deals with the reception of Mises’s later work. An analysis of his selected works shows that throughout his life he waged a ‘theoretical struggle’ against the blueprint for society and the economy created by Marx, subsequently embodied through terror.