Left-libertarianism,[1] also known asleft-wing libertarianism,[2] is apolitical philosophy and type oflibertarianism that stresses bothindividual freedom andsocial equality. Left-libertarianism represents several related yet distinct approaches topolitical andsocial theory. Its classical usage refers toanti-authoritarian varieties ofleft-wing politics such asanarchism, especiallysocial anarchism.[3]
Whileright-libertarianism is widely seen as synonymous withlibertarianism in the United States, left-libertarianism is the predominant form of libertarianism in Europe.[4] In the United States, left-libertarianism is the term used for the left wing of the American libertarian movement,[3] including the political positions associated with academic philosophersHillel Steiner,Philippe Van Parijs, andPeter Vallentyne that combineself-ownership with anegalitarian approach tonatural resources.[5] Although libertarianism in the United States has become associated withclassical liberalism andminarchism, with right-libertarianism being more known than left-libertarianism,[6] political usage of the termlibertarianism until then was associated exclusively withanti-capitalism,libertarian socialism, and social anarchism; in most parts of the world, such an association still predominates.[3][7]
While all libertarians begin with a conception of personalautonomy from which they argue in favor of civil liberties and a reduction or elimination of the state, left-libertarianism encompasses those libertarian beliefs that claim the Earth's natural resources belong to everyone in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.[2][3][8][9][10] Like other forms of libertarianism, left-libertarian views on the state usually range fromminarchism, which argues for adecentralised andlimited government, toanarchism, which advocates for the state to be abolished entirely.[11]
Libertarianism is a philosophy that advocates forfreedom, whetherpolitical,economical ormetaphysical.[12] Although older political movements have been identified as libertarian (for example, Marxist historianE.P. Thompson argued in 1979 that "the English left-libertarian tradition can be traced back to theLevellers,Diggers and theChartists"[13]), the political definition of the term "libertarian" (from theFrench:libertaire) was coined by the Frenchanarchist communistJoseph Déjacque in 1857, whereafter libertarianism became synonymous withanarchism.[14] The term was widely used byanarchists until the 1970s, when libertarianism first started to be associated with a radicalfree market philosophy, particularlyin the United States.[15][16]
The oldest, traditional, definition of "left-libertarianism" used it synonymously withsocial anarchism.[17] Seeking to distinguish themselves from the new generation of free-market libertarians, social anarchists began referring to themselves as "left-libertarians",[18] while the new adoptees of the term became known as "right-libertarians".[19] This usage is also applied tolibertarian socialists such asWilliam Morris orFenner Brockway[20][21] andlibertarian Marxists such asCornelius Castoriadis.[22]
At the same time as social anarchists began using the term to distinguish themselves from free-market libertarians, some of the advocates of free market economics that were associated with theNew Left, includingRoy Childs andSamuel Konkin, also began referring to themselves as "left-libertarians" in order to highlight themselves as theleft-wing of the new free-market libertarian movement.[12] Asanti-capitalist advocates of free-market economics, they used the term "left-libertarian" in order to distinguish themselves from theright-wing advocates of libertarian capitalism.[23]
Left libertarianism is defined a little differently by many European political scientists, in a usage introduced byHerbert Kitschelt in 1989.[24][25] Left libertarian parties emphasise notions of internal party democracy and bottom-up participation.[26][27] Green parties and radical left parties are often grouped together as "left-libertarian" parties by political scientists.[28][29][30]
For political scientists Jan Jämte and Adrienne Sörbom,
The term radical left-libertarianism is used as an umbrella concept, gathering different strands of anti-authoritarian forms ofsocialism, stressing both anti-capitalist and anti-statist views, as well as the need to build a society based on voluntary forms of cooperation. Presently, such movements also often articulate strong criticism of what are seen as other forms of oppression, such as sexism, racism and homophobia, thus making the movements potential allies to a wider section of movement cultures. The anarchist ideology and movement are firmly rooted within this broad ideational category, together with other branches of left-libertarianism such as council communism, anarcho-syndicalism or autonomism.[31]
The term "radical left-libertarian movements" (RLLMs) is used by many political scientists to refer to anarchists,autonomists and others in the alternative cultures and movements that arose out of thenew social movements from the 1960s onwards, such as those involved insquatting andmilitant anti-fascism.[32][33][34][35]For example, in a comparative study of left libertarianism in Sweden and Poland, Piotrowski and Wennerhag state that
activists from anarchist, autonomist, and anarcho-syndicalist groups, whose political orientations include both libertarianMarxist and anarchist perspectives,… are the principal actors within the radical left-libertarian movement in the countries of our study. All of these groups are based on ideologies that express anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian/anti-state, anti-racist/antifascist and pro-direct/participatory democracy stances from a radical left-libertarian standpoint (Katsiaficas 1997; Curran 2006; Romanos 2013). Historically, such movement activism can be connected to those ideologies and strategies that emerged within two broader "movement families" (cf. della Porta and Rucht 1995, 230 ff.): namely, the labor movement (in particular during the late 19th and early 20th century) and the "new left" or "new social movements" of the 1960s and onwards. Within these movement families, the groups we analyze here have often been thought to constitute the "radical flank" (cf. Haines 2013).[36]
According to sociologistJennifer Carlson, left-libertarianism is one of the three main branches of libertarian political philosophy, alongsideright-libertarianism, acapitalist philosophy that defends strongprivate property rights; andsocialist libertarianism, ananti-capitalist philosophy that opposes theconcentration of wealth.[37] By the turn of the 21st century, someanalytic philosophers had also adopted the label of "left-libertarianism".[12] This contemporary model of left-libertarianism, associated mainly withPeter Vallentyne andHillel Steiner,[38] distinguishes itself from right-libertarianism in its advocacy of thesocial ownership andequitable distribution ofnatural resources, while also upholding the libertarian principle ofself-ownership.[39]
In its oldest form, "left-libertarianism" was used synonymously withsocial anarchism.[17] Although social anarchism and other forms of left-libertarianism share similar roots and concerns, social anarchism has distinguished itself as a distinct ideological tradition,[40] due to its fundamentalrejection of the state.[41] In contrast toindividualist tendencies, social anarchism rejects private property and market relations,[42] which they believe will be eliminated with the abolition of the state.[43]
Social anarchism, originally associated with the libertarianism ofJoseph Déjacque, has historically encompassedcollectivist anarchism,anarchist communism andanarcho-syndicalism; each of which became influential tendencies in theRussian andSpanish Revolutions.[44]
The contemporary left-libertarianMurray Bookchin advocated for the replacement of the state with a libertarian communistsociety, which he saw as adecentralizedconfederation ofmunicipalities, in which decisions would be made bydirect democracy.[45] Bookchin was also harshly critical of individualist anarchism, which he held responsible for the failure of left-libertarianism to take a prominent place in public discourse.[46]
In 1960s Germany, the libertarian left was a dominant current in the extra-parliamentary opposition, "Außerparlamentarische Opposition" (ApO).[47]
Thepunk scene provoked an expansion of the libertarian left: "a broader 'libertarian left' influence can be discerned in punk and post-punk's engagement with gender relations, sexuality, consumerism, imperialism and so forth".[48]
Northern Europe saw an upsurge in radical left-libertarian activism, squatting and urban unrest at the turn of the 1980s.[33] From this point until the late 2010s, "the main tendency in radical left activism shifted from party-basedMarxism-Leninism to network-based, direct-action activism based on libertarian socialist ideals… shifting [in this period] from direct-action networks that engaged in a variety of political issue—anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, feminism, animal rights, etc.—to more 'conventional' networks of organizations and initiatives through which activists intervened in local politics and neighborhood and workplace conflicts. The same period also saw the [radical left libertarian movements] become less disruptive and violent, in favor of tactical pragmatism and conventional forms of protest".[34]
Alongside social anarchists, left-wing proponents of free-market economics have associated themselves with left-libertarianism,[12] also partly influenced by the New Left. This post-classical definition has been used synonymously with thefree-market anti-capitalism (a.k.a. left-wing market anarchism) advocated byKevin Carson,Gary Chartier, andCharles W. Johnson,[49] who together formed theAlliance of the Libertarian Left and the subsequentCenter for a Stateless Society.[50] Drawing from the views ofAmerican individualist anarchists such asBenjamin Tucker andLysander Spooner, left-wing market anarchists defend the use of free markets and private property, which they consider to have an "essential coordinating role" in society.[51] Free-market anti-capitalists holdmarket intervention responsible for capitalist control of themeans of production, a situation they believe will be solved by the introduction of free competition. Building on Tucker's ideas, Kevin Carson has also defended thelabor theory of value andoccupancy-and-use land ownership, although not all free-market anti-capitalists agree with these positions.[50] Like social anarchists and unlike many right-libertarians, left-wing market anarchists are opposed to capitalism and other forms of oppression such asracism andsexism; they consider this anti-oppression politics to be an integral part of left-libertarianism.[52]
The green movement, especially its more left-wing factions, is often described by political scientists as left-libertarian.[53][54][55]
In the wake of the new social movements (especially the ecology and anti-nuclear movements) of the 1970s and 1980s, many left libertarian parties (sometimes calledmovement parties) were formed, including green parties, which maintained a relationship with these social movements.[56][57] Political scientists Santos and Mercea argue that, in recent years, "the rise of movement parties across Europe has disrupted traditional notions of party politics and opened up new avenues for citizen engagement and political mobilisation. Movement parties are the reflection of a wider socio-political transformation of increasing interconnection between electoral and non-electoral politics". For them, green/left-libertarian movement parties "embody a generational gap in political participation, as they utilise both electoral and non-electoral engagement to express their post-industrial demands... [Their] voters tend to be younger and more educated and engage more in online political activities."[58]
According toHerbert Kitschelt, left libertarian parties are "post-materialist" in that they reject the primary status of economic issues, and argue that "the predominance of markets and bureaucracies must be rolled back in favor of social solidarity relations and participatory institutions".[59] He posits that the strong commitment to direct participation leads to the weakness (or even absence) of formal structurel, centralized organization, leadership and hierarchy, and "a sometimes chaotic ‘assembly’ organizational style (as best illustrated by the water-balloon attack on Foreign MinisterJoshka Fischer at the 1999 congress of the German Greens)."[60]
For example, between 1984 and 1986, ecologists worked together with anarchists and libertarians in Greece'sGreen Alternative Movement.[61] while the DutchGroenLinks moved from socialism to left libertarianism in the early 1990s.[62] Political scientists see European political parties such asEcolo andGroen in Belgium,Alliance 90/The Greens in Germany, or theGreen Progressive Accord andGroenLinks in the Netherlands as coming out of theNew Left and emphasizing spontaneous self-organisation, participatory democracy, decentralization and voluntarism, being contrasted to the bureaucratic or statist approach.[55] Similarly, political scientist Ariadne Vromen has described theAustralian Greens as having a "clear left-libertarian ideological base."[63] Examples of left libertarian parties given by Kitschelt and Hellemans in 1990 wereAgalev and Ecolo;[64] Kittschelt's term was applied to theGreen Party of England and Wales in 2008;[65] examples given by Santos and Mercea more recently areDenmark'sAlternativet, Germany's Bündis 90/Die Grünen, inHungaryLMP – Hungary's Green Party andDialogue – The Greens' Party, and the UK's Green Party,Scottish Greens andSinn Féin.[58]
Such parties attempt to apply left-libertarian ideas to a more pragmatic system of democratic governance as opposed to contemporary individualist or socialist libertarianism.[66] Typically, there is a tension between the left-libertarian inheritance and demands of pragmatism. For example, Margit Mayer and John Ely describe the German Greens as "remain[ing] connected to the left-libertarian movement milieus in the topics it addresses, its political style, and the omnipresence of movement discourse" while also pursuing practical strategies for party power.[67]
A new wave of left libertarian movement parties emerged from thealterglobalisation andanti-austerity movements from the late 1990s. InPortugal, theLeft Bloc emerged in the late 1990s from the anti-austerity movement, and is inspired by the libertarian left.[68] Greece’sSynaspismos and its successorSyriza came from a similar background.[69] In Turkey,Ufuk Uras of theParty of the Greens and the Left Future identifies as a left-libertarian. Ufuk Uras identifies as aleft libertarian.[70]
In contrast to right-libertarianism and libertarian socialism, left-libertarianism holds that individuals should have no exclusive right to theexploitation of natural resources, instead advocating for an equitable distribution of resources, while also insisting on the protection of personal property rights.[71] Contemporary left-libertarian scholars such asDavid Ellerman,[72][73]Michael Otsuka,[74]Hillel Steiner,[75]Peter Vallentyne[76] andPhilippe Van Parijs[77] root an economic egalitarianism in the classical liberal concepts of self-ownership and land appropriation, combined withgeoist orphysiocratic views regarding the ownership of land and natural resources (e.g. those ofHenry George andJohn Locke).[78][79][80] Their intellectual forebears includeHenry George,Thomas Paine, andHerbert Spencer.[81][82]Classical economists such as Henry George,John Stuart Mill, the early writings of Herbert Spencer,[83] among others, "provided the basis for the further development of the left libertarian perspective."[84] Most left-libertarians of this tradition support some form ofeconomic rent redistribution on the grounds that each individual is entitled to an equal share of natural resources[85] and argue for the desirability of statesocial welfare programs.[86][87]
Scholars representing this school of left-libertarianism often understand their position in contrast to right-libertarians, who maintain that there are no fair share constraints on use or appropriation that individuals have the power to appropriate unowned things by claiming them (usually by mixing their labor with them) and deny any other conditions or considerations are relevant and that there is no justification for the state to redistribute resources to the needy or to overcomemarket failures. A number of left-libertarians of this school argue for the desirability of some statesocial welfare programs.[88][87]
Left-libertarians generally upholdself-ownership and oppose strongprivate property rights; instead, they support theegalitarian distribution of natural resources.[8] Left-libertarians of this school hold that it is illegitimate for anyone to claim private ownership of natural resources to the detriment of others;[81] as such, they are skeptical of, or fully against, private ownership of natural resources, arguing, in contrast to right-libertarians, that neither claiming normixing one's labor with natural resources is enough to generate fullprivate property rights, and they maintain that natural resources should be held in an egalitarian manner, eitherunowned orowned collectively.[8][89][79] Those left-libertarians who are more lenient towards private property support different property norms and theories, such asusufruct[90] or under the condition that recompense is offered to thelocal or evenglobal community.[9][10]
For left libertarians of this school, unappropriated natural resources are either unowned or owned in common and private appropriation is only legitimate if everyone can appropriate an equal amount or if private appropriation is taxed to compensate those who are excluded from natural resources.[85]
Political scientistPeter Mclaverty notes it has been argued that socialist values are incompatible with the concept ofself-ownership when this concept is considered "the core feature of libertarianism" and socialism is defined as holding "that we are social beings, that society should be organised, and individuals should act, so as to promote the common good, that we should strive to achieve social equality and promote democracy, community and solidarity."[91] However, political philosopherNicholas Vrousalis has also argued that "property rights [...] do not pass judgment as to what rights individuals have to their own person [...] [and] to the external world" and that "the nineteenth-century egalitarian libertarians were not misguided in thinking that a thoroughly libertarian form of communism is possible at the level of principle."[92]
Left-libertarians of theCarson–Long left-libertarianism school typically endorse the labor-based property rights that contemporary left-libertarian philosophers reject, but they hold that implementing such rights would have radical rather than conservative consequences.[93]
These left-libertarians support some form ofincome redistribution on the grounds of a claim by each individual to be entitled to an equal share of natural resources.[94][85] Some left-libertarians make a libertarian reading ofprogressive andsocial-democratic economics to advocate auniversal basic income. Building onMichael Otsuka's conception of "robust libertarian self-ownership",Karl Widerquist argues that a universal basic income must be large enough to maintain individual independence regardless of the market value of resources because people in contemporary society have been denied direct access to enough resources with which they could otherwise maintain their existence in the absence of interference by people who control access to resources.[95]
Libertarianism is committed to full self-ownership. A distinction can be made, however, between right-libertarianism and left-libertarianism, depending on the stance taken on how natural resources can be owned.
Left libertarians regard each of us as full self-owners. However, they differ from what we generally understand by the termlibertarian in denying the right to private property. We own ourselves, but we do not own nature, at least not as individuals. Left libertarians embrace the view that all natural resources, land, oil, gold, and so on should be held collectively. To the extent that individuals make use of these commonly owned goods, they must do so only with the permission of society, a permission granted only under the proviso that a certain payment for their use be made to society at large.
The word "libertarian" began as a left-wing synonym for "anarchist," and was taken over by the right-wing free-marketers of the Libertarian Party only in recent decades.
[George] Orwell appeared on the platform withHerbert Read,Fenner Brockway and a few other leaders of the libertarian Left.[p.18]...Julian Symons was substantially correct when he said, in his London Magazine article, that Orwell retained his faith in libertarian socialism until his death, but that in the end this belief "was expressed for him more sympathetically in the personalities of unpractical Anarchists than in the slide rule Socialists who made up the bulk of the British Parliamentary Labor Party.[p.27]... Orwell's affinities were in fact less with Lawrence and Yeats than with William Morris, another libertarian Socialist who distrusted doctrinaires [p.83]
Herbert Kitschelt (1989) differentiates parties that emphasize the 'logic of electoral competition' from those (such as the 'left-libertarian' type that he introduces) that place much greater stress on the 'logic of constituency representation'...
an earlier wave of interest in movement–party interactions that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s in relation to newly emerging Green and "left-libertarian" political parties in the wake of anti-nuclear and environmental protest movements (Kitschelt, 1989; Kitschelt & Hellemans, 1990; Mayer & Ely, 1998; Richardson & Rootes, 1994).
The general distribution of opinions on the issues fully justifies calling Agalev and Ecolo left-libertarian parties, the attributes we used at the beginning of this article to characterize the entire cohort of new politics parties. In many ways, ecology party activists constitute a "second left (Sainteny, 1987, p. 28), which blends anticapitalist with ecological, postmaterialist, and libertarian demands. The marketplace should not be the central institution of economic governance, yet militants are more inclined to support decentralized, communitarian institutions with direct democratic participation than to support traditional statist and collectivist socialism. Moreover, they put less emphasis on redistributive concerns that have figured so prominently on the conventional socialist policy agenda. Anticapitalism shows that ideological components of traditional left thinking are still alive in left-libertarian politics... At the same time, however, they are combined with noneconomic themes that are hard to reconcile with socialist leftism.
Although heavily dependent on its leaders to ensure its progress at the polls, the Portuguese Left Bloc has retained an internal organisation that is fairly faithful to the left-libertarian party model, with in particular "participative" mechanisms granting relatively significant powers to members, and significant internal division… Although the role of the charismatic leader was decisive in the rise of the BE, first withFrancisco Louçã and then withCatarina Martins, the internal mode of operation of the party, largely inspired by the traditions of the libertarian left, saw few changes between 1999 and 2017.
Syriza is an excellent example, which could eventually become a textbook case in the scientific literature: originally a coalition of several parties, close to the model of the left-libertarian party, with few hierarchical structures, decentralized decision-making processes, imprecise statutes, a refusal of professionalization and exacerbated factionalism, Syriza evolved in record time into a highly centralized organization which ended up merging with its leader,Alexis Tsipras… The observations, however, also apply to Synaspismos before the creation of Syriza, a party which, from an organizational point of view, corresponds almost in all respects to the model of the left-libertarian party, and has in some way imported this culture into Syriza.
The libertarian left is different from the traditional left because of its principles. These are: going in and out of power through elections, respect for different identities and beliefs, socially libertarian, egalitarian, eco-minded, participatory and for the restoration of justice. We would like theHDP to have such a profile. What we are trying to do is to adopt theSyriza experience inGreece to the HDP in Turkey.
It can also invoke geoism, a philosophical tradition encompassing the views of John Locke and Henry George [...].
[Left libertarians] regard each of us as full self-owners. Left libertarians embrace the view that all natural resources, land, oil, gold, trees, and so on should be held collectively. To the extent that individuals make use of these commonly owned goods, they must do so only with the permission of society, a permission granted only under the provision that a certain payment for their use be made to society at large.
Media related toLeft-libertarianism at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toLeft-libertarianism at Wikiquote| Origins | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schools |
| ||||||
| Concepts |
| ||||||
| Philosophers |
| ||||||
| Politicians | |||||||
| Issues | |||||||
| Works |
| ||||||
| Related |
| ||||||
| Schools of thought |
| ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key topics and issues |
| ||||||||||
| Concepts |
| ||||||||||
| People |
| ||||||||||
| Organizations | |||||||||||
| See also | |||||||||||
