Ludwig von Mises on John Stuart Mill and the Literature of (Classical) Liberalism

John Stuart Mill is an epigone of classical liberalism and, especially in his later years, under the influence of his wife, full of feeble compromises. He slips slowly into socialism and is the originator of the thoughtless confounding of liberal and socialist ideas that led to the decline of English liberalism and to the undermining of the living standards of the English people. Nevertheless—or perhaps precisely because of this— one must become acquainted with Mill’s principal writings:

• Principles of Political Economy (1848)
• On Liberty (1859)
• Utilitarianism (1862)

Without a thorough study of Mill it is impossible to understand the events of the last two generations, for Mill is the great advocate of socialism. All the arguments that could be advanced in favor of socialism are elaborated by him with loving care. In comparison with Mill all other socialist writers —even Marx, Engels, and Lassalle—are scarcely of any importance. 

—Ludwig von Mises, appendix to Liberalism: The Classical Tradition, ed. Bettina Bien Greaves (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005), 153-154.