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{{Short description|Political philosophy}}
{{socialism}}
{{about|the libertarian political philosophy within the socialist movement|the branch of anarchism emphasizing social equality|Social anarchism|the type of libertarianism stressing both individual freedom and social equality|Left-libertarianism|the political philosophy that incorporates liberal principles to socialism|Liberal socialism|the variety of liberalism that endorses a regulated market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights|Social liberalism}}
'''Libertarian socialism''' is any one of a group of ] ] dedicated abolishing the exploitation of ] by restoring direct control of production to workers and local communities. While many varieties of socialism emphasize the role of ] or ] in promoting social justice, libertarian socialists place their hope in ]s, workers' councils, local municipalities, or other non-bureaucratic means of action. Many libertarian socialists, indeed, advocate doing away with the state altogether, seeing it as a bulwark of capitalism.
{{libertarian socialism sidebar|all}}
'''Libertarian socialism''' is an ] and ] political current that emphasises ] and ]. It is contrasted from other forms of ] by its rejection of ] and from other forms of ] by its rejection of ]. Broadly defined, it includes schools of both ] and ], as well as other tendencies that oppose the ] and ].


With its roots in the ], libertarian socialism was first constituted as a tendency by the anti-authoritarian faction of the ] (IWA), during their conflict with the ]. Libertarian socialism quickly spread throughout Europe and the American continent, reaching its height during the early stages of the ] and particularly during the ]. Its defeat during these revolutions led to its brief decline, before its principles were resurrected by the ] and ] of the late 20th century.
Some of the best known libertarian socialist ] are ] - particularly ] and ] - as well as ], ], ], and ]. However, the terms anarchist communism and libertarian communism should not be considered synonyms for libertarian socialism.


While its key principles of ], ], and ] are generally shared across the many schools of libertarian socialism, differences have emerged over the questions of ], ], and whether to prioritise the abolition of the state or of capitalism.
==Overview==
In the United States, the term ''libertarian'' is usually associated with the pro-capitalist agenda ] (and of the ]); the term ''libertarian socialism'' therefore strikes many as incongruous. The first person to describe himself as a libertarian, however, was ]<ref name="dejacque"> (in ])</ref>, an early French anarcho-communist. The word stems from the ] word ''libertaire'' (synonymous to "anarchist"), and was used in order to evade the ban on anarchist publications, which were banned by law in ]<ref>, URL accessed on ], ]</ref>. In the context of the European socialist movement, ''libertarian'' has conventionally been used to describe those like ] who opposed state socialism.


==Political principles==
Libertarian socialists typically argue that a socialist society can develop and endure without coercion. ] believe that ], ], and mass organisation among free individuals would negate capitalism which, similarly, can only be saved by coercion.
Libertarian socialism strives for a ] and ] society,{{Sfn|Cornell|2012|pp=182–183}} aiming to transform ] and ].{{Sfn|Kinna|Prichard|2012|p=12}} Broadly defined, libertarian socialism encapsulates any ] that favours ] of the ] and the replacement of ] with a system of ],{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=392n1}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Frère |first1=Bruno |title=The Third Sector |last2=Reinecke |first2=Juliane |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-78052-280-7 |editor-last=Hull |editor-first=Richard |location=UK |pages=125–126 |language=en |chapter=A Libertarian Socialist Response to the 'Big Society': The Solidarity Economy |doi=10.1108/S2046-6072(2011)0000001015 |hdl=2268/172850 |issn=2046-6072 |quote="The libertarian socialist ] was one of the two forms of socialist responses to the rise of capitalism and the concentration of private ownership in the middle of the 19th century." "]'s left libertarian socialism promotes the ] of power and public ] ... through the formation of locally managed mutual and cooperative organisations ...." |editor-last2=Gibbon |editor-first2=Jane |editor-last3=Branzei |editor-first3=Oana |editor-last4=Haugh |editor-first4=Helen}}</ref> or ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Intropi |first=Pietro |date=2022-06-01 |title=Reciprocal libertarianism |journal=European Journal of Political Theory |volume=23 |issue=1 |language=en |pages=23–43 |doi=10.1177/14748851221099659 |issn=1474-8851 |quote=I show that reciprocal libertarianism can be realised in a framework of individual ownership of external resources or in a socialist scheme of common ownership (libertarian socialism). |doi-access=free |hdl=2262/98664 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Libertarian socialists tend to see the ] as agents of ], reject ] and ], and advocate for ] and ] as means to engage in ].{{Sfn|Pinta|Berry|2012|p=298}}


===Anti-authoritarianism===
The basic philosophy of libertarian socialism is summed up in the name: management of the common good (]) in a manner that attempts to maximize the ] of ]s and minimizes concentration of power or authority (libertarianism). It attempts to achieve this through the decentralization of political and economic power, usually involving the collectivization of most large-scale property and enterprise. Libertarian socialism denies the legitimacy of most forms of economically significant private property, since, according to socialists, when private property becomes capital, it leads to the exploitation of others with less economic means and thus infringes on the exploited class's individual freedoms.
Libertarian socialism has a ] and ]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Asimakopoulos |first=John |date=April–June 2016 |title=A radical proposal for direct democracy in large societies |journal=Brazilian Journal of Political Economy |language=en |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=430–447 |doi=10.1590/0101-31572016v36n02a10 |issn=0101-3157 |quote="Direct democracy is what today is referred to as libertarian socialism including anarchism. The very idea upon which libertarian socialism is founded is that every person in the community represents themselves and votes directly with the community on matters related to its governance." |doi-access=free }}</ref> approach to ], rejecting ] and ] respectively.{{Sfn|Kinna|Prichard|2012|p=13}} Libertarian socialists advocate the ] of individuals to control their own lives and encourage them to voluntarily cooperate with each other, rather than allow themselves to be controlled by a state. Libertarian socialists therefore uphold ] such as ], ] and ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=305–306}}


In contrast to ], libertarian socialism rejects ] and ]. Instead it upholds a ] model of ], envisioning ] based on ] or ]. Some libertarian socialists see such systems as complementary to ], while others hold them to be an alternative to the ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=305–306}}
===Anti-capitalism===
{{See also|Anti-capitalism}}


Libertarian socialists tend to reject the view that political institutions such as the state represent an ]ly good, or even neutral, power.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=318}} Some libertarian socialists, such as ], consider the state to be an inherent instrument of ] and capitalism, therefore opposing the state with equal intensity as they oppose capitalism.{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=306–307}}
Libertarian socialists differentiate between the idea of authority based on power, and authority based on ] or ]. The term "power", in this instance, refers to the social or physical dominance of one individual over another. They oppose all authority, be it ], ], or social.


===Anti-capitalism===
Libertarian socialists believe that all social bonds should be developed by ] who have an equal amount of ] power, that an accumulation of economic power in the hands of a few and the centralization of political power both reduce the bargaining power&mdash;and thus the liberty of the other individuals in society. To put it another way, capitalist (and ]) principles lead to the concentration of economic power in the hands of those who end up owning the most capital. Libertarian socialism aims to distribute power, and thus freedom, more equally amongst members of society. A key difference between libertarian socialism and right-wing libertarianism is that advocates of the former generally believe that one's degree of freedom is affected by one's economic and social status, whereas advocates of the latter believe that freedom is essentially freedom of choice, or freedom of action. They would argue that even a poor, low-status individual is entirely free in a libertarian society in the sense that he has complete freedom to do whatever he chooses with those possessions and resources which he has. Some analyze the difference between libertarian socialism and right-wing libertarianism using the concepts of ] and ]. It is argued that libertarian socialism is said to promote positive liberty at the expense of negative liberty, whereas right-wing libertarianism is said to do the opposite.
Libertarian socialism views corporate power as an ]al problem, rather than as a result of the influence of certain ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=331–332}} It thus opposes ], which it sees as an economic system that upholds ], the ] and ], and calls for its overthrow in a ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=140}}


Libertarian socialists reject ], as they consider capitalist property relations to be incompatible with ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=305–306}} Instead, libertarian socialism upholds individual ], as well as the ] of the ].{{Sfn|Vrousalis|2011|p=211}} In the place of capitalism, libertarian socialists favour an economic system based on ] of production, advocating for a system of ],{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=392n1}}<ref name=":1" /> or ].<ref name=":0" /> They also advocate for ], as they consider workers able to cooperate productively without ]s, whether appointed by employers or by the state.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=140}}
Libertarian socialists believe if freedom is valued, then society must work towards a system in which individuals have the power to decide economic issues along with political issues. Libertarian socialists seek to replace unjustified authority with ] and voluntary ] in all aspects of life, including physical ] and economic ].


They also tend to see ] as inevitably resulting in the ] from workers to their corporate employers.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=332}} They advocate for the elimination of ] and ] through the coercive ] of property from the wealthy.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=340}}
Like other ], libertarian socialists believe that objects should be held communally and controlled democratically; the only exception being ]s. Whereas "private property" grants an individual exclusive control over a thing whether it is in use or not, "possession" grants no rights to things that are not in use. A property title grants owners the right to withhold his property from others, or, if he desires, to require payment from those who wish to use it. "Possession," on the other hand, is not compatible with this form of "exploitation" or "extortion". Possession amounts to the right to '''use''', rather than '''own''', for oneself.


== History ==
For this reason it is accurate to say that libertarian socialists favor the ] over the ]. This means that, to an anarchist, objects have a value associated with them based upon the amount of labor put in to them. As such, the only way profit can be produced is by paying workers less than this value or by charging consumers more than this value. Capitalists, on the other hand, believe that an object's value is determined by supply and demand. Despite this preference, not all libertarian socialists would argue that the labor theory is any more concrete than the subjective theory, simply that it is more fair.
The roots of libertarian socialism extend back to the ] of the ],{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=305}} claiming the English ] and the French ] as their intellectual forerunners, and admiring figures of the ] such as ] and ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=310}} According to ] and ], while authoritarian socialism had its origins in ], libertarian socialism was born in ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=484}} The modern foundations of libertarian socialism lay in the ] expounded by ], ] and ], who envisioned a ] guided by ], ] and ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=139–140}}


===Opposition to the State=== ===Emergence===
], leader of the libertarian socialist faction of the ]]]
{{See also|Anti-statism}}
Libertarian socialism first emerged from the ] of the ] (IWA), after it was expelled from the organisation by the ] at the ] of 1872.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=138}} The libertarian socialist ] had rejected ]'s calls for a "]", as he predicted it would only create a ], composed of a privileged minority, which would use the state to oppress the working classes. He concluded that: "no ] can have any other aim than to perpetuate itself, and it can only give rise to and instill slavery in the people that tolerates it."{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=320}} Marxists responded to this by insisting on the eventual "]", in which society would transition from ] to ], in an apparent attempt to synthesise authoritarian and libertarian forms of socialism.{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=320–321}}
{{anarchism}}
Proponents are most famous for opposing the existence of states or ]. Indeed, in the past many refused to defend themselves in ] because they did not wish to participate in coercive state institutions, instead choosing to go to jail or die.


This put libertarian socialists into direct ] with ] and ] for influence over ], in a contest which lasted for over fifty years.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=138}} Libertarian socialism proved attractive to British writers such as ],{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=168–169}}<ref name="n618">{{cite journal |last=Salveson |first=Paul |title=Loving Comrades: Lancashire's Links to Walt Whitman |journal=Walt Whitman Quarterly Review |volume=14 |issue=2–3 |date=1 October 1996 |issn=0737-0679 |doi=10.13008/2153-3695.1500 |pages=57–84}}</ref><ref name="b879">{{cite web |author=Sally Goldsmith |title=Edward Carpenter |website=Totley History Group |date=23 March 1929 |url=https://www.totleyhistorygroup.org.uk/people-of-interest/edward-carpenter/ |access-date=17 September 2024}}</ref> ],{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=180}} and ], the latter of whom developed a kind of libertarian socialism based in a strong ] of ], which he aimed to overthrow and replace with what he called a "beautiful society".{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=171}} Morris drove the development of ], which became increasingly concerned with the ]isation and ] of the socialist movement, leading to the establishment of the ].{{Sfn|Ojeili|2001|p=403}}
The critique of states is built on the same principle opposing concentration of authority based on power, which in the libertarian socialist thought constitutes a form of oppression.


By the early 20th century, libertarian socialists had gained a leading influence over the left-wing in the ], ] and ] and went on to play major roles in the ] and ]s.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=138}} In India, the libertarian socialist tradition was represented in the early twentieth century anti-colonial movement by ].<ref name="y787">{{cite web | last=Drèze | first=Jean | title=Anarchism in India | website=RAIOT | date=3 October 2015 | url=https://raiot.in/anarchism-in-india/ | access-date=9 September 2024 | archive-date=9 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909164440/https://raiot.in/anarchism-in-india/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
In lieu of states, libertarian socialists seek to organize themselves into voluntary institutions (usually called ]s or ] which use ] or ] for their decision-making process. Some libertarian socialists advocate combining these institutions using rotating, recallable ] to higher-level ]s. Others, however, have advanced strong critiques of federated systems, and these federations have rarely been carried out in practice. ] is a major example of such federations in practice. Contemporary examples of libertarian socialist organizational and decision-making models in practice include the ] ] and the Global ] network (which covers 45 countries on 6 continents). There are also thousands of ] societies around the world whose political and economic systems can be accurately described as ] or libertarian socialist, each of which is unique and uniquely suited to the culture that birthed it. For libertarians, that diversity of practice within a framework of common principles is proof of the vitality of those principles and of their flexibility and strength.


=== Russian Revolution ===
Contrary to popular opinion, libertarian socialism has not traditionally been a ]n movement, tending to avoid dense ] analysis or prediction of what a future society would or should look like. The tradition instead has been that such decisions cannot be made now, and must be made through struggle and experimentation, so that the best solution can be arrived at democratically and organically, and to base the direction for struggle on established historical example.
] militiamen marching in formation during the ]]]
Russian libertarian socialists, including ], ] and ], led the opposition to the ] throughout the late-19th century.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=141}} They created a network of both clandestine and legal organisations throughout Russia, with the aim of overthrowing the ] and bringing land under the ] of the ]. Their agitation for ] in the Russian countryside culminated with the establishment of rural ] during the ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=141–142}}


Anarchists also organised among the urban ], forming clandestine ]s that proved more attractive to revolution-minded workers than the more ] ]s favoured by the ]. During the ], in which libertarian socialists played a leading role, the Bolsheviks changed tack and adopted elements of the libertarian socialist programme in their appeals to the workers. But by 1919, the new Bolshevik government had come to view the libertarian socialists as a threat to their power and moved to eliminate their influence. Libertarian socialist organisations were banned and many of their members were arrested, deported to ] or executed by the ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=142}}
Supporters often suggest that this focus on exploration over predetermination is one of their great strengths. They point out that the success of science at explaining the natural world comes from its ] and its adherence to open ] exploration, not its conclusions; whereas traditional ]tic explanations of naturalistic ] have proved almost useless at explaining anything in the natural world.


The ] ended in defeat for the libertarian socialists, with either the social democrats, the Bolsheviks or ] rising to power. Libertarian socialists responded by reevaluating their positions, emphasising mass organisation over ] ]ism and ] over ].{{Sfn|Ojeili|2001|p=400}} They also came to conceive the "]" as a form of class power, rather than as the dictatorship of a political party. Many Marxists of the period were attracted to this position, including ] in Germany, ] in the Netherlands, ] in Britain, ] in Hungary and ] in Italy.{{Sfn|Ojeili|2001|pp=403–404}}
Although critics claim that they are avoiding questions they cannot answer, libertarian socialists believe that a methodological approach to exploration is the best way to achieve their social goals. To them, dogmatic approaches to social organization are just as doomed to failure as are non-scientific explanations of natural phenomena. Noted anarchist ] once stated, "I am an anarchist not because I believe anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal" (''The London Years'', 1956).


=== Spanish Revolution ===
Because libertarian socialism encourages exploration and embraces a diversity of ideas rather than forming a compact movement, there have arisen inevitable controversies over individuals who describe themselves as libertarian socialists but disagree with some of the core principles of libertarian socialism. For example, Peter Hain interprets libertarian socialism as favoring radical decentralization of power without going as far as the complete abolition of the state , and libertarian socialist ] clearly supports dismantling any form of unjustified structure of centralized social or economic power, while also admitting, by a rational conclusion of obvious moral justifications, that state intervention to remedy social injustices should be supported.
] ] during the ]]]
Libertarian socialism reached its apex of popularity with the ], during which libertarian socialists led "the largest and most successful revolution against capitalism to ever take place in any ]".{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=138}}


In Spain, traditional forms of ] and ] dated back to the 15th century. The ], where collective self-management of irrigation was commonplace, became the hotbed of anarchist collectivisation.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=143}} Building on this traditional ], from 1876, the Spanish libertarian socialist movement grew through sustained agitation and the establishment of alternative institutions that culminated in the Spanish Revolution.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=144–145}} During this period, a series of workers' congresses, first convoked by the ], debated and refined proposals for the construction of a libertarian socialist society. Over several decades, resolutions from these congresses formed the basis of a specific program on a range of issues, from the structure of communes and the post-revolutionary economy to libertarian cultural and artistic initiatives.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=145–146}} These proposals were published in the pages of widely distributed libertarian socialist periodicals, such as '']'' and '']'', which each circulated tens of thousands of copies. By the outbreak of the revolution, the anarcho-syndicalist ] (CNT) enjoyed widespread popularity, counting 1.5 million members within its ranks.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=146}}
===Violent and non-violent means===
Many libertarian socialists see violent revolution as necessary in the abolition of capitalist society. Along with many others, ] argued that the use of violence was necessary; as he put it in '']'' (no. 125, September 6, 1921):
:''It is our aspiration and our aim that everyone should become socially conscious and effective; but to achieve this end, it is necessary to provide all with the means of life and for development, and it is therefore necessary to destroy with violence, since one cannot do otherwise, the violence which denies these means to the workers.''
However, Proudhon, who people often term "the father of anarchism," argued in favor of a ]. The progression towards violence in anarchism stemmed, in part, from the various massacres of the communes that has sprung from Proudhon's own ideas. Anarcho-communists began to see a need for revolutionary violence as a form of collective defense against the involuntary restrictions upheld by property owners.


During the revolution, the ] were brought under ] and ]s formed the basis for the new economy.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=145}} According to ], the CNT established an agrarian federation in the Levante that encompassed 78% of Spain's most ]. The regional federation was populated by 1,650,000 people, 40% of whom lived on the region's 900 agrarian collectives, which were self-organised by peasant unions.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=143–144}}
The non-violent anarchist movement today consists of organizations such as BAAM, ], or Anarchist Black Cross.


Although industrial and agricultural production was at its highest in the anarchist-controlled areas of the Spanish Republic, and the ] displayed the strongest military discipline, liberals and Communists alike blamed the "]" libertarian socialists for the defeat of the Republic in the ]. These charges have been disputed by contemporary libertarian socialists, such as ] and ], who have accused such claims of lacking substantial evidence.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=146–147}}
==Political roots==
As ] and ] stated in their book '']'', anarchism has:


=== Decline ===
:''...its particular inheritance, part of which it shares with socialism, giving it a family resemblance to certain of its enemies. Another part of its inheritance it shares with ], making it, at birth, kissing-cousins with American-type radical ], a large part of which has married out of the family into the ] and is no longer on speaking terms.'' (''The Floodgates of Anarchy'', 1970, page 39.)
Following the defeat of the ] in the ], libertarian socialism fell into decline.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=138–139}} ] throughout the world came to be dominated either by ] or ], which attained power in a number of countries and thus had the means to support their ideological allies. In contrast, Hahnel argues, libertarian socialists were not able to gain influence within the labour movement. At a time when reformist trade unions were consistently winning concessions, the libertarian socialists' anti-reformist message gained little traction. Their platform of workers' self-management also failed to appeal to industrial workers.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=147}} Until the 1960s, libertarian socialists were limited mostly to making critiques of ] and ], although Hahnel asserts that these arguments were largely overshadowed by those from ] and ] respectively.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=147–148}}


=== New Left ===
That is, anarchism arose as a cross between socialism and liberalism, incorporating the anti-capitalist attitude of '''socialists''' and the anti-statist, what would today be called '''libertarian''', attitude of liberalism. ], who is often considered the father of modern anarchism, coined the phrase "]" to describe his affinity for the labor theory of value, a socialist value. At the same time he believed that goods should be traded in a free market (one not under constraint of government) where money was replaced with ] which held value in terms of labor rather than supply and demand. A free market is a liberal value.
], the most prominent advocate of libertarian socialism in the ]]]
Libertarian socialist themes received a revival during the 1960s, when it was reconstituted as part of the nascent ].{{Sfnm|1a1=Hahnel|1y=2005|1p=148|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=540}} This revival occurred largely unconsciously, as new leftists were often unaware of their libertarian socialist predecessors. The concepts of ], ], ] and ] were thus reinvented by the new generation.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=148}} They also picked up the principles of ], ] and ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=541}} These libertarian socialist themes drove the growth of the New Left, which by this point was disillusioned by the mainstream social democratic and Marxist-Leninist political groupings, due to the capitalistic tendencies of the former and the rigid authoritarianism of the latter.{{Sfnm|1a1=Hahnel|1y=2005|1p=148|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=540}}


Sociologist ], who displayed strong libertarian socialist tendencies in his appeals to the New Left, reformulated Marxism for the modern age in his work on '']''. ]'s ] theses on the ] were also rediscovered by the New Left, who developed his programme for individual ] into a ] used by the ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=540–541}} Drawing on the Freudo-Marxist conception of ] as "organised domination", ] developed a critique of ] in modern Western societies, concluding that ] and ] had been undermined by social ]. Meanwhile, ] published denunciations of the ] and ] advocated for decentralisation.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=541}} In the process, the new generation of Marxists gravitated towards libertarian tendencies, sometimes closely resembling anarchism. Following on from Marcuse, ], ], ] and ] all adopted forms of "libertarian Marxism", opposed to the bureaucracy and parliamentarism of statist tendencies.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=541–542}}
Seventeen years (1857) after Proudhon first called himself an anarchist (1840), anarchist communist ] was the first person to describe himself as a libertarian<ref name="dejacque" />. Because the word "libertarian" is now commonly used by anti-state capitalists, non-authoritarian socialists often call themselves libertarian socialists to differentiate themselves.


A specific and explicit libertarian socialist tendency also began to emerge. While some more libertarian Marxists adopted the term in order to distinguish themselves from authoritarian socialists,{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=641}} anarchists began calling themselves "libertarian socialist" in order to avoid the negative connotations associated with anarchism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Boraman|1y=2012|1p=257|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=641}} The libertarian socialist ] specifically attempted to synthesise anarchism and Marxism into a single tendency, which inspired the growth of the French libertarian communist movement.{{Sfn|Berry|2012|p=199}} For a time, even the American ] theorist ] attempted to make common cause with libertarian socialists, but later shifted away from socialism and towards ].{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=310n17}}
For these reasons the neologism "libertarian socialism" is today synonymous with anarchism. However, libertarian socialism has a more political connotation while anarchism has grown into a much wider and more philosophical set of ideas. Since mainstream circles equate anarchism with opposition to the state, an ideology known as ] has come about which would not fall under the category of libertarian socialism. The phrase therefore has a more leftist tone to non-anarchists. In addition, some prefer the name because anarchy is often equated with chaos and can be a confusing word to use in political theory.


Many libertarian socialists of this period were particularly influenced by the analysis of ]<ref name="Lefort">], ''Writing: The Political Test'', Duke University Press, 2000, Translator's Foreword by David Ames Curtis, p. xxiv, "Castoriadis, the historian ], now Lefort ... are themselves quite articulate in their own right and historically associated with a libertarian socialist outlook..."</ref><ref name="e319">{{cite journal | last=Ojeili | first=Chamsy | title=Post-Marxism with Substance: Castoriadis and the Autonomy Project | journal=New Political Science | volume=23 | issue=2 | date=2001b | issn=0739-3148 | doi=10.1080/07393140120054047 | pages=225–239|quote=Receiving his political inheritance from the broad libertarian socialist tradition, Castoriadis continues to challenge the domination of state and capital and to insist on the liberatory possibilities of direct democracy. }}</ref> and his group ].{{Sfnm|1a1=Boraman|1y=2012|1p=252|2a1=Cornell|2y=2012|2p=177}} This new generation included the non-vanguardist Marxist organisation ],{{Sfn|Cornell|2012|p=177}} the British libertarian socialist group ],{{Sfnm|1a1=Boraman|1y=2012|1pp=252, 257|2a1=Cornell|2y=2012|2p=177|3a1=Marshall|3y=2008|3p=495}}<ref name="l362">{{cite web | title=What is libertarian socialism? An interview with Ken Weller | website=libcom.org | date=26 October 2015 | url=https://libcom.org/article/what-libertarian-socialism-interview-ken-weller | access-date=11 September 2024 | archive-date=24 March 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324152354/https://libcom.org/article/what-libertarian-socialism-interview-ken-weller | url-status=live }}</ref> and the Australian councilists of the Self-Management Group.{{Sfn|Boraman|2012|pp=251–271}} Some of this new generation of libertarian socialists also joined the ] (IWW), swelling the old union's numbers, organising agricultural workers and launching a new journal, ''The Rebel Worker''.{{Sfn|Cornell|2012|p=177}} This libertarian socialist milieu, with their criticisms of ] and ]ism, and their advocacy of ] and ], went on to inspire the French ] and Italian ].{{Sfn|Cornell|2012|pp=177–178}}
Perhaps specifically because libertarian socialism has its roots in both liberalism and socialism, it is often in conflict with liberalism (especially ]) and socialism simultaneously.


Of the figures in the New Left, the American linguist ] became the most prominent spokesperson for libertarian socialism.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=305}} Inspired by the ] of ], the ] of ] and the ] of ], Chomsky championed a libertarian socialism that upheld individual ] and ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=578}} Chomsky has been outspoken advocate of ], opposing limits on individual freedoms by the state.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=578–579}} He has also focused much of his libertarian socialist critique on ], due to its role in the military-industrial complex.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=579}}
===Conflict with Marxism===
{{main|Anarchism and Marxism}}
In rejecting both capitalism and the State, libertarian socialists put themselves in opposition to both ] ] and to authoritarian forms of ], after the ]. Although anarchists and Marxists are often said to share a belief in the ultimate goal of a stateless society, anarchists criticise most Marxists for advocating a transitional phase under which the state is used to achieve this aim. Nonetheless, libertarian Marxist tendencies such as ] and ] have historically been intertwined with the anarchist movement. Anarchist movements have come into conflict with both capitalist and Marxist forces, sometimes at the same time, as in the ], though as in that war Marxists themselves are often divided in support or opposition to anarchism. Other political persecutions under ] parties have resulted in a strong historical antagonism between anarchists and libertarian Marxists on the one hand and ] Marxists on the other and their derivatives such as ]. In recent history, however, libertarian socialists have repeatedly formed temporary alliances with Marxist-Leninist groups for the purposes of protest against institutions they both reject.
]]]
Part of this antagonism can be traced to the ], the ''First International'', a congress of ] workers, where ], who was fairly representative of the ''libertarian socialist'' view, and ], whom anarchists accused of being an ''authoritarian'', came into conflict on various issues. Bakunin's viewpoint on the illegitimacy of the State as an institution and the role of electoral politics was starkly counterposed to Marx's views in the First International. Marx and Bakunin's disputes eventually led to Marx taking control of the First International and expelling Bakunin and his followers from the organization. This was the beginning of a long-running feud and schism between libertarian socialists and what they call "authoritarian communists", or alternatively just "authoritarians". Of course, some have equally criticised Bakunin for running an ], and of being just as ''authoritarian'' as Marx. Indeed, The ] ] ] criticised ] for being a product of Bakuninism.


While most sections of the New Left expressed a form of libertarian socialism, others were instead being inspired by the ] and ]s to embrace forms of ] such as ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|pp=542}} As such, according to Hahnel, the New Left failed to form a coherent ideological program or establish lasting support to carry forward the momentum of the late 1960s, resulting in many dropping out of ] altogether.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=148–149}}
Some Marxists have formulated views that closely resemble ], and thus express more affinity with anarchist ideas. The American Marxist leader ], for example, who joined and reorganized the ] in 1890, advocated a form of "industrial unionism" (known as ]), which was similar to syndicalism, although De Leon himself made a point of distinguishing between the two ideologies. De Leon's insistence on a revolutionary political party working as the political wing of the industrial unions, however, sets him outside of the libertarian socialist current of anarchism (see opposition to the state above).


===New social movements===
Several libertarian socialists, notably ], believe that anarchism shares much in common with certain variants of Marxism such as the ] of ] Marxist ]. In Chomsky's '']'', he suggests the possibility "that some form of council communism is the natural form of ] in an ] society. It reflects the belief that democracy is severely limited when the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite, whether of owners, managers, and technocrats, a '], or a State bureaucracy."
A minority from the New Left continued their radical activism within the ] of the 1970s and 1980s, becoming involved in ], the ], ] and eventually the ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=148–149}} In this period, many librertarian socialists, such as Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, ], ], E.P. Thompson and ], were committed to " in rethinking what socialism might come to mean in an age of ecological limit".<ref name="p794">{{cite journal | last=Stevenson | first=Nick | title=Raymond Williams and the possibilities of 'committed' late Marxism | journal=Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism | publisher=The Raymond Williams Society | volume=16 | date=12 July 2018 | issn=1369-9725 | url=https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/index.php/output/912158/raymond-williams-and-the-possibilities-of-committed-late-marxism | access-date=13 September 2024 | page=}}</ref>


According to Robin Hahnel, new social movements continued the New Left's tendency of failing to develop a "comprehensive libertarian socialist theory and practice". Libertarian socialist activism became focused on achieving practical reforms and theoretical developments centred around common "core values" such as ], ] and ], without building a coherent critique of capitalism.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=149}} Activists from the 1970s and 1980s influenced by libertarian socialism did not advance coherent alternatives to markets and central planning, and had no reformist campaign. Eventually, Hahnel argues, they turned to traditional ] and abandoned their "big picture" libertarian socialist approach.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=}}
] and ] are also regarded as being ] variants of Marxism that are firmly within the libertarian socialist tradition.


These movements were somewhat successful in achieving their goals: the movements for gay and ] changed societal outlook on ]; the ] proved it necessary to tackle the social aspects of ]; the ] reconceived of anti-imperialism outside of economic terms; and the ] launched a wave of ecological defense and restoration. Together, Hahnel argues, they broke from the ] prevalent in traditional forms of libertarian socialism, proving intersectional oppressions other than class also demanded attention.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=150–151}} Through the new social movements, libertarian socialism developed an awareness of different aspects of oppression, beyond class analysis.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=151}}
==Libertarian socialist tendencies==
Libertarian socialism is composed of a diverse range of tendencies and organizations, with varying degrees of unity depending on specific ideological beliefs. These are only a few of the most historically important factions within libertarian socialism.


===Anarchist communism=== ===Contemporary era===
Libertarian socialism again received a revival of interest in the wake of the ] and concurrent rise of ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=138–139}} It proved particularly attractive to people from the former ], who saw it as an alternative both to western capitalism and Marxism-Leninism.{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=660}} Since the end of the ], there have been two major experiments in libertarian socialism: the ] in ] and the ] in ].{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}}
{{Main|Anarchist communism}}
]
Anarchist communism was first formulated in the ] section of the ], by ], ], ], and other ex-] ]. Out of respect for ], they did not make their differences from standard ] explicit until after the latter's death. In 1876, at the Florence Conference of the Italian Federation of the International (which was actually held in a forest outside ], due to ] activity), they declared the principles of anarcho-communism, beginning with:


In reaction against the implementation of the ] (NAFTA) and the ] of ] by the Mexican state, in 1994, the ] (EZLN) rose up against the government,<ref name="DJILP"/> enabling the formation of a ] ] in the Mexican state of ].{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}}<ref name="DJILP"/><ref name="Radio"/> The Zapatistas have roundly rejected ] and ], including the ] model of seizing state power, with spokesman ] famously declaring "I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet."{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}} As such, they have commonly been characterised as libertarian socialist,{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}}<ref name="Radio">{{Cite journal |last=Woodman |first=Stephen |date=December 2018 |title=From armed rebellion to radical radio |journal=Index on Censorship |language=en |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=73 |doi=10.1177/0306422018819354 |issn=0306-4220|doi-access=free }}<!-- Verified: describes the Zapatistas as "libertarian-socialist." --></ref> or inspired by libertarian socialism.<ref name="DJILP">{{Cite web |last=Plasters |first=Bree |date=January 9, 2014 |title=Critical Analysis: The Zapatista Rebellion: 20 Years Later |url=http://djilp.org/critical-analysis-the-zapatista-rebellion-20-years-later/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604173839/http://djilp.org/critical-analysis-the-zapatista-rebellion-20-years-later/ |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |access-date=July 23, 2023 |website=Denver Journal of International Law & Policy |publisher=] Sturm College of Law |language=en-US}} <!-- Verified: describes the Zapatistas as having drawn from "libertarian socialism". --></ref><ref name="IUSTA">{{Cite journal |last=Cardozo |first=Mario Hurtado |date=2017-09-23 |title=Crisis de la forma jurídica y el despertar antisistémico: una mirada desde el pluralismo jurídico de las Juntas de Buen Gobierno (jbg) |url=https://revistas.usantotomas.edu.co/index.php/iusta/article/view/3810 |journal=IUSTA |volume=2 |language=es |issue=47 |pages=28 |doi=10.15332/s1900-0448.2017.0047.04 |issn=2500-5286 |doi-access=free |access-date=2023-07-23 |archive-date=2023-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723061447/https://revistas.usantotomas.edu.co/index.php/iusta/article/view/3810 |url-status=live }} <!-- Verified: describes the Zapatistas as inspired by "socialismo libertario". --></ref><!-- More sources that describe the Zapatistas as inspired by "libertarian socialism":
:"The Italian Federation considers the collective property of the products of labour as the necessary complement to the collectivist programme, the aid of all for the satisfaction of the needs of each being the only rule of production and consumption which corresponds to the principle of solidarity. The federal congress at Florence has eloquently demonstrated the opinion of the Italian International on this point..."
* {{Cite web |last=Univision |title=El gobierno de Salinas de Gortari buscó una salida militar para acabar con los zapatistas |url=https://www.univision.com/noticias/noticias-de-mexico/el-gobierno-de-salinas-de-gortari-busco-una-salida-militar-para-acabar-con-los-zapatistas |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=] |language=spanish}}
* {{Cite web |title=EZLN: a 39 años de la creación del grupo revolucionario que desafió al gobierno priísta |url=https://www.infobae.com/america/mexico/2022/11/17/ezln-a-39-anos-de-la-creacion-del-grupo-revolucionario-que-desafio-al-gobierno-priista/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=] |language=es-ES}}
* {{Cite web |last= |date=2020-09-11 |title=Mexico: Zapatistas launch caravan for indigenous life |url=https://freedomnews.org.uk/2020/09/11/mexico-zapatistas-launch-caravan-for-indigenous-life/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |publisher=] |language=en-GB}}--> They have in turn become a source of inspiration for libertarian socialists, including the ] ] and ], as well as some anarchists.{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}}


In 2012, the ] established the ] (AANES; or "Rojava") to put "libertarian socialist ideas ... into practice",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Colella |first=Chris |date=Winter 2017 |title=The Rojava Revolution: Oil, Water, and Liberation – Commodities, Conflict, and Cooperation |url=https://sites.evergreen.edu/ccc/other/the-rojava-revolution/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=Commodities, Conflict, and Cooperation |publisher=] |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723092142/https://sites.evergreen.edu/ccc/other/the-rojava-revolution/ |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- Verified: Describes Rojava as practising "libertarian socialism". --> and whose ] present themselves as a "libertarian socialist alternative to the colonially established state boundaries in the Middle East."{{Sfn|Pinta|Kinna|Prichard|Berry|2017}}<!-- Verified: Describes Rojava as "libertarian socialist". --> Various sources have drawn parallels between the Rojava Revolution and the Zapatista uprising of 1994<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Savran |first=Yagmur |date=2016 |title=The Rojava Revolution and British Solidarity |url=https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchiststudies/vol-24-issue-1/abstract-9306/ |journal=Anarchist Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |via=] |access-date=2023-07-23 |archive-date=2023-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723100914/https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchiststudies/vol-24-issue-1/abstract-9306/ |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- Verified: Describes Rojava as having implemented "libertarian socialism". --> or the ],<ref name="Aretaios">{{Cite web |last=Aretaios |first=Evangelos |date=March 15, 2015 |title=The Rojava revolution |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/rojava-revolution/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=openDemocracy |language=en |archive-date=2017-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221052628/https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/evangelos-aretaios/rojava-revolution |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- Verified: Describes Rojava as influenced by the "libertarian socialist" ideas of Murray Bookchin. --> and noted the influence of libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin, specifically his concept of ], on the revolution.<ref name="unitedexplanations">{{cite web | url=https://unitedexplanations.org/english/2016/01/18/what-is-municipalism-and-why-is-it-gaining-presence-in-spain/ | title=United Explanations – What is municipalism and why is it gaining presence in Spain? | date=18 January 2016 | access-date=9 September 2024 | archive-date=9 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909115833/https://unitedexplanations.org/english/2016/01/18/what-is-municipalism-and-why-is-it-gaining-presence-in-spain/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Aretaios"/>
The above report was actually made in an article by Malatesta and Cafiero in the (Swiss) ]'s bulletin later that year. Cafiero notes, in ''Anarchie et Communisme'', that private property in the product of labor will lead to unequal accumulation of capital, and therefore undesirable class distinctions.


Libertarian socialist ideas have influenced some currents of the ] and ] movements, such as ]'s ] party, in which they ally with ].<ref name="r132">{{cite book | last=Davies | first=Jonathan S. | title=Between Realism and Revolt: Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism | publisher=Bristol University Press | date=24 March 2021 | isbn=978-1-5292-1093-4 | doi=10.2307/j.ctv1jf2c6b | page=27, 129, 139 | quote=a heterodox array of egalitarian anti-austerity forces re-emerged across Europe and the USA, including “new municipalist” currents (Russell, 2019; Thompson, 2020). These currents... have been influenced mainly by network-theoretical ideas linked to Anarchist, ] and libertarian socialist traditions, in which solidarity is anchored by affinity (Day, 2005)... These themes have continued to influence struggles for the past 20 years, including anti-austerity movements and new municipalisms in which anarchist and libertarian socialist traditions ally uneasily with institutionalist and state-friendly variants of democratic socialism (Taylor, 2013; Barcelona en Comú, 2019).}}</ref>
Anarcho-communists hold that the only road to true liberation of the individual, as well as the abolition of ] and the State, is the complete abolition of ]s; whereas some other anarchists and libertarian socialists advocate collective ownership with market elements and sometimes ]. Anarcho-communists believe the only true liberation comes with a ] operated by the collective under ]. As such anarcho-communism is the most ] branch of libertarian socialism.


In ], there have been several libertarian socialist movements active since the 2010s in groups including ] and the ] (FA).<ref name="Chile">{{cite web | title=Interview: The anarchists of Chile | website=Freedom News | date=8 January 2019 | url=https://freedomnews.org.uk/2019/01/08/interview-the-anarchists-of-chile/ | access-date=9 September 2024 | archive-date=9 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909140458/https://freedomnews.org.uk/2019/01/08/interview-the-anarchists-of-chile/ | url-status=live }}</ref> ] founded ] in 2018, bringing together the ], ] and other libertarian socialist groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/partidos_politicos/Partido_Convergencia_Social|title=Partidos, movimientos y coaliciones: Partido Convergencia Social|date=2020|publisher=]|language=es|access-date=2024-04-25|archive-date=2024-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304083823/https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/partidos_politicos/Partido_Convergencia_Social|url-status=live}}</ref> Boric, who describes himself as libertarian socialist, was ].<ref name="o709">{{cite news | author=The Economist | title=A new group of left-wing presidents takes over in Latin America | newspaper=The Economist | date=12 March 2022 | url=https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/03/12/a-new-group-of-left-wing-presidents-takes-over-in-latin-america | access-date=17 August 2024 | quote=WHEN GABRIEL BORIC, who is 36 and calls himself a “libertarian socialist”, is sworn in as Chile’s president on March 11th it will mark the most radical reshaping of his country’s politics in more than 30 years. | archive-date=13 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913100345/https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/03/12/a-new-group-of-left-wing-presidents-takes-over-in-latin-america | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite interview |last=Boric |first=Gabriel |interviewer=Andrea Vial Herrera |title=No espero que las élites estén de acuerdo conmigo, pero sí que dejen de tenernos miedo |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-60083855 |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318154851/https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-60083855 |archive-date=18 March 2022 |url-status=live |work=BBC News Mundo |location=Santiago de Chile |date=21 January 2022 |language=es|quote=Yo provengo de la tradición socialista libertaria americanista chilena. }}</ref><ref name="a527">{{cite web | title=Can a rise of leftist leaders bring real change to Latin America? | website=Al Jazeera | date=23 March 2022 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-stream/2022/3/23/can-a-rise-of-leftist-leaders-bring-real-change-to-latin-america | access-date=17 August 2024 | quote=Boric, who considers himself a libertarian-socialist | archive-date=12 April 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412181339/https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-stream/2022/3/23/can-a-rise-of-leftist-leaders-bring-real-change-to-latin-america | url-status=live }}</ref>
In anarchist communism, ] no longer exists. Not only that, but ] are given away as ]s in the certainty that others will also give ] back. In an industrial setting, this would occur between worker syndicates as well as between individuals. If one syndicate does not share their products, they will not receive resources from other syndicates, making it in their best interest to share.


== Notable tendencies ==
===Anarcho-syndicalism===
Libertarian socialism encompasses both the libertarian wing of ] and the socialist wing of ],{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=306}} including many different schools of thought under its banner.{{Sfnm|1a1=Pinta|1a2=Berry|1y=2012|1pp=295–296|2a1=Ojeili|2y=2001|2p=393}} The most commonly cited tendencies of libertarian socialism are ], ], and ].{{Sfnm|1a1=Hahnel|1y=2005|1p=392n1|2a1=Ojeili|2y=2001|2p=393}} Other Marxist strands of libertarian socialism include ], ] and ].{{Sfn|Ojeili|2001|p=393}} Additionally, ], ], ] and ],<ref name="Bookchin">{{cite journal | last=Affairs | first=Current | title=Introducing Murray Bookchin, the Extraordinary Originator of 'Social Ecology' | journal=Current Affairs | date=31 May 2023 | url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/05/introducing-murray-bookchin-the-extraordinary-originator-of-social-ecology | access-date=9 September 2024 | archive-date=10 September 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910061820/https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/05/introducing-murray-bookchin-the-extraordinary-originator-of-social-ecology | url-status=live }}</ref> as well as various strands of the ], ] and ], have been listed among the other wings of libertarian socialism.{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=392n1}}
{{Main|Anarcho-syndicalism}}
]
'''Anarcho-syndicalism''' is a branch of ] which focuses on the ]. Anarcho-syndicalists view ]s as a potential force for ]ary social change, replacing ] and the ] with a new society democratically self-managed by workers.


=== Anarchist ===
The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are:
{{Main|Anarchism}}
The currents of ] that developed in the 19th century were committed to autonomy and freedom, decentralization, opposing hierarchy, and opposing the ] of ].


In the 20th century, ] emerged as a significant current of anarchism and explicitly identified as libertarian socialist. Anarcho-syndicalist ] explained: "We therefore foresee a Society in which all activities will be coordinated, a structure that has, at the same time, sufficient flexibility to permit the greatest possible autonomy for social life, or for the life of each enterprise, and enough cohesiveness to prevent all disorder. In a well-organised society, all of these things must be systematically accomplished by means of parallel federations, vertically united at the highest levels, constituting one vast organism in which all economic functions will be performed in solidarity with all others and that will permanently preserve the necessary cohesion".<ref>Leval, Gaston (1959). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808110924/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/gaston-leval-libertarian-socialism-a-practical-outline |date=2019-08-08 }}. Retrieved 22 August 2020 – via The Anarchist Library.</ref>
:#workers' ]
:#]
:#]


Significant thinkers in the anarchist tradition who are described as libertarian socialist include ].<ref name="r993">{{cite journal | last=Stevenson | first=Nick | title=E. P. Thompson and Cultural Sociology: Questions of Poetics, Capitalism and the Commons | journal=Cultural Sociology | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=11 | issue=1 | date=27 September 2016 | issn=1749-9755 | doi=10.1177/1749975516655462 | pages=11–27| url=https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/file/843223/1/thompson%2520cultural%2520poetic%2520commons%25201.pdf }}</ref>
Workers' solidarity means that anarcho-syndicalists believe all workers&mdash;no matter their ], ], or ] group&mdash;are in a similar situation in regard to their ] (]). Furthermore, it means that, within ], any gains or losses made by some workers from or to bosses will eventually affect all workers. Therefore, to ] themselves, all workers must support one another in their ].


=== Marxist ===
Anarcho-syndicalists believe that only ]&mdash;that is, action concentrated on directly attaining a goal, as opposed to indirect action, such as electing a representative to a government position&mdash;will allow workers to liberate themselves.
{{Main|List of communist ideologies#Libertarian Marxism}}
A broad scope of economic and political philosophies that draw on the anti-authoritarian aspects of ] have been described as "Libertarian Marxism",<ref name="Löwy & Besancenot">{{cite journal |first1=Michael |last1=Löwy |author1-link=Michael Löwy |first2=Olivier |last2=Besancenot |author2-link=Olivier Besancenot |year=2018 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23269995.2018.1459332 |title=Expanding the horizon: for a Libertarian Marxism |journal=Global Discourse |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/23269995.2018.1459332 |s2cid=149816533 |access-date=2022-11-19 |archive-date=2022-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113230908/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23269995.2018.1459332 |url-status=live}}</ref> a tendency which emphasises ], ] and ].<ref name="Löwy & Besancenot"/> Wayne Price identified it most closely with the tendency of ] and identified libertarian characteristics within ], the ], the ] group and the ], contrasting them with ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Price |first=Wayne |year=2004 |title=Libertarian Marxism's Relation to Anarchism |url=http://www.utopianmag.com/archives/libertarian-marxisms-relation-to-anarchism/ |journal=The Utopian |volume=4 |pages=75–76 |access-date=2022-11-19 |archive-date=2023-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307140518/http://www.utopianmag.com/archives/libertarian-marxisms-relation-to-anarchism/ |url-status=live}}</ref> ] and ] have identified ], ], ] and ] as prominent figures of libertarian Marxism.<ref name="Löwy & Besancenot"/> Ojeili identifies ], ], the ], Rosa Luxemburg, ] ], ], ], ], ], ], Socialisme ou Barbarie, ], ] and ] as significant Marxian libertarian socialists.{{sfn|Ojeili|2001}}


===Democratic socialist===
Moreover, anarcho-syndicalists believe that workers' organizations (the organizations that struggle against the wage system, which, in anarcho-syndicalist theory, will eventually form the basis of a new society) should be self-managing. They should not have bosses or “business agents”; rather, the workers should be able to make all the decisions that affect them themselves.
{{Main|Democratic socialism}}


There was a strong left-libertarian current in the British labour movement<ref name="a217" /> and the term "libertarian socialist" has been applied to a number of ]s, including some prominent members of the ].<ref name="d245">{{Cite book |last=Bowie |first=Duncan |title=Twentieth Century Socialism in Britain |date=2022 |publisher=Socialist History Society |isbn=978-1-9163423-5-4 |quote=] was a libertarian socialist and was also closed to a number of anarchists, including ] and ] who were also active in the Norwich socialist movement.... ] was pluralist in his politics but can best be described as a libertarian socialist and pacifist, conviction he retained throughout his life.... ] adopted an ] position and collaborated with other libertarians including her partner, the Italian anarchist, Corio]].... '']'' a pluralist libertarian socialist approach...}}</ref> The ] was formed in 1885 by ] and others critical of the authoritarian socialism of the ].{{Sfn|Marshall|2008|p=171}} It was involved in the ], the rank-and-file union militancy of the 1880s–1890s, which anticipated syndicalism in some key ways (], a New Unionist leader, was one of the first British syndicalists). The Socialist League was dominated by anarchists by the 1890s.<ref name="e782">{{Cite book |last=Goodway |first=David |title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward |date=1 October 2006 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-84631-025-6 |doi=10.5949/liverpool/9781846310256.003.0002}}</ref> The ] was inspired by ] as well as libertarian socialism.<ref name="m086">{{Cite web |last=Bowie |first=Duncan |date=13 June 2018 |title=Common Wealth Manifesto, 1943 |url=https://www.chartist.org.uk/common-wealth-manifesto-1943/ |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=Chartist |quote=Its programme of common ownership echoed that of the Labour Party but stemmed from a more idealistic perspective, later termed “libertarian socialist”. It came to reject the State-dominated form of socialism adopted by Labour under the influence of ], increasingly aligning itself instead with co-operative, syndicalist and guild socialist traditions. |archive-date=29 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529234706/https://www.chartist.org.uk/common-wealth-manifesto-1943/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="l653">{{Cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Antony |last2=Enderby |first2=John |date=15 March 2021 |title=From 'flame' to embers? Whatever happened to the English radical tradition c.1880-2020? |journal=Cultural and Social History |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=243–264 |doi=10.1080/14780038.2021.1893922 |issn=1478-0038 |url=http://shura.shu.ac.uk/28439/10/Taylor-FromFlameEmbers%28VoR%29.pdf |quote=During the 1940s, the radical tradition was pushed to the margins... The spirit of libertarian socialism opposed to the statism of Labour was very apparent in this strain of politics, especially in the public utterances of Sir ], and the new Common Wealth party. |access-date=13 September 2024 |archive-date=3 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240703170445/https://shura.shu.ac.uk/28439/10/Taylor-FromFlameEmbers(VoR).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Others in the tradition of the ILP and described as libertarian socialists included ] (the founder of ] and influenced by Morris),<ref name="c469">{{Cite web |last=Goodway |first=David |title=G.D.H. Cole: A Libertarian Trapped in the Labour Party |url=https://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/?p=1240 |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=Socialist History Society |archive-date=11 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911143854/https://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/?p=1240 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="a217">{{Cite book |last=Carpenter |first=L. P. |title=G. D. H. Cole |date=1973 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0-521-08702-3 |publication-place=Cambridge |quote=In his conversion to socialism as Morris had described it, Cole entered the socialist movement on the libertarian wing.... Guild Socialism was an important restatement of the libertarian features of British socialism.... occasionally called himself a Marxist, within this humanistic, empiricist interpretation. Cole could accept this kind of Marxism because Marx’s philosophy of history contains basic insights reached independently by libertarian British socialists from their own experience. The Marxism he set forth in ''The Meaning of Marxism'' was really the common sense of the British Labour movement.],<ref name="e385">{{Cite book |last=Barry |first=Peter Brian |title=George Orwell |date=16 August 2023 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |isbn=978-0-19-762740-2 |pages=189–217 |chapter=George Orwell and Left-Libertarianism |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197627402.003.0007}}</ref><ref name="f759">{{Cite book |last=Woodcock |first=George |author-link=George Woodcock |url=https://archive.org/details/crystalspiritst00wood/ |title=The crystal spirit: A study of George Orwell |year=1984 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=978-0-8052-0755-2 |quote= Orwell appeared on the platform with ], ] and a few other leaders of the libertarian Left.... ] was substantially correct when he said, in his '']'' 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 ]'.... Orwell's affinities were...with William Morris, another libertarian Socialist who distrusted doctrinaires. |access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref> ],<ref name="u099">{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Kenneth O. |date=22 August 2015 |title=Historian looks at Labour favourite's prospects of leading from the left |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/historian-looks-labour-favourites-prospects-6302363 |access-date=10 September 2024 |website=Daily Record |quote=Foot also was a distinctly libertarian socialist |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910174025/https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/historian-looks-labour-favourites-prospects-6302363 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="m989">{{Cite web |last=Rowlands |first=Carl |date=18 February 2012 |title=Securing a legacy for Michael Foot |url=https://labourlist.org/2012/02/securing-a-legacy-for-michael-foot/ |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=LabourList |quote=Michael Foot is well recognised as a libertarian socialist. |archive-date=11 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911090716/https://labourlist.org/2012/02/securing-a-legacy-for-michael-foot/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ],<ref name="p794"/> and ].<ref name="p963">{{Cite web |last=Bowie |first=Duncan |date=12 April 2020 |title=Tony Benn: Arguments for Socialism (1979) |url=https://www.chartist.org.uk/arguments-for-socialism-tony-benn-1979/ |access-date=10 September 2024 |website=Chartist |quote=Interested in the history of ], having been sympathetic to the wartime ] in his youth, Benn became interested in a more libertarian socialist approach, supporting the syndicalist ] and the ] workers cooperative of 1975 and advocating ]. |archive-date=10 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910212003/https://www.chartist.org.uk/arguments-for-socialism-tony-benn-1979/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Another is former Labour Party minister ],<ref name="v276">{{cite web | title=the establishment radical | website=BBC News | date=10 January 2002 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1752805.stm | access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="g366">{{cite web | author=Carl Packman | title=Book Review: Outside In by Peter Hain | website=British Politics and Policy at LSE | date=29 January 2012 | url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/book-review-outside-in-by-peter-hain/ | access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="l155">{{cite web | last=Passmore | first=Biddy | title=No more fire, but plenty of spark; Interview: Peter Hain | website=Tes Magazine | date=15 May 1998 | url=https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/no-more-fire-plenty-sparkpeopleinterviewpeter-hain | access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref> who has written in support of libertarian socialism,<ref name="Hain">{{Cite web |last=Hain |first=Peter |date=July 2000 |title=Rediscovering our libertarian roots |url=http://www.archive.chartist.org.uk/articles/britpol/july_hain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004638/http://www.archive.chartist.org.uk/articles/britpol/july_hain.html |archive-date=15 June 2018 |access-date=20 August 2024 |magazine=]}}</ref> identifying an axis involving a "bottom-up vision of socialism, with anarchists at the ] end and democratic socialists at its ] end" as opposed to the axis of ] with Marxist–Leninists at the revolutionary end and social democrats at the reformist end.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hain |first=Peter |title=Ayes to the Left: A Future for Socialism |publisher=Lawrence and Wishart |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-85315-832-5 |page=}}</ref><ref name="j351">{{cite web | author=]|title=Why I am a libertarian socialist | website=MaltaToday | date=27 April 2008 | url=http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/04/27/ebartolo.html | access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref> Another recent mainstream Labour politician who has been described as a libertarian socialist is ].<ref>] said in 2005 that in recent years Cook had been setting out a vision of "libertarian, democratic socialism that was beginning to break the sometimes sterile boundaries of 'old' and 'New' Labour labels.".{{Cite news |date=2005-08-08 |title=Chris Smith: The House of Commons was Robin Cook's true home |url=http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article304442.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930170828/http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article304442.ece |archive-date=2007-09-30 |access-date=2009-06-24 |work=] |department=Commentators, Opinion |location=London}}</ref>
] was one of the most popular voices in the anarcho-syndicalist movement. He outlined a view of the origins of the movement, what it sought, and why it was important to the future of labor in his 1938 pamphlet ''Anarcho-Syndicalism''.


==Debates==
The ] is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labor unions from different countries. The ] ] played and still plays a major role in the Spanish ]. It was also an important force in the ].


===Mutualism=== ===Reasons for decline===
American economist ] claimed that libertarian socialists "were by far the worst underachievers among 20th century ]s."{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=137}} He contrasted libertarian socialist failings with those of ], arguing that while the latter had abandoned their principles of ] and ] in favour of ], the former had proved incapable of sustaining anti-capitalist uprisings and largely ignored the importance of political and ].{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|pp=137–138}} Hahnel consequently suggested that, in the 21st century, libertarian socialists should work together with other anti-capitalist social movements, organize for reform without abandoning anti-capitalist principles and strive to build grassroots institutions of ], even if those projects are "imperfect".{{Sfn|Hahnel|2005|p=138}}
{{Main|mutualism (economic theory)}}
], 1865]]
While still socialist, mutualism is the most ] branch of libertarian socialism. ], ], ], and ] used the term to describe their economic theories. While rejecting private property when it is obtained through violation of the ], mutualists tend to believe people have a right to not only possess but own private property as long as it is the product of their own labor. Mutualists do, however, stand against profit and believe that nothing should be sold for more than its "true cost".


===Priorities===
To accomplish this, they believe in a system where money is replaced with labor notes that denote a given amount of labor. Whether amount of labor coincides only to hours worked or includes intensity and sacrifice is a point of contention. Wherever a great number of workers is needed, an association of workers is expected. However, the labor of a lone worker requires no association. They also advocate mutual banks, owned by the workers, that do not charge interest. Most mutualists believe that anarchy should be achieved gradually through superiority in the marketplace rather than through revolution.
While most libertarian socialists consider it necessary to combat both ] in tandem, regarding each as fundamental to the survival of the other, some consider it a priority to combat one or the other first.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=330}} Some, such as Mikhail Bakunin and ], considered capitalism to rely on the support and protection of the state. They thus concluded that if the state were to be abolished, capitalism would naturally dissolve in its wake.{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=329–330}} But others, including ], believe that the state is only inherently oppressive because of its control by a ] and that "society is governed by those who own it". Chomsky holds that government, while not benign, can at least be held accountable, while corporate power is neither benign nor accountable.{{Sfn|Long|1998|pp=318–319}} Though he holds the abolition of the state to be desirable, Chomsky considers the abolition of capitalism to be of greater urgency.{{Sfn|Long|1998|p=319}}
]s such as the ] follow an economic model similar to that of mutualism. The model followed by the corporation ], inventor of ] fabrics, is also similar to mutualism as there is no chain of command and salaries are determined collectively by the workers. It is important to note that Gore and Associates has never identified itself as anarchist.


== See also ==
Mutualism's stress on worker association is similar to the more developed modern theory of ], although Participatory Economists do not believe in markets.
* '']'' ("free economy"), idea based on the "natural economic order"
* ], decentralized governance system based on consent developed in meeting circles
* ], a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core principle


===Council communism=== == References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Main|Council Communism}}


== Bibliography ==
'''Council communism''' was a radical ] movement originating in ] and the ] in the 1920s. Its primary organization was the ] (KAPD). Council communism continues today as a theoretical and ] position within ], and also within libertarian socialism. The central argument of council communism, in contrast to those of ] and ] ], is that ] arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of ] organisation and state power. This view is opposed to the ] and ] stress on ], ]s, or ]s.
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Berry |first=David |chapter=The Search for a Libertarian Communism: Daniel Guérin and the 'Synthesis' of Marxism and Anarchism |pages=187–209 |editor1-last=Prichard |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Kinna |editor2-first=Ruth |editor2-link=Ruth Kinna |editor3-last=Pinta |editor3-first=Saku |editor4-last=Berry |editor4-first=Dave |date= 2012 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-230-28037-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Boraman |first=Toby |chapter=Carnival and Class: Anarchism and Councilism in Australasia during the 1970s |pages=251–274 |editor1-last=Prichard |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Kinna |editor2-first=Ruth |editor2-link=Ruth Kinna |editor3-last=Pinta |editor3-first=Saku |editor4-last=Berry |editor4-first=Dave |date= 2012 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-230-28037-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Cornell |first=Andrew |chapter='White Skin, Black Masks': Marxist and Anti-racist Roots of Contemporary US Anarchism |pages=167–186 |editor1-last=Prichard |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Kinna |editor2-first=Ruth |editor2-link=Ruth Kinna |editor3-last=Pinta |editor3-first=Saku |editor4-last=Berry |editor4-first=Dave |date= 2012 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-230-28037-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Hahnel |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Hahnel |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CI5d2CpL60oC |title=Economic Justice and Democracy: From Competition to Cooperation |chapter=Libertarian Socialism: What Went Wrong? |location=] |publisher=] |isbn=0-415-93344-7 |via=] }}
* {{cite book |last1=Kinna |first1=Ruth |author1-link=Ruth Kinna |last2=Prichard |first2=Alex |chapter=Introduction |pages=1–16 |editor1-last=Prichard |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Kinna |editor2-first=Ruth |editor2-link=Ruth Kinna |editor3-last=Pinta |editor3-first=Saku |editor4-last=Berry |editor4-first=Dave |date= 2012 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-230-28037-3}}
* {{cite journal |url=http://praxeology.net/libclass-theory-part-1.pdf |title=Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class |last=Long |first=Roderick T. |author-link=Roderick T. Long |year=1998 |journal=Social Philosophy and Policy |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=303–349 |doi=10.1017/S0265052500002028 |s2cid=145150666 |access-date=2020-01-27 |archive-date=2021-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008045143/https://praxeology.net/libclass-theory-part-1.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|first=Peter H.|last = Marshall|author-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946)|title=]|year=2008|orig-year=1992|location=]|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-00-686245-1|oclc=218212571}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ojeili|first=Chamsy|date=November 2001|title=The "Advance Without Authority": Post-modernism, Libertarian Socialism, and Intellectuals|url=http://www.democracynature.org/vol7/ojeili_intellectuals.htm|journal=Democracy & Nature|volume=7|issue=3|doi=10.1080/10855660120092294|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=391–413|issn=1469-3720|access-date=22 May 2014|archive-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630000109/https://www.democracynature.org/vol7/ojeili_intellectuals.htm|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pinta|first1=Saku|last2=Berry|first2=David|chapter=Towards a Libertarian Socialism for the Twenty-First Century?|pages=294–303|editor-last1=Prichard|editor-first1=Alex|editor-last2=Kinna|editor-first2=Ruth|editor-last3=Pinta|editor-first3=Saku|editor-last4=Berry|editor-first4=Dave|date= 2012|title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red|publisher=]|isbn=978-0-230-28037-3}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Pinta |first1=Saku |last2=Kinna |first2=Ruth |last3=Prichard |first3=Alex |last4=Berry |first4=David |chapter=Preface |editor-last=Prichard |editor-first=Alex |editor-last2=Kinna |editor-first2=Ruth |editor-last3=Pinta |editor-first3=Saku |editor-last4=Berry |editor-first4=David |year=2017 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |edition=2nd |location=] |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-62963-390-9 |lccn=2016959590}} <!-- Preface appears to be the only new addition to the 2017 second edition -->
* {{cite journal|last=Vrousalis|first=Nicholas|date=April 2011|title=Libertarian Socialism: A Better Reconciliation between Equality and Self-Ownership|journal=Social Theory & Practice|volume=37|issue=2|publisher=]|pages=211–226|jstor=23558541|issn=2154-123X}}
<!-- Need verification that the following sources discuss "libertarian socialism":
* ''].'' Robert Graham, editor.
** ''Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)'' Black Rose Books, Montréal and London 2005. {{ISBN|1-55164-250-6}}.
** ''Volume Two: The Anarchist Current (1939–2006)'' Black Rose Books, Montréal 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-55164-311-3}}.
* ''Anarchy through the times'' by ]. Gordon Press. 1979. {{ISBN|0-8490-1397-6}}.
* ''Revolutionary Peacemaking: Writings for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence'' by Daniel Jakopovich. Democratic Thought, 2019. {{ISBN|978-953-55134-2-1}}.
-->
{{refend}}


== Further reading ==
The core principle of council communism is that the state and the economy should be managed by ], composed of delegates elected at workplaces and recallable at any moment. As such, council communists oppose state-run "bureaucratic socialism". They also oppose the idea of a "revolutionary party", since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party will necessarily produce a party ]. Council communists support a workers' democracy, which they want to produce through a federation of workers' councils.
<!-- Need verification that the following sources discuss "libertarian socialism"-->
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky|year=1988|title=Language and Politics|editor-first=Carlos P.|editor-last=Otero|location=]|publisher=Black Rose Books|isbn=0-921689-35-7|oclc=22007051}}<!--repeated mentions of libertarian socialism, including relationship to anarchism-->
* {{cite book |last=Dawson |first=Matt |year=2013 |title=Late modernity, individualization and socialism: An Associational Critique of Neoliberalism |publisher=] |isbn=978-1137003423 |doi=10.1057/9781137003423}}<!--chapters include "Libertarian Socialism: The Genesis of an Idea" and "Reconciling Late Modernity and Libertarian Socialism"-->
* {{cite book |last=Goodway |first=David |year=2006 |title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow |publisher=] | url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-goodway-anarchist-seeds-beneath-the-snow|isbn=1-84631-025-3}}<!--Chapter 2 is entitled "Anarchism and libertarian socialism in Britain: William Morris and the background, 1880—1920"-->
* {{cite book | last=Cole | first=G. D. H. | title=Towards a Libertarian Socialism | date=2020-11-16 | publisher=AK Press | isbn=978-1-84935-389-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Guérin |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Guérin |year=1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/anarchismfromthe00guer/ |title=Anarchism: From Theory to Practice |location=] |publisher=] |translator-first=Mary |translator-last=Klopper |isbn=0-85345-175-3 |lccn=71-105316 }}<!--repeated mentions of libertarian socialism, including relationship to anarchism-->
* {{Cite book |last=Hahnel |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Hahnel |year=2012 |chapter=The Economic Crisis and Libertarian Socialists |pages=159–177 |editor1-first=Deric |editor1-last=Shannon |editor2-first=Anthony J. |editor2-last=Nocella |editor3-first=John |editor3-last=Asimakopoulos |title=The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-84935-094-5 |lccn=2011936250}}
* {{cite book|first1=Steven J.|last1=Hirsch|first2=Lucien|last2=van der Walt|author-link2=Lucien van der Walt|chapter=Rethinking Anarchism and Syndicalism: the colonial and postcolonial experience, 1870–1940|editor-first1=Steven J.|editor-last1=Hirsch|editor-first2=Lucien|editor-last2=van der Walt|editor-link2=Lucien van der Walt|title=Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870–1940|series=Studies in Global Social History|volume=6|publisher=]|location=]|year=2010a|isbn=978-9004188495|oclc=868808983|pages=xxxi–lxxiii}}<!--10 mentions of libertarian socialism in book, including relationship to anarchism, might need more verification-->
* {{cite book|first1=Steven J.|last1=Hirsch|first2=Lucien|last2=van der Walt|author-link2=Lucien van der Walt|chapter=Final Reflections: the vicissitudes of anarchist and syndicalist trajectories, 1940 to the present|editor-first1=Steven J.|editor-last1=Hirsch|editor-first2=Lucien|editor-last2=van der Walt|editor-link2=Lucien van der Walt|title=Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870–1940|series=Studies in Global Social History|volume=6|publisher=]|location=]|year=2010b|isbn=978-9004188495|oclc=868808983|pages=395–412}}
* {{cite book |last=Levy |first=Carl |chapter=Antonio Gramsci, Anarchism, Syndicalism and Sovversivismo |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/edited-by-alex-prichard-ruth-kinna-saku-pinta-david-berry-libertarian-socialism#toc35 |pages=96–115 |editor1-last=Prichard |editor1-first=Alex |editor2-last=Kinna |editor2-first=Ruth |editor2-link=Ruth Kinna |editor3-last=Pinta |editor3-first=Saku |editor4-last=Berry |editor4-first=Dave |date=2012 |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-230-28037-3 |access-date=2024-09-10 |archive-date=2024-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240309034133/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/edited-by-alex-prichard-ruth-kinna-saku-pinta-david-berry-libertarian-socialism#toc35 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|last=Masquelier|first=Charles|year=2014|title=Critical Theory and Libertarian Socialism: Realizing the Political Potential of Critical Social Theory|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-4411-1928-5}}
* {{cite journal|title=Socialism and libertarianism|last=Mclaverty|first=Peter|year=2005|journal=Journal of Political Ideologies|volume=10|issue=2|pages=185–198|doi=10.1080/13569310500097349|s2cid=144693867}}
* {{Cite book|last=Price|first=Wayne|year=2012|chapter=The Anarchist Method: An Experimental Approach to Post-Capitalist Economies|pages=313–325|editor-first1=Deric|editor-last1=Shannon|editor-first2=Anthony J.|editor-last2=Nocella|editor-first3=John|editor-last3=Asimakopoulos|title=The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-84935-094-5|lccn=2011936250}}
* {{Cite book|year=2012|chapter=Anarchist Economics: A Holistic View|pages=11–39|editor-first1=Deric|editor-last1=Shannon|editor-first2=Anthony J.|editor-last2=Nocella|editor-first3=John|editor-last3=Asimakopoulos|title=The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-84935-094-5|lccn=2011936250}}
* {{cite book|title=]|first1=Lucien|last1=van der Walt|author-link=Lucien van der Walt|first2=Michael|last2=Schmidt|year=2009|location=]|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-904859-16-1|lccn=2006933558|oclc=1100238201}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
The ] word for council is "]," and during the early years of the revolution worker's councils were politically significant in ]. It was to take advantage of the ] of workplace power that the word became used by ] for various political organs. Indeed, the name "]," by which the parliament was called; and that of the ] itself make use of this terminology, but they do not imply any ].
* {{Commons category-inline}}


{{libertarian socialism}}
Furthermore, council communists held a critique of the ] as a ] state, believing that the ] revolution in Russia became a "] revolution" when a party bureaucracy replaced the old ] ]. Although most felt the ] was working class in character, they believed that, since capitalist relations still existed (because the workers had no say in running the economy), the Soviet Union ended up as a ] country, with the state replacing the individual capitalist. Thus, council communists support workers' revolutions, but oppose one-party dictatorships.
{{anarchism}}

{{libertarianism}}
Council communists also believed in diminishing the role of the party to one of agitation and ], rejected all participation in ] or parliament, and argued that workers should leave the reactionary trade unions and form one big revolutionary union.
{{socialism}}

{{subject bar|portal1=Anarchism|portal2=Libertarianism|portal3=Socialism|portal4=Society|portal5=Politics|portal6=Economics|wikt=yes|commons=yes|commons-search=Category:Libertarian socialism|q=yes|s=yes|s-search=Portal:Socialism|b=yes|d=yes|d-search=Q1852084}}
===Social Ecology===
{{Main|Social Ecology}}

Social Ecology is closely related to the work and ideas of ] and influenced by anarchist ]. Social ecologists assert that the present ] has roots in social problems, and that the domination of human over nature is a result of the domination of human over human.

Politically, social ecologists advocate a network of directly democratic citizens' assemblies organized in a confederal fashion. This approach is called ].

Economically, social ecologists favour ] and the principle "from each according to ability, to each according to need."

The ] founded in 1974 in ], ] offers a year-round B.A. and M.A. degree program, workshops, and academic conferences.

==Criticism of libertarian socialism==
A common criticism, made by non-socialist ]s, is that a free market will spontaneously arise (given modern populations) unless it is suppressed by force (with the exception of a market in information intangibles such as software, music, films, and literature, which requires active enforcement of ] laws to keep from turning into a pure ]). Typically, non-socialist libertarians believe that a capitalist economy is natural, rather than artificial, so it would naturally develop in the absence of regulating factors. Thus they argue that a truly ''socialist'' libertarianism would be an ].

Non-socialist libertarians contend that libertarian socialism is based on a false view of ], namely that humans will work and fulfill their natural potential without any thought of reward, which is felt to be unrealistic. See the ].

Finally, non-socialist libertarians contend that the libertarian socialist desire to bring democratic control to ''all'' areas of life will, by definition, eliminate individual control of ''any'' aspect of life. This, they say, brings to question the very use of the word "libertarian" in "libertarian socialist", since the word implies maximum individual freedom.

Adherents of the ] of ] argue that the distinction between "personal" and "productive" ] is specious, and that consequently paradoxes in their division are doomed to arise regardless of the delineation chosen.

Some argue that ] and ] are often in conflict with one another, and that promoting equality (as valued by socialism) will inherently require restrictions on liberty (as valued by libertarianism), forcing the society to choose one or the other as their primary value. (The ] story, "]", in which equality is enforced by imposing physical and mental handicaps on overachievers, can be seen as a ''reductio ad absurdum'' argument illustrating this point.)

===Response to Criticism===
Libertarian socialists typically see the alleged conflict between freedom and equality as a ]. Radical egalitarians such as ] note that, "human talents vary considerably, within a fixed framework that is characteristic of the species and that permits ample scope for creative work, including the appreciation of the creative achievements of others. This should be a matter of delight rather than a condition to be abhorred." (Chomsky Reader, 199) The thrust of the work of another egalitarian, Karl Marx, was never to make human beings identical, but "the development of rich individuality which is as all-sided in its production as in its consumption", and "the absolute working out of (his) creative potentalities." Libertarian socialists believe that the right-libertarian conception of freedom often amounts to little more than apologetics for the right of the powerful to do as they please often at the expense of the freedoms of the less powerful. As libertarian socialist ] has explained,

:t is, of course, a good thing for people to be free to do what they please- as long as what they choose does not impinge on more important freedoms or rights of others...I should not be free to employ you because my freedom of enterprise robs you of a more fundamental freedom to manage your own labouring capacities. I should not be free to bequeath substantial inheritance to my children because that robs the children of less wealthy parents of their more fundamental right to an equal opportunity in life. Although advocates of capitalism would not agree, there is little disagreement about any of this among those who believe we must go beyond capitalism if we are to achieve the economics of equitable cooperation. But are there additional freedoms and rights that others should not be free to violate in choosing to do what they please?...We think self-management is the only way to interpret what "economic freedom" means without having one person's freedom conflict with freedoms of others.(p.289)...I define self-management as decision making input in proportion to the degree one is affected.(p.40)(Hahnel- The ABC's of Political Economy)

==Libertarian Socialism Today==
Libertarian socialists today are involved in the ] movement, ], and ]s; anti-poverty groups like ] and ]; ] and ]s; ] organizing; grassroots media initiatives; digital media and computer activism; experiments in ]; anti-racist and anti-fascist groups like ] and ]; organizations protecting the rights of immigrants and promoting the free movement of people like the ] and ]; while maintaining a long-established presence in various community groups, ]s, ] and artist groups, and the ].

Other prominent anarchists and libertarian socialists include:
*] (], ])
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*] (1866&ndash;1912)
*] (] band formed by an anarchist collective involved with the ] community in ], ])
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*] (] band formed in ], ], ])
*]
*]
*] (prominent ]ese anarchist)
*]
*]
*]
*] (])
*]
*]
*] (])
*]
*]
*]

==Further reading==
===Books===
*"Anarchism. A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939)" ], editor. Black Rose Books, Montreal and London 2005. ISBN 1-55164-250-6.
*''Anarchism'', ] (Penguin Books, 1962) (For many years the classic introduction, until in part superseded by Harper's 'Anarchy: A Graphic Guide')
*''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'', ] (Camden Press, 1987) (An excellent overview, updating Woodcock's classic, and beautifully illustrated throughout by Harper's woodcut-style artwork)
*''The Anarchist Reader'', George Woodcock (Ed.) (Fontana/Collins 1977) (An anthology of writings from anarchist thinkers and activists including ], ], ], ], ], and many others.)
*'']'', ] (a 1974 ] novel that takes place on a planet with an anarchist society; winner of both the ] and ]s for best novel.)
*''Libertarianism without Inequality'', by Michael Otsuka, (Oxford University Press 2003)

===Periodicals===
*''] (Publication of the North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists ])'' (])
*'']'' (])
*'']'' (])
*'']'' (])
*''] (Publication of The ])'' (])
*''] (Publication of the ])'' (])
*''] (Publication of the ])'' (])
*'']'' (])
*'']'' (])

==References==
<references />

==See also==
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]: a libertarian socialist organisation in New York and other American cities in the fifties and sixties.
*]
*]
''Contrast'': ], ]

==External links==
*&mdash;Provides useful information on the theory and history of anarchism
*, from The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910.
* by Brian Crabtree (1992)
*&mdash;Anarchist Archives
*The list several hundred anarchists
*The lists 2500+ dates with events & resource links
* is an anarchist newswire and information service
* the home of Libertarian Communism in Britain
*
*
* Anarchist News Service
*
* is a libertarian socialist publication whose website hosts an extensive collection of online anti-authoritarian texts.
* by Michael Löwy
*
* News & Views for Anarchists & Activists.


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] ]
] ]
] ]
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Latest revision as of 22:44, 5 January 2025

Political philosophy This article is about the libertarian political philosophy within the socialist movement. For the branch of anarchism emphasizing social equality, see Social anarchism. For the type of libertarianism stressing both individual freedom and social equality, see Left-libertarianism. For the political philosophy that incorporates liberal principles to socialism, see Liberal socialism. For the variety of liberalism that endorses a regulated market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights, see Social liberalism.
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Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other forms of libertarianism by its rejection of private property. Broadly defined, it includes schools of both anarchism and Marxism, as well as other tendencies that oppose the state and capitalism.

With its roots in the Age of Enlightenment, libertarian socialism was first constituted as a tendency by the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), during their conflict with the Marxist faction. Libertarian socialism quickly spread throughout Europe and the American continent, reaching its height during the early stages of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and particularly during the Spanish Revolution of 1936. Its defeat during these revolutions led to its brief decline, before its principles were resurrected by the New Left and new social movements of the late 20th century.

While its key principles of decentralisation, workers' control, and mutual aid are generally shared across the many schools of libertarian socialism, differences have emerged over the questions of revolutionary spontaneity, reformism, and whether to prioritise the abolition of the state or of capitalism.

Political principles

Libertarian socialism strives for a free and equal society, aiming to transform work and everyday life. Broadly defined, libertarian socialism encapsulates any political ideology that favours workers' control of the means of production and the replacement of capitalism with a system of cooperative economics, or common ownership. Libertarian socialists tend to see the working class as agents of social revolution, reject representative democracy and electoralism, and advocate for self-organisation and direct action as means to engage in class conflict.

Anti-authoritarianism

Libertarian socialism has a grassroots and direct democratic approach to socialism, rejecting parliamentarism and bureaucracy respectively. Libertarian socialists advocate the empowerment of individuals to control their own lives and encourage them to voluntarily cooperate with each other, rather than allow themselves to be controlled by a state. Libertarian socialists therefore uphold civil liberties such as freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom of thought.

In contrast to authoritarian forms of socialism, libertarian socialism rejects state ownership and centralisation. Instead it upholds a decentralised model of self-governance, envisioning free association based on co-operative or participatory economics. Some libertarian socialists see such systems as complementary to statism, while others hold them to be an alternative to the state.

Libertarian socialists tend to reject the view that political institutions such as the state represent an inherently good, or even neutral, power. Some libertarian socialists, such as Peter Kropotkin, consider the state to be an inherent instrument of landlordism and capitalism, therefore opposing the state with equal intensity as they oppose capitalism.

Anti-capitalism

Libertarian socialism views corporate power as an institutional problem, rather than as a result of the influence of certain immoral individuals. It thus opposes capitalism, which it sees as an economic system that upholds greed, the exploitation of labour and coercion, and calls for its overthrow in a social revolution.

Libertarian socialists reject private property, as they consider capitalist property relations to be incompatible with freedom. Instead, libertarian socialism upholds individual self-ownership, as well as the collective ownership of the means of production. In the place of capitalism, libertarian socialists favour an economic system based on workers' control of production, advocating for a system of cooperative economics, or common ownership. They also advocate for workers' self-management, as they consider workers able to cooperate productively without supervisors, whether appointed by employers or by the state.

They also tend to see free trade as inevitably resulting in the redistribution of income and wealth from workers to their corporate employers. They advocate for the elimination of social and economic inequality through the coercive expropriation of property from the wealthy.

History

The roots of libertarian socialism extend back to the classical radicalism of the early modern period, claiming the English Levellers and the French Encyclopédistes as their intellectual forerunners, and admiring figures of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. According to Mikhail Bakunin and Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, while authoritarian socialism had its origins in Germany, libertarian socialism was born in France. The modern foundations of libertarian socialism lay in the utopian socialism expounded by Charles Fourier, Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon, who envisioned a democratic socialism guided by communitarianism, moralism and feminism.

Emergence

Mikhail Bakunin, leader of the libertarian socialist faction of the International Workingmen's Association

Libertarian socialism first emerged from the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), after it was expelled from the organisation by the Marxist faction at the Hague Congress of 1872. The libertarian socialist Mikhail Bakunin had rejected Karl Marx's calls for a "dictatorship of the proletariat", as he predicted it would only create a new ruling class, composed of a privileged minority, which would use the state to oppress the working classes. He concluded that: "no dictatorship can have any other aim than to perpetuate itself, and it can only give rise to and instill slavery in the people that tolerates it." Marxists responded to this by insisting on the eventual "withering away of the state", in which society would transition from dictatorship to anarchy, in an apparent attempt to synthesise authoritarian and libertarian forms of socialism.

This put libertarian socialists into direct competition with social democrats and communists for influence over left-wing politics, in a contest which lasted for over fifty years. Libertarian socialism proved attractive to British writers such as Edward Carpenter, Oscar Wilde, and William Morris, the latter of whom developed a kind of libertarian socialism based in a strong critique of civilisation, which he aimed to overthrow and replace with what he called a "beautiful society". Morris drove the development of impossibilism, which became increasingly concerned with the bureaucratisation and moderation of the socialist movement, leading to the establishment of the Socialist Party of Great Britain.

By the early 20th century, libertarian socialists had gained a leading influence over the left-wing in the Netherlands, France and Italy and went on to play major roles in the Mexican and Russian Revolutions. In India, the libertarian socialist tradition was represented in the early twentieth century anti-colonial movement by Bhagat Singh.

Russian Revolution

Russian anarchist militiamen marching in formation during the 1917 Revolution

Russian libertarian socialists, including anarchists, populists and left socialist-revolutionaries, led the opposition to the Tsarist autocracy throughout the late-19th century. They created a network of both clandestine and legal organisations throughout Russia, with the aim of overthrowing the Russian nobility and bringing land under the common ownership of the mir. Their agitation for land reform in the Russian countryside culminated with the establishment of rural soviets during the 1905 Revolution.

Anarchists also organised among the urban proletariat, forming clandestine factory committees that proved more attractive to revolution-minded workers than the more reformist trade unions favoured by the Bolsheviks. During the 1917 Revolution, in which libertarian socialists played a leading role, the Bolsheviks changed tack and adopted elements of the libertarian socialist programme in their appeals to the workers. But by 1919, the new Bolshevik government had come to view the libertarian socialists as a threat to their power and moved to eliminate their influence. Libertarian socialist organisations were banned and many of their members were arrested, deported to Siberia or executed by the Cheka.

The Revolutions of 1917–1923 ended in defeat for the libertarian socialists, with either the social democrats, the Bolsheviks or nationalists rising to power. Libertarian socialists responded by reevaluating their positions, emphasising mass organisation over intellectual vanguardism and revolutionary spontaneity over substitutionism. They also came to conceive the "dictatorship of the proletariat" as a form of class power, rather than as the dictatorship of a political party. Many Marxists of the period were attracted to this position, including Rosa Luxemburg in Germany, Antonie Pannekoek in the Netherlands, Sylvia Pankhurst in Britain, György Lukács in Hungary and Antonio Gramsci in Italy.

Spanish Revolution

Spanish anarchist militiawomen during the 1936 Revolution

Libertarian socialism reached its apex of popularity with the Spanish Revolution of 1936, during which libertarian socialists led "the largest and most successful revolution against capitalism to ever take place in any industrial economy".

In Spain, traditional forms of self-management and common ownership dated back to the 15th century. The Levante, where collective self-management of irrigation was commonplace, became the hotbed of anarchist collectivisation. Building on this traditional collectivism, from 1876, the Spanish libertarian socialist movement grew through sustained agitation and the establishment of alternative institutions that culminated in the Spanish Revolution. During this period, a series of workers' congresses, first convoked by the Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA, debated and refined proposals for the construction of a libertarian socialist society. Over several decades, resolutions from these congresses formed the basis of a specific program on a range of issues, from the structure of communes and the post-revolutionary economy to libertarian cultural and artistic initiatives. These proposals were published in the pages of widely distributed libertarian socialist periodicals, such as Solidaridad Obrera and Tierra y Libertad, which each circulated tens of thousands of copies. By the outbreak of the revolution, the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) enjoyed widespread popularity, counting 1.5 million members within its ranks.

During the revolution, the means of production were brought under workers' control and worker cooperatives formed the basis for the new economy. According to Gaston Leval, the CNT established an agrarian federation in the Levante that encompassed 78% of Spain's most arable land. The regional federation was populated by 1,650,000 people, 40% of whom lived on the region's 900 agrarian collectives, which were self-organised by peasant unions.

Although industrial and agricultural production was at its highest in the anarchist-controlled areas of the Spanish Republic, and the anarchist militias displayed the strongest military discipline, liberals and Communists alike blamed the "sectarian" libertarian socialists for the defeat of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. These charges have been disputed by contemporary libertarian socialists, such as Robin Hahnel and Noam Chomsky, who have accused such claims of lacking substantial evidence.

Decline

Following the defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, libertarian socialism fell into decline. Left-wing politics throughout the world came to be dominated either by social democracy or Marxism-Leninism, which attained power in a number of countries and thus had the means to support their ideological allies. In contrast, Hahnel argues, libertarian socialists were not able to gain influence within the labour movement. At a time when reformist trade unions were consistently winning concessions, the libertarian socialists' anti-reformist message gained little traction. Their platform of workers' self-management also failed to appeal to industrial workers. Until the 1960s, libertarian socialists were limited mostly to making critiques of authoritarian socialism and capitalism, although Hahnel asserts that these arguments were largely overshadowed by those from neoconservatives and Marxists respectively.

New Left

Noam Chomsky, the most prominent advocate of libertarian socialism in the New Left

Libertarian socialist themes received a revival during the 1960s, when it was reconstituted as part of the nascent New Left. This revival occurred largely unconsciously, as new leftists were often unaware of their libertarian socialist predecessors. The concepts of grassroots democracy, workers' control, solidarity and autonomy were thus reinvented by the new generation. They also picked up the principles of decentralisation, participatory democracy and mutual aid. These libertarian socialist themes drove the growth of the New Left, which by this point was disillusioned by the mainstream social democratic and Marxist-Leninist political groupings, due to the capitalistic tendencies of the former and the rigid authoritarianism of the latter.

Sociologist C. Wright Mills, who displayed strong libertarian socialist tendencies in his appeals to the New Left, reformulated Marxism for the modern age in his work on The Power Elite. Wilhelm Reich's Freudo-Marxist theses on the authoritarian personality were also rediscovered by the New Left, who developed his programme for individual self-governance into a libertarian system of education used by the Summerhill School. Drawing on the Freudo-Marxist conception of civilisation as "organised domination", Herbert Marcuse developed a critique of alienation in modern Western societies, concluding that creativity and political dissent had been undermined by social repression. Meanwhile, Lewis Mumford published denunciations of the military-industrial complex and Paul Goodman advocated for decentralisation. In the process, the new generation of Marxists gravitated towards libertarian tendencies, sometimes closely resembling anarchism. Following on from Marcuse, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, E. P. Thompson, Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall all adopted forms of "libertarian Marxism", opposed to the bureaucracy and parliamentarism of statist tendencies.

A specific and explicit libertarian socialist tendency also began to emerge. While some more libertarian Marxists adopted the term in order to distinguish themselves from authoritarian socialists, anarchists began calling themselves "libertarian socialist" in order to avoid the negative connotations associated with anarchism. The libertarian socialist Daniel Guérin specifically attempted to synthesise anarchism and Marxism into a single tendency, which inspired the growth of the French libertarian communist movement. For a time, even the American anarcho-capitalist theorist Murray Rothbard attempted to make common cause with libertarian socialists, but later shifted away from socialism and towards right-wing populism.

Many libertarian socialists of this period were particularly influenced by the analysis of Cornelius Castoriadis and his group Socialisme ou Barbarie. This new generation included the non-vanguardist Marxist organisation Facing Reality, the British libertarian socialist group Solidarity, and the Australian councilists of the Self-Management Group. Some of this new generation of libertarian socialists also joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), swelling the old union's numbers, organising agricultural workers and launching a new journal, The Rebel Worker. This libertarian socialist milieu, with their criticisms of democratic centralism and trade unionism, and their advocacy of workers' self-management and council democracy, went on to inspire the French situationists and Italian autonomists.

Of the figures in the New Left, the American linguist Noam Chomsky became the most prominent spokesperson for libertarian socialism. Inspired by the humanism of Bertrand Russell, the individualism of Wilhelm von Humboldt and the syndicalism of Rudolf Rocker, Chomsky championed a libertarian socialism that upheld individual liberty and self-ownership. Chomsky has been outspoken advocate of anti-authoritarianism, opposing limits on individual freedoms by the state. He has also focused much of his libertarian socialist critique on mass media in the United States, due to its role in the military-industrial complex.

While most sections of the New Left expressed a form of libertarian socialism, others were instead being inspired by the Cuban and Chinese Communist Revolutions to embrace forms of authoritarian socialism such as Maoism–Third Worldism. As such, according to Hahnel, the New Left failed to form a coherent ideological program or establish lasting support to carry forward the momentum of the late 1960s, resulting in many dropping out of activism altogether.

New social movements

A minority from the New Left continued their radical activism within the new social movements of the 1970s and 1980s, becoming involved in second-wave feminism, the gay liberation movement, environmental movement and eventually the anti-globalization movement. In this period, many librertarian socialists, such as Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, Andre Gorz, Ivan Illich, E.P. Thompson and Raymond Williams, were committed to " in rethinking what socialism might come to mean in an age of ecological limit".

According to Robin Hahnel, new social movements continued the New Left's tendency of failing to develop a "comprehensive libertarian socialist theory and practice". Libertarian socialist activism became focused on achieving practical reforms and theoretical developments centred around common "core values" such as economic democracy, economic justice and sustainable development, without building a coherent critique of capitalism. Activists from the 1970s and 1980s influenced by libertarian socialism did not advance coherent alternatives to markets and central planning, and had no reformist campaign. Eventually, Hahnel argues, they turned to traditional single-issue campaigns and abandoned their "big picture" libertarian socialist approach.

These movements were somewhat successful in achieving their goals: the movements for gay and women's rights changed societal outlook on gender oppression; the anti-racist movement proved it necessary to tackle the social aspects of racialisation; the anti-imperialist movement reconceived of anti-imperialism outside of economic terms; and the environmentalist movement launched a wave of ecological defense and restoration. Together, Hahnel argues, they broke from the class reductionism prevalent in traditional forms of libertarian socialism, proving intersectional oppressions other than class also demanded attention. Through the new social movements, libertarian socialism developed an awareness of different aspects of oppression, beyond class analysis.

Contemporary era

Libertarian socialism again received a revival of interest in the wake of the fall of communism and concurrent rise of neoliberalism. It proved particularly attractive to people from the former Eastern Bloc, who saw it as an alternative both to western capitalism and Marxism-Leninism. Since the end of the Cold War, there have been two major experiments in libertarian socialism: the Zapatista uprising in Mexico and the Rojava Revolution in Syria.

In reaction against the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the privatisation of indigenous lands by the Mexican state, in 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) rose up against the government, enabling the formation of a self-governing autonomous territory in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The Zapatistas have roundly rejected political sectarianism and ideological doctrine, including the state socialist model of seizing state power, with spokesman Subcomandante Marcos famously declaring "I shit on all the revolutionary vanguards of this planet." As such, they have commonly been characterised as libertarian socialist, or inspired by libertarian socialism. They have in turn become a source of inspiration for libertarian socialists, including the autonomist Marxists Harry Cleaver and John Holloway, as well as some anarchists.

In 2012, the Rojava Revolution established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES; or "Rojava") to put "libertarian socialist ideas ... into practice", and whose cantons present themselves as a "libertarian socialist alternative to the colonially established state boundaries in the Middle East." Various sources have drawn parallels between the Rojava Revolution and the Zapatista uprising of 1994 or the Spanish Revolution of 1936, and noted the influence of libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin, specifically his concept of libertarian municipalism, on the revolution.

Libertarian socialist ideas have influenced some currents of the anti-austerity and new municipalist movements, such as Ada Colau's Barcelona en Comú party, in which they ally with democratic socialists.

In Chile, there have been several libertarian socialist movements active since the 2010s in groups including Libertarian Left and the Broad Front (FA). Gabriel Boric founded Social Convergence in 2018, bringing together the Autonomist Movement, Libertarian Left and other libertarian socialist groups. Boric, who describes himself as libertarian socialist, was elected president in 2021.

Notable tendencies

Libertarian socialism encompasses both the libertarian wing of socialism and the socialist wing of libertarianism, including many different schools of thought under its banner. The most commonly cited tendencies of libertarian socialism are anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, and council communism. Other Marxist strands of libertarian socialism include Western Marxism, Bordigism and impossibilism. Additionally, utopian socialism, guild socialism, socialist feminism and social ecology, as well as various strands of the New Left, new social movements and contemporary anarchism, have been listed among the other wings of libertarian socialism.

Anarchist

Main article: Anarchism

The currents of classical anarchism that developed in the 19th century were committed to autonomy and freedom, decentralization, opposing hierarchy, and opposing the vanguardism of authoritarian socialism.

In the 20th century, social anarchism emerged as a significant current of anarchism and explicitly identified as libertarian socialist. Anarcho-syndicalist Gaston Leval explained: "We therefore foresee a Society in which all activities will be coordinated, a structure that has, at the same time, sufficient flexibility to permit the greatest possible autonomy for social life, or for the life of each enterprise, and enough cohesiveness to prevent all disorder. In a well-organised society, all of these things must be systematically accomplished by means of parallel federations, vertically united at the highest levels, constituting one vast organism in which all economic functions will be performed in solidarity with all others and that will permanently preserve the necessary cohesion".

Significant thinkers in the anarchist tradition who are described as libertarian socialist include Colin Ward.

Marxist

Main article: List of communist ideologies § Libertarian Marxism

A broad scope of economic and political philosophies that draw on the anti-authoritarian aspects of Marxism have been described as "Libertarian Marxism", a tendency which emphasises autonomy, federalism and direct democracy. Wayne Price identified it most closely with the tendency of autonomist Marxism and identified libertarian characteristics within council communism, the Johnson–Forest Tendency, the Socialisme ou Barbarie group and the Situationist International, contrasting them with orthodox Marxism, social democracy, and Marxism–Leninism. Michael Löwy and Olivier Besancenot have identified Rosa Luxemburg, Walter Benjamin, André Breton and Daniel Guérin as prominent figures of libertarian Marxism. Ojeili identifies William Morris, Daniel De Leon, the Socialist Party of Great Britain, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Korsch Anton Pannekoek, Roland Holst, Hermann Gorter, Sylvia Pankhurst, Antonio Gramsci, Grego Lukacs, Socialisme ou Barbarie, Henri Simon, Echanges et Mouvements and Paul Mattick as significant Marxian libertarian socialists.

Democratic socialist

Main article: Democratic socialism

There was a strong left-libertarian current in the British labour movement and the term "libertarian socialist" has been applied to a number of democratic socialists, including some prominent members of the British Labour Party. The Socialist League was formed in 1885 by William Morris and others critical of the authoritarian socialism of the Social Democratic Federation. It was involved in the new unionism, the rank-and-file union militancy of the 1880s–1890s, which anticipated syndicalism in some key ways (Tom Mann, a New Unionist leader, was one of the first British syndicalists). The Socialist League was dominated by anarchists by the 1890s. The Common Wealth Party was inspired by Christian socialism as well as libertarian socialism. Others in the tradition of the ILP and described as libertarian socialists included G. D. H. Cole (the founder of guild socialism and influenced by Morris), George Orwell, Michael Foot, Raymond Williams, and Tony Benn. Another is former Labour Party minister Peter Hain, who has written in support of libertarian socialism, identifying an axis involving a "bottom-up vision of socialism, with anarchists at the revolutionary end and democratic socialists at its reformist end" as opposed to the axis of state socialism with Marxist–Leninists at the revolutionary end and social democrats at the reformist end. Another recent mainstream Labour politician who has been described as a libertarian socialist is Robin Cook.

Debates

Reasons for decline

American economist Robin Hahnel claimed that libertarian socialists "were by far the worst underachievers among 20th century anti-capitalists." He contrasted libertarian socialist failings with those of social democracy, arguing that while the latter had abandoned their principles of economic democracy and justice in favour of reformism, the former had proved incapable of sustaining anti-capitalist uprisings and largely ignored the importance of political and economic reform. Hahnel consequently suggested that, in the 21st century, libertarian socialists should work together with other anti-capitalist social movements, organize for reform without abandoning anti-capitalist principles and strive to build grassroots institutions of self-management, even if those projects are "imperfect".

Priorities

While most libertarian socialists consider it necessary to combat both economic and political power in tandem, regarding each as fundamental to the survival of the other, some consider it a priority to combat one or the other first. Some, such as Mikhail Bakunin and Alexander Berkman, considered capitalism to rely on the support and protection of the state. They thus concluded that if the state were to be abolished, capitalism would naturally dissolve in its wake. But others, including Noam Chomsky, believe that the state is only inherently oppressive because of its control by a plutocratic class and that "society is governed by those who own it". Chomsky holds that government, while not benign, can at least be held accountable, while corporate power is neither benign nor accountable. Though he holds the abolition of the state to be desirable, Chomsky considers the abolition of capitalism to be of greater urgency.

See also

  • Freiwirtschaft ("free economy"), idea based on the "natural economic order"
  • Sociocracy, decentralized governance system based on consent developed in meeting circles
  • Libertarianism, a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core principle

References

  1. Cornell 2012, pp. 182–183.
  2. Kinna & Prichard 2012, p. 12.
  3. ^ Hahnel 2005, p. 392n1.
  4. ^ Frère, Bruno; Reinecke, Juliane (2011). "A Libertarian Socialist Response to the 'Big Society': The Solidarity Economy". In Hull, Richard; Gibbon, Jane; Branzei, Oana; Haugh, Helen (eds.). The Third Sector. UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. pp. 125–126. doi:10.1108/S2046-6072(2011)0000001015. hdl:2268/172850. ISBN 978-1-78052-280-7. ISSN 2046-6072. The libertarian socialist cooperative movement was one of the two forms of socialist responses to the rise of capitalism and the concentration of private ownership in the middle of the 19th century." "Proudhon's left libertarian socialism promotes the decentralisation of power and public sovereignty ... through the formation of locally managed mutual and cooperative organisations ....
  5. ^ Intropi, Pietro (2022-06-01). "Reciprocal libertarianism". European Journal of Political Theory. 23 (1): 23–43. doi:10.1177/14748851221099659. hdl:2262/98664. ISSN 1474-8851. I show that reciprocal libertarianism can be realised in a framework of individual ownership of external resources or in a socialist scheme of common ownership (libertarian socialism).
  6. Pinta & Berry 2012, p. 298.
  7. Asimakopoulos, John (April–June 2016). "A radical proposal for direct democracy in large societies". Brazilian Journal of Political Economy. 36 (2): 430–447. doi:10.1590/0101-31572016v36n02a10. ISSN 0101-3157. Direct democracy is what today is referred to as libertarian socialism including anarchism. The very idea upon which libertarian socialism is founded is that every person in the community represents themselves and votes directly with the community on matters related to its governance.
  8. Kinna & Prichard 2012, p. 13.
  9. ^ Long 1998, pp. 305–306.
  10. Long 1998, p. 318.
  11. Long 1998, pp. 306–307.
  12. Long 1998, pp. 331–332.
  13. ^ Hahnel 2005, p. 140.
  14. Vrousalis 2011, p. 211.
  15. Long 1998, p. 332.
  16. Long 1998, p. 340.
  17. ^ Long 1998, p. 305.
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  19. Marshall 2008, p. 484.
  20. Hahnel 2005, pp. 139–140.
  21. ^ Hahnel 2005, p. 138.
  22. Long 1998, p. 320.
  23. Long 1998, pp. 320–321.
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  26. Sally Goldsmith (23 March 1929). "Edward Carpenter". Totley History Group. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
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  54. Long 1998, p. 310n17.
  55. Claude Lefort, Writing: The Political Test, Duke University Press, 2000, Translator's Foreword by David Ames Curtis, p. xxiv, "Castoriadis, the historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet, now Lefort ... are themselves quite articulate in their own right and historically associated with a libertarian socialist outlook..."
  56. Ojeili, Chamsy (2001b). "Post-Marxism with Substance: Castoriadis and the Autonomy Project". New Political Science. 23 (2): 225–239. doi:10.1080/07393140120054047. ISSN 0739-3148. Receiving his political inheritance from the broad libertarian socialist tradition, Castoriadis continues to challenge the domination of state and capital and to insist on the liberatory possibilities of direct democracy.
  57. Boraman 2012, p. 252; Cornell 2012, p. 177.
  58. ^ Cornell 2012, p. 177.
  59. Boraman 2012, pp. 252, 257; Cornell 2012, p. 177; Marshall 2008, p. 495.
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  83. "Interview: The anarchists of Chile". Freedom News. 8 January 2019. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
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  86. Boric, Gabriel (21 January 2022). "No espero que las élites estén de acuerdo conmigo, pero sí que dejen de tenernos miedo". BBC News Mundo (Interview) (in Spanish). Interviewed by Andrea Vial Herrera. Santiago de Chile. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022. Yo provengo de la tradición socialista libertaria americanista chilena.
  87. "Can a rise of leftist leaders bring real change to Latin America?". Al Jazeera. 23 March 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024. Boric, who considers himself a libertarian-socialist
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  98. ^ Carpenter, L. P. (1973). G. D. H. Cole. Cambridge : CUP Archive. ISBN 0-521-08702-3. In his conversion to socialism as Morris had described it, Cole entered the socialist movement on the libertarian wing.... Guild Socialism was an important restatement of the libertarian features of British socialism.... occasionally called himself a Marxist, within this humanistic, empiricist interpretation. Cole could accept this kind of Marxism because Marx's philosophy of history contains basic insights reached independently by libertarian British socialists from their own experience. The Marxism he set forth in The Meaning of Marxism was really the common sense of the British Labour movement.[p.227
  99. Bowie, Duncan (2022). Twentieth Century Socialism in Britain. Socialist History Society. ISBN 978-1-9163423-5-4. Henderson was a libertarian socialist and was also closed to a number of anarchists, including Fred Charles and Charles Mowbray who were also active in the Norwich socialist movement.... Russell was pluralist in his politics but can best be described as a libertarian socialist and pacifist, conviction he retained throughout his life.... Pankhurst adopted an antiparliamentary position and collaborated with other libertarians including her partner, the Italian anarchist, Sylvio Corio.... Beyond The Fragment a pluralist libertarian socialist approach...
  100. Goodway, David (1 October 2006). Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward. Liverpool University Press. doi:10.5949/liverpool/9781846310256.003.0002. ISBN 978-1-84631-025-6.
  101. Bowie, Duncan (13 June 2018). "Common Wealth Manifesto, 1943". Chartist. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024. Its programme of common ownership echoed that of the Labour Party but stemmed from a more idealistic perspective, later termed "libertarian socialist". It came to reject the State-dominated form of socialism adopted by Labour under the influence of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, increasingly aligning itself instead with co-operative, syndicalist and guild socialist traditions.
  102. Taylor, Antony; Enderby, John (15 March 2021). "From 'flame' to embers? Whatever happened to the English radical tradition c.1880-2020?" (PDF). Cultural and Social History. 18 (2): 243–264. doi:10.1080/14780038.2021.1893922. ISSN 1478-0038. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024. During the 1940s, the radical tradition was pushed to the margins... The spirit of libertarian socialism opposed to the statism of Labour was very apparent in this strain of politics, especially in the public utterances of Sir Richard Acland, and the new Common Wealth party.
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  107. Woodcock, George (1984). The crystal spirit: A study of George Orwell. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8052-0755-2. Retrieved 11 September 2024. Orwell appeared on the platform with Herbert Read, Fenner Brockway and a few other leaders of the libertarian Left.... 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'.... Orwell's affinities were...with William Morris, another libertarian Socialist who distrusted doctrinaires.
  108. Morgan, Kenneth O. (22 August 2015). "Historian looks at Labour favourite's prospects of leading from the left". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024. Foot also was a distinctly libertarian socialist
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  110. Bowie, Duncan (12 April 2020). "Tony Benn: Arguments for Socialism (1979)". Chartist. Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024. Interested in the history of ethical socialism, having been sympathetic to the wartime Common Wealth party in his youth, Benn became interested in a more libertarian socialist approach, supporting the syndicalist Institute for Workers Control and the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders workers cooperative of 1975 and advocating industrial democracy.
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  114. Hain, Peter (1995). Ayes to the Left: A Future for Socialism. Lawrence and Wishart. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-85315-832-5.
  115. Evarist Bartolo (27 April 2008). "Why I am a libertarian socialist". MaltaToday. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  116. Chris Smith said in 2005 that in recent years Cook had been setting out a vision of "libertarian, democratic socialism that was beginning to break the sometimes sterile boundaries of 'old' and 'New' Labour labels."."Chris Smith: The House of Commons was Robin Cook's true home". Commentators, Opinion. The Independent. London. 2005-08-08. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  117. Hahnel 2005, p. 137.
  118. Hahnel 2005, pp. 137–138.
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  121. Long 1998, pp. 318–319.
  122. Long 1998, p. 319.

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