Economy > Friedrich A. Hayek

A Boston Prof Links Hayek to the ‘Far Right’

A Canadian professor is deeply disturbed by Friedrich A. Hayek's mustache. 

Christopher Chantrill | June 8, 2026

Suppose you were a university professor and a liberal -- but I repeat myself. And suppose you were ambitious. What better way to blaze across the sky like a meteor than to write a book about how all those far-right armed insurrectionists were fans of a guy with a semi-Nazi mustache?

I first learned about Friedrich von Hayek, born in Vienna, economist of the Austrian school and political philosopher, back in the 1970s when Bob Bartley set the world ablaze at the WSJ editorial page. In 1931, Hayek left Vienna. He joined the London School of Economics, became F.A. Hayek, and hit the big time with his critique of socialism and the administrative state in The Road to Serfdom, published in 1944.

Did you know that Hayek inspired the far right, the hard right, the alt-right, and the right in-between? Boston University professor Quinn Slobodian proves it in Hayek’s Bastards, published in 2025. Needless to say, Dr. Slobodian has been showered with glittering prizes for his heroic work.

But I knew nothing, nothing about this path-breaking book until I read a critique about it by Andy Lamey in Quillette.

Who were the monsters that Hayek sired out-of-wedlock? According to Professor Slobodian, the armed insurrectionists included:

neo-Nazi Richard Spencer

anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard

VDARE creator Peter Brimelow

Eccentric economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe

eugenics enthusiast Richard Lynn

As we all know, these monsters have made liberals quiver in fear for their lives for decades.

But guess what: according to Lamey, Hayek also inspired lefties, including John Rawls -- A Theory........

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