A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru

by Louis Baudin, Arthur Goddard (Editor)

2011 Reprint of 1961 Edition. Many social scientists have attempted to lump the unique Inca society into modern political and economic categories. Louis Baudin argued that Incan society was socialistic. He claimed that the ayllu system is what classified the Inca as a system of state socialism. Baudin defines state socialism as being based on the idea of the regulative action of a central power in social relations. According to Baudin, the idea of private property in Europe had been in existence for centuries, but no such idea existed at the times of the Incas. He claims, that society in Peru rested on a foundation of collective ownership which, to a certain extent, facilitated its establishment, because the effacement of the individual within a group prepared him to allow himself to be absorbed. Baudin argued that the higher ranking Incas tried, and succeeded to an extent, to force a degree of uniformity on the common Inca. The Inca were forced to dress similarly, eat the same food, practice the same religion, and speak the same language, Quechua.

Genres: History, Economics, Politics, Anthropology, Nonfiction

466 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2011

About the author

French economist, an outspoken classical liberal, and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He was elected member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in 1951 and president of the French Association of Economics from 1955 to 1964. He participated in the Walter Lippman Colloquium and was professor at the law schools of Dijon and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people should read this book. It's the best explanation I've seen of the Incan economy and government. The book also explains a lot as to why the current descendants of the Inca's tend to have the characteristics the author mentions. It's made clear that the system of socialism practiced by the Inca's still has consequences for the descendants today. It can take a long time to recover from the soul sucking loss of dignity that is the result of socialism.

The book covers a lot of areas of the incan empire such as food, farming practices, local governments, military system, penal codes, etc in brief. It doesn't go into an extreme depth because the point of the book is to see just how the Inca's were socialist and how they weren't.

What makes the book different from other analysis of socialism is how the Inca's made the system sustainable, albeit still horrible for the individual. Many have the intellect to understand why the Soviet Union collapsed, why Cuba is a poverty stricken wreck, and why the U.S. move towards socialism is bankrupting the U.S. government. So what you may wonder as I did, is how did the Inca system survived as long as it did? This book explains that religion, a local system of communal or clan based farming, and to some extent fear, helped to keep the inca system in place as long as it did.

I recommend this book because it's a good example of what life in a socialist society, even one that actually looked out for it's people, is really like. It's also a look at the Pre-Columbian cultures that seem to be ignored by many. (even though I think they're the most interesting)

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote the foreword to the Laissez Faire Books ebook edition of this important work.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent attempt to uncover the realities of life in Inca Peru.
Well worth reading ... it provides interesting areas to think about in respect to the pros and cons of living in a socialistic society.
The author reveals the difficulties historians have in presenting a realistic and unbiased view of past events, especially in civilizations where no written records were maintained, but equally applicable to times in which records were kept because of the biases of the people who are keeping the records.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review to follow.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm writing a foreword to a new edition of this book right now. When the book is published I'll put up a link to it on Instead of a Blog (www.insteadofablog.com).