Agorism

Agorism is a libertarian social philosophy that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, thus engaging in a manner with aspects of peaceful revolution. It was first proposed by libertarian philosopher Samuel Edward Konkin III in 1975, with contributions partly by J. Neil Schulman.

Ideology

Agorists consider themselves market anarchists. While many characterize it as a form of left-libertarianism, others consider it a branch of, or a transition strategy for achieving, anarcho-capitalism. Agorists generally oppose voting for political candidates and political reform. Instead, agorists stress the importance of alternative strategies rather than politics to achieve a free society. Agorists claim that we can achieve a free society more easily and sooner by employing such alternative methods as education, direct action, alternative currencies, entrepreneurship, self sufficiency, and most importantly "counter-economics". Agorists consider their message to be scientific because science is an appeal to reason, which they believe is only possible in the Agora or free market; they also argue that State backed, regulated and funded science is illegitimate.

Konkin's class theory

Konkin developed a class theory which includes entrepreneurs, non-statist capitalists, and statist capitalists:

entrepreneur	non-statist capitalist	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 primary beneficiaries of government controls "the main Evil in the political realm"

Konkin claimed that while agorists see these three classes differently, anarcho-capitalists tend to conflate the first and second types, while "Marxoids and cruder collectivists" conflate all three.

Etymology

The term was coined by Konkin, and comes from the Classical Greek word ἀγορά (agora) referring to an open place for assembly and market in a πόλις (polis, ancient Greek city-states).

History

Konkin's treatise New Libertarian Manifesto was published in 1980. Previously, the philosophy had been presented in J. Neil Schulman's science fiction novel Alongside Night in 1979. Ayn Rand's example, presenting her ideas in the form of a work of fiction in Atlas Shrugged, had inspired Schulman to do likewise. Konkin's afterword to the novel, "How Far Alongside Night?", credited Schulman with integrating the "science of counter-economics" with Konkin's basic economic philosophy.

Criticisms

Agorists' opposition to voting differs from the views of Murray Rothbard, who defended the act of voting. Rothbard openly denounced Konkin's agorism:

“Konkin’s entire theory speaks only to the interests and concerns of the marginal classes who are self-employed. The great bulk of the people are full-time wage workers; they are people with steady jobs. Konkinism has nothing whatsoever to say to these people. To adopt Konkin’s strategy, then, would on this ground alone, serve up a dead end for the libertarian movement. We cannot win if there is no possibility of speaking to the concerns of the great bulk of wage earners in this and other countries.”

— Murray Rothbard

Konkin responded to Rothbard's criticism, noting, among many other points, that full-time wage workers already engage in counter-economic activities.

See also

• Alternative currency
• Counter-economics
• Economic secession
• Left libertarianism
• Local exchange trading system
• Market anarchism
• Mutualism (economic theory)

External links

• Interview With Samuel Edward Konkin III
• The New Libertarian Manifesto