Abstract
My article is an impetus for a discussion on liberal aspect of the thinking of a social democratic politician and economist J. Macek.
In the first part I define Macek’s approach to liberalism. My conclusion is that though Macek was a conscious socialist and he had limitations in respect to libertarian interpretation of the classic liberalism of the 19th century, he was at the same time to a considerable extent influenced by liberalism and he constantly oscillated on the threshold between socialism and liberalism.
In the second part I contemplate possible sources of inspiration of Macek’s opinions (I primarily question the extent of the influence of F. Oppenheimer and J.
M. Keynes).
I conclude that Macek was influenced both by Oppenheimer as well as Keynes but the liberal aspect of Macek’s thinking far more likely grew out of his knowledge of Oppenheimer and some Anglo-Saxon authors, who have either never or seldom been put in context with Macek, than from his knowledge of Keynes.