Anyone familiar with the Austrian School of economics or basic libertarianism has most likely heard of Frederic Bastiat, the French proto-Austrian economist.
In fact, if you are a freedom-oriented individual, you are probably far better acquainted with Bastiat than the average French academic or economist.
Most online bios outlining Bastiat’s life present him as a detached landowner in southern France who dabbled in politics (elected to the local legislature) and who managed to write an economic gem or two in the last years of his semi-short life.
But that was not the real Bastiat.
The Real Bastiat
The real Bastiat was a journalist who fought to expose the fallacies surrounding economic thinking of his time, an agitator fighting against the spread of socialist ideas, a strategic thinker who organized a movement promoting ideas of classical liberalism and free markets.
The unknown Bastiat was a radical non-conformist with a great sense of humor, who was on the leading edge of economic thought. He wrote pamphlets and handed them out in the streets of Paris in the revolutionary years of mid-19th century, hoping to convince desperate people not to be seduced by socialist ideas. He assumed leadership of the French free trade movement in 1844 which he modeled on that of Richard Cobden’s Anti-Corn Law League in England.
He was a consistent libertarian: he denounced the socialists for their economic policies, but protected them from being shot by the military during the riots which broke out in June 1848.
He was a prolific reader, and he spent most of his life thinking about free markets and the role of government. In the last few years of his life, he obsessively created and published material, sensing that his end was near. Knowing he was dying, Bastiat attempted to complete his magnum opus on economic theory, his Economic Harmonies. He was suffering from a debilitating throat condition which severely weakened him and led to his early death on Christmas Eve in 1850.
The Bastiat Project
His most famous works are What is Seen and What is Unseen and The Law (which he published shortly before he died), but that was merely the tip of the iceberg.
David Hart at the LibertyFund’s Bastiat Project is working on translating ALL of Bastiat’s writings, half of which have never been translated into English! Three volumes (out of six) have been published so far.
Get To Know The REAL Bastiat
If you want to dig deeper into the life and work of Frederic Bastiat, I recommend diving into all of the wonderful material collected, organized and translated by the Liberty Fund.
And if you want to fall in law with the radical Bastiat, check out the Bastiat episode on the Tom Woods Show:
In a letter written on 3 July 1850, while he was staying in Les Eaux-Bonnes, five months before his death, Bastiat wrote:
“However, I do not conceal a personal wish. Yes, I would like this theory to attract enough followers in my lifetime (even if only two or three) for me to be assured before dying that it will not be abandoned if it is true.”
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