Liberty and Liberalism

Liberty and Liberalism, first published in 1887, is the one major study of classical liberalism to be written in Australia. Bruce Smith wrote this erudite volume because he feared that liberalism was being perverted by the “new’ liberals who believed in expanding state activity. A businessman and politician with practical experience in the industrial sphere, Smith sought to defend individual freedom and the voluntary principle, and to limit the role of the state. In an age when the power of the state still threatens individual initiative, Smith’s ideas have relevance for all those who wish to keep a rein on the state and encourage individual liberty. The republication after more than a century of this classic establishes a new occasional series of CIS Classics to be published by The Centre for Independent Studies.