Difference between revisions of "Agorism"

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Agorism is a radical left-libertarian political philosophy founded and popularized by Samuel Edward Konkin III, who defined an Agorist as a conscious practitioner of counter economics (peaceful black markets and grey markets). The term comes from the Greek word "agora" meaning public square or marketplace.

Some may consider Agorism to be an attempt to reconcile anarcho-capitalism with individualist anarchism/mutualism and even libertarian socialism. ^[1] Their ideas are usually portrayed as an evolution and superation of those of Murray Rothbard.

Views on Property

By preferring the term "free market" Agorists are not bound by the implications of the term capitalism. While some Anarcho-Capitalists may believe in replacing all public property with private property, Agorists argue that non-state common property can be legitimate and should be respected. Like Anarcho-Capitalists, and unlike Libertarian Socialists, they believe that private property extends beyond current possession. Private property, particularly in land would not continue infinitely, but must actually be used in some regular capacity to avoid being considered abandoned. Whereas some more extreme Anarcho-Capitalists believe that all property should be private (neo-Lockean) property (hard propertarianism), Agorists are soft propertarian and believe that collective property is permissible.

Views on Corporations

Government favored corporations are viewed by Agorists to link the illegitimacy of the state to many such businesses. State restrictions that limit liability on corporations are believed to corrupt those businesses such that the upper management acts irresponsibly with corporate assets. For example, if such businesses excessively pay executives and are then unable to meet contractual debts, many state laws protect the wages of those responsible for the bankruptcy. Agorists argue that liability cannot simply disappear by act of government and so legitimate business will always have managers or owners who will be held responsible for any actions taken.

Corporations are considered to be allied to the "political class", as they cultivate, support and benefit from the existence of the state. Corporations are regarded as being in possession of illegitimate property accumulated through coercion over a period of time. For this reason, Agorists support the takeover of corporate property by the workers as an act of homesteading, an idea initially proposed by Murray Rothbard, who only retreated from the position after being unable to propose an effective system for the redistribution of property that didn't rely on the state or mindless violence. However, though Rothbard backed down from the position, the idea has been carried on into Agorism.

IP

Agorists tend to oppose copyrights and patents as an illegitimate monopoly as argued by Benjamin Tucker.

Relations

Often Agorists promote and argue for reconciliation between writings by authors as different as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and David Friedman in part by acknowledging terminological differences, most evident by the word "property" itself. Other words such as "free market", "Socialism" and "Capitalism" are acknowledged by Agorists as major causes in rifts among Anarchists merely because of their connotations, uses and definitions among various factions.

Agorists are accepting of most forms of Anarchism, proposing that any Anarchist society is free and therefore people will organise in a way that they see fit.

Agorist Class Theory

Agorists, like Marxists, have their own class theory. Konkin asserts that Agorists make a 3-part distinction between participants in capitalism. Group one contains the workers, entrepreneurs are producers of society, while group two contains neutral capitalists and group three contains the political class. The distinction is based on each classes contribution to society, with group one producing the most, group two being a-political and group three existing parasitically, contributing nothing to society.

Konkin claimed that anarcho-capitalists tend to conflate the first and second types, and implies that "Marxoids and cruder collectivists" conflate all three. ^[1]

Political action

Agorists tend to oppose voting and political participation, and at least do not believe that such could ever be an effective means to bring about a free society, arguing that political movements become corrupt. Likewise Agorists are entirely against using violent revolution to destroy the state, arguing that means must be consistent with ends, or the action is doomed to failure. Instead Agorists propose the use of counter economics - black and grey markets - to starve the state. In this way Agorists hope to bring about revolutionary change by weakening the state to a point where it can no longer suppress the existence of the black market, allowing for those operating on the black market to openly resist the state.

See also

• anarcho-capitalism
• economic secession
• left-libertarianism
• geolibertarianism
• individualist anarchism
• mutualism

In fiction

Science Fiction writer J. Neil Schulman promoted the ideas in his novel Alongside Night.

Notes

1. ^  See Klafta and left libertarian reconciliation by Brad Spangler and Libertarian Forum: A Resource for UnCapitalists? by Kevin Carson.

External links

• Agorism.info
• The New Libertarian Manifesto
• Agorist Institute
• Interview With Samuel Edward Konkin III
• PerBylund.com, personal web site of agorist/left libertarian writer and activist Per Bylund

1. ↑ Interview with Samuel Edward Konkin III.