The Austrians are not, of course, alone in being unable to conceptualise the stateless and democratic version of socialism. But they have done as much, if not more, than anyone else to propagate this very conceptual impossibility—despite being right up close to Marxism, almost since day one. Again, here they resemble Stalinists. They have been hugging Marxism on the brink of the Reichenbach Falls for a century and a half, staring into its eyes, but have never really seen it. They have spent a long time grappling frantically and hatefully with that which they do not, and will not, look at. The
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