Agorism

Agorism is a radical left-libertarian political philosophy 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 "open marketplace."

It might be considered an attempt to reconcile anarcho-capitalism with individualist anarchism/mutualism and even libertarian socialism where possible. ^[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 may extend 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. Some anarcho-capitalists believe that all property should be private (neo-Lockean) property (hard propertarianism), whereas agorists believe that collective property may be permissible in some cases (soft propertarianism.)

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.

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

Three types of capitalists

Many agorists, like anarcho-capitalists, refer to the free market as capitalism. However, according to Konkin, agorists make a 3-part distinction between participants in capitalism.

entrepreneur (although an entrepreneur is not necessarily a capitalist) or venture capitalist	non-statist capitalist	pro-statist capitalist
(good)	(neutral)	(bad)
innovator, risk-taker, producer — the strength of a free market	holders of capital, not necessarily ideologically aware — "relatively drone-like non-innovators"	"the main Evil in the political realm"

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

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.

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

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