Libertarian.ie

Libertarianism: FAQ's, definitions, commentary

FAQ's

• http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html
  An Anarchist FAQ
  Version 11.1 -- 10-JAN-2005
  
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/anarfaq.htm
Anarchist Theory FAQ
or Instead of a FAQ, by a Man Too Busy to Write One
by Bryan Caplan
Version 5.2
• http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/tma68/geo-faq.htm
  A Geolibertarian FAQ
  By Todd Altman
  

Commentary and Definitions

• http://struggle.ws/hist_texts/wilde_soul.html
  The soul of man under Socialism
  by Oscar Wilde
  Socialism, Communism, or whatever one chooses to call it, by converting private property into public wealth, and substituting co-operation for competition, will restore society to its proper condition of a thoroughly healthy organism, and insure the material wellbeing of each member of the community. It will, in fact, give Life its proper basis and its proper environment. But for the full development of Life to its highest mode of perfection, something more is needed. What is needed is Individualism. If the Socialism is Authoritarian; if there are Governments armed with economic power as they are now with political power; if, in a word, we are to have Industrial Tyrannies, then the last state of man will be worse than the first. At present, in consequence of the existence of private property, a great many people are enabled to develop a certain very limited amount of individualism. They are either under no necessity to work for their living, or are enabled to choose the sphere of activity that is really congenial to them and gives them pleasure. These are the poets, the philosophers, the men of science, the men of culture - in a word, the real men, the men who have realised themselves, and in whom all Humanity gains a partial realisation. Upon the other hand, there are a great many people who, having no private property of their own, and being always on the brink of sheer starvation, are compelled to do the work of beasts of burden, to do work that is quite uncongenial to them, and to which they are forced by the peremptory, unreasonable, degrading Tyranny of want. These are the poor, and amongst them there is no grace of manner, or charm of speech, or civilisation, or culture, or refinement in pleasures, or joy of life. From their collective force Humanity gains much in material prosperity. But it is only the material result that it gains, and the man who is poor is in himself absolutely of no importance. He is merely the infinitesimal atom of a force that, so far from regarding him, crushes him: indeed, prefers him crushed, as in that case he is far more obedient.
• http://struggle.ws/anarchists/jackwhite/texts/anarchism.html
  The Meaning of Anarchism
  J.R. White (1937)
  The State contains a corrupting influence in itself. The people have always been deceived (when they are not machine-gunned) by the revolutionaries who in their ignorance the people have hoisted to power. Consequently, to destroy the State, one must not begin by becoming, the State; for in doing so one becomes automatically its preserver. One becomes so by force of circumstance, without conscious dishonesty, inevitably, because things appear under a different aspect and so many difficulties and duties crop up that no revolutionary turned politician can remain a single minded revolutionary. The State corrupts the purest and the best. So to keep our revolutionary virtue, we must not expose ourselves to its pernicious infection. It is not from above with the machinery of the oppressive State, that one can abolish class society. It is from below that we must wage the war against the privileged class and undermine the foundation of their privileges. "We will expropriate them by law," say the Socialists. "We can do it without you and your laws," reply the Anarchists. "We know how to strip the bourgeoisie by direct action. Our direct action is a series of attacks incessantly renewed, delivered at one point today and another tomorrow; an endless sequence of major and minor crises, schooling the exploited in practical war against the exploiter and preparing them for the final crisis of the general strike. We feel no need of voting to impose masters on ourselves. We are anti-parliamentarians, abstentionists. In one thing we are faithful Marxists: Did not Marx say, "The emancipation of the workers must be the work of the workers themselves"? Well, we are workers and we will emancipate ourselves. As for you Socialists who offer to liberate us, if we listened to you we should only prepare one more disillusionment for the proletariat. For once become a Government, you would do to us who are the people just what every Government has always done."
• http://struggle.ws/anarchists/jackwhite/texts/action.html
  Anarchism - A Philosophy Of Action
  Captain J.R.White's View
  [From Spain And The World, February 5th, 1937]
  ... anarchism is a philosophy of action, because it is pre-eminently the philosophy of individual spontaneity. Every free and spontaneous individual knows that it would be highly desirable and convenient if knowledge could always precede action, and we could advance rationally step by step to a foreseen goal; life, and especially the deeper aspects of life, will not permit this; ...
  Reason, or rather the passive attempt to calculate consequences without creatively contributing to them by the magic of the deed, has betrayed us. The highest reason is incarnate in action and often cannot explain itself till after the actions. Reason is latent in the pent-up emotion that drives to action. It is emotional reason, creative reason; the other kind of reason is dead.
  At moments of revolution, the higher emotional reason is especially necessary, because it breaks through the old forms which are the premises of the dead reason; it creates new forms, which have their seed primarily not in the mind but in the heart of man. He may not be able to foresee or define the new forms; but he knows the old forms are dead and will destroy his heart and spirit unless he bursts through them.
• http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2419/index.html
  Workers Solidarity Movememnt (Ireland)
  All about Anarchism.
  The complete introduction to anarchist history and politics as well as sections on revolution in general, the left and Irish politics.
• http://anarchism.ws/
  Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
  Anarchists believe in a revolution by the working class which will overthrow the bosses and their governments, and create a society run and controlled by those who actually produce the wealth of the world. We believe that it is possible to live without government and to put in its place councils and assemblies where the "ordinary people" can decide what happens to this wealth. We believe in the equality of all and that maximum solidarity is needed between workers and other oppressed groups if we are to defeat those who live off our sweat.
• http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mcelroy1.html
  Individualist Anarchism vs. "Libertarianism" and Anarchocommunism
  by Wendy McElroy
  This article appeared in issue #12 of the New Libertarian, October, 1984.
  ... although the Workingman's International (that touchstone of 19th century radical chic) is usually associated with Marxism, the First International consisted largely of Bakuninists (communist anarchists) and individualist anarchists. In other words, individualist anarchism as a radical political philosophy was taken seriously back then by other anarchists; it had credentials behind its name. This credibility came basically from two things. First, it came from the almost herculean efforts of libertarian figures such as Benjamin Tucker, who were not only active in labor organization but who were also responsible for the input of new, dynamic theory into anarchism, for example by translating the works of Max Stirner. In short, individualist anarchism had life and motion.
• http://mutualist.org/
  Mutualist.Org: Free Market Anti-Capitalism
  Mutualists belong to a non-collectivist segment of anarchists. Although we favor democratic control when collective action is required by the nature of production and other cooperative endeavors, we do not favor collectivism as an ideal in itself. We are not opposed to money or exchange. We believe in private property, so long as it is based on personal occupancy and use. We favor a society in which all relationships and transactions are non-coercive, and based on voluntary cooperation, free exchange, or mutual aid. The "market," in the sense of exchanges of labor between producers, is a profoundly humanizing and liberating concept. What we oppose is the conventional understanding of markets, as the idea has been coopted and corrupted by state capitalism.
• http://www.theihs.org/subcategory.php/44.html?menuid=1
  Institute of Humane Studies (USA)
  What is 'Libertarian'
  How much liberty is good for the individual?
  How much government do we need?
  
• http://www.libertarianism.org/
  - A Primer -
  by David Boaz
  Libertarianism is the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others. (Throughout this book I use the traditional "he" and "his" to refer to individuals generically; unless the context indicates otherwise, "he" and "his" should be understood to refer to both men and women.) Libertarians defend each person's right to life, liberty, and property--rights that people have naturally, before governments are created. In the libertarian view, all human relationships should be voluntary; the only actions that should be forbidden by law are those that involve the initiation of force against those who have not themselves used force--actions like murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud.

Other portals/resource sites

• http://flag.blackened.net/
  The Pierre J. Proudhon Memorial Computer
  Located in Berkeley, California; run by individuals committed to the expression of free ideas; flag has provided free web space for anarchist thinkers since 1997.
• http://www.isil.org/
  Welcome to the home page of the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL). We are a network of individuals and associations in over 90 countries dedicated to building a free and peaceful world through the ideals of free markets, social tolerance and individual responsibility. Our philosophy of liberty, which is catching on world wide, is called Libertarianism.
  
• http://www.ils-sil.org/
  The Declaration Anarchism in the 21st Century and the International Libertarian projects are open to anarchist, anarcho-syndicalist, revolutionary syndicalist, and clearly anti-Statist, non-party aligned social organisations which run along libertarian principles. By libertarian we mean:
  * Direct action as a model and method in labour and social conflicts so that that peoples affected decide over, and take responsibility for, their struggles.
  * A clear declaration in favour of anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism and the fight against all types of domination (patriarchy, fascism, ...) in all day to day social and cultural aspects.
  * Applying self-management in internal and external organisational work, understanding this as promoting the rotation of posts, training people in posts, recall, transparency, the responsibility and capacity of all to decide in a structure which is both horizontal and federalist, anti-hierarchical and without vanguards which accumulate and monopolise power.
• http://www.syndicalist.org/
  Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Website
  ASR is a forum for non-sectarian, critical, informed and constructive discussion of anarcho-syndicalist theory and practice. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or the mouth-piece of any organization. Our outlook is internationalist. We stand in solidarity with working people everywhere, and in particular with those who, rejecting both state capitalism and state socialism as proven threats to the health of people and planet alike, seek peace and justice for themselves and their fellow workers through international labor solidarity.
  Principles of Revolutionary Syndicalism
  Adopted December 1922 by the Berlin Congress of the International Workers' Association (Extracts)
  i. Revolutionary Syndicalism, basing itself on the class struggle, seeks to establish the unity and solidarity of all manual and intellectual workers into economic organisations fighting for the abolition of both the wage system and the State. Neither the State nor political parties can achieve the economic organisation and emancipation of labour.
  ii. Revolutionary Syndicalism maintains that economic and social monopolies must be replaced by free, self-managing federations of agricultural and industrial workers united in a system of councils.
  iii. The twofold task of Revolutionary Syndicalism is to carry on the struggle for economic, social and intellectual improvement in the existing society, and to achieve independent self-managed production and distribution by taking possession of the earth and the means of production. Instead of the State and political parties, the economic organisation of labour. Instead of government over people, the administration of things.
• http://www.anarchosyndicalism.net/as.php
  Welcome to Anarcho-Syndicalism 101, your entry point to the global anarcho-syndicalist and revolutionary union movement. As its name suggests, this website is devoted to aiding and furthering an autonomous global movement of working class solidarity and direct action, based around the ideas and principles of anarcho-syndicalism.
  Anarcho-Syndicalism 101 is a web archive of theoretical and historical texts, articles, image and mp3 files, cultural items and outreach material (otherwise known as propaganda) produced by, and related to, libertarian and autonomous class struggle. Here you will find information on various aspects of anarcho-syndicalist theory and practise, including some texts translated into English for the first time, specifically for this site.
  Given that anarcho-syndicalism is a living praxis with relevance to the real world, and not a dead dogma, this site features criticism of anarcho-syndicalism over a broad ideological spectrum.
• http://www.iwa-ait.org/index.html
  WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION (IWA)
  Against the offensive of Capital and politicians of all hues, all the revolutionary workers of the world must build a real International Association of Workers, in which, each member will know that the emancipation of the working class will only be possible when the workers themselves, in their capacities as producers, manage to prepare themselves in their economic organizations to take possession of the land and the factories and enable themselves to administer them jointly, in such a way that they will be able to continue production and social life.

News websites

• http://www.spiked-online.com/ http://www.spiked-online.com/
  spiked is an online publication with the modest ambition of making history as well as reporting it. spiked stands for liberty, enlightenment, experimentation and excellence.
• http://www.infoshop.org/
  Welcome to Infoshop.org, one of the oldest and most respected political websites. We provide a wealth of alternative news and information that often can't be found elsewhere on the Internet.
  Infoshop.org is a project of the Alternative Media Project.
• http://www.ainfos.ca/
  The A-Infos Project is coordinated by an international collective of revolutionary anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist activists, involved with class struggle and who regard it as a total social struggle.
  These are people who conceive themselves as revolutionary class struggle social anarchists, anarcho-communists, libertarian communists, syndicalists and others who hold similar opinions but use other labels.
  A-Infos is organized by people who feel anarchism is a social theory, and that a revolution is necessary to bring about the new class-less social order, and that this revolution can only be made by the vast majority of the working people.
  The specific kind of anarchism we talk about and promote is the anarchism of the Haymarket martyrs and those expelled by Karl Marx from the First International for criticizing his authoritarianism and the elitist, vanguardist degradation of the masses of the working class...
• http://www.rationalreview.com/news/
  Rational Review was conceived as an answer to the conventional "conservative" and "liberal" commentary that dominates the American political scene. Building on the considerable intellectual strength of a growing freedom movement in the United States, our desire is to manifest the libertarian idea in an institutional manner. Much as The New Republic and National Review have come to be regarded as the periodical repositories of their respective philosophies' best offerings on the issues of the day, we aspire to become the libertarian movement's journal of record.
  Rational Review began as a semi-monthly publication, then briefly went to a once-monthly schedule before content became available frequently enough for it to assume its current, multiple-articles-weekly presentation.
  In December of 2002, Rational Review News Digest, our daily news and commentary update, launched. As of this writing (May, 2003), more than 2000 individual subscribers receive RRND each day and more than 11,000 unique users visit Rational Review each month.

Some Irish websites of note