The Capitalist Manifesto

2022 Reprint of the 1958 Edition. Facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In 1956, a U.S. lawyer-economist, Louis O. Kelso, created the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to enable the employees of a closely held newspaper chain to buy out its retiring owners. Two years later, Kelso and his co-author, the philosopher Mortimer J. Adler, explained the macro-economic theory on which the ESOP is based in this best-selling book, The Capitalist Manifesto.

"When you read this book, you must be prepared for a shock-particularly if you are among the millions of Americans who feel complacent about the material well-being that now prevails in this country. THE CAPITALIST MANIFESTO will compel you to examine, reconsider and question many dangerous economic factors and political tendencies you have accepted as inevitable-and will show you how you can do something about them.

"THE CAPITALIST MANIFESTO sets the alarm for all American citizens-not simply one group or class. It is for stockholders, workers, labor leaders, corporation executives, investment bankers, taxpayers, small businessmen and industrialists, statesmen, legislators, judges and educators. Its purpose is to arouse us to the real and present dangers we now face, from inflation and from the progressive socialization of our economy. What is the difference between a well-heeled existence in a welfare state and the good life in a free society? THE CAPITALIST MANIFESTO will tell you what that difference is, and why you must be a man of property in order to be a free man. It will explain the meaning of your ever-expanding opportunities for leisure. It will tell you that the goal of an industrial society should not be full employment in the production of wealth, but full enjoyment of the wealth produced. It will tell you how you, as an individual, can best use wealth to further the happiness and well-being of yourself and your fellow men."

"A revolutionary force in human affairs offering still unplumbed promise for the future...."-Time Magazine


Contents: Why a capitalist manifesto -- Economic freedom -- Some problems to be solved -- Elementary economics -- Economic justice and economic rights -- Economic history -- Economic future -- Theory of capitalism -- Summary of the practical program -- Point of departure for the reforms proposed -- Measures aimed at broadening the ownership of existing enterprises -- Modern corporation and the capitalist revolution -- Measures aimed at deterring an excessive ownership of capital by individual households -- Measures aimed at directly stimulating an increase in the number of new capitalists.