Wally Conger

Sunni: Yeah, but none of those people has ever been particularly pro-freedom.

Wally: That’s why I position even supposed lefties like FDR, Clinton, and Schumer on the right side of the spectrum.

Sunni: So where would you place Rand on your continuum?

Wally: On the broad political scale I’ve talked about so far, Rand would fall left of center, somewhere near Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, but far right of Rothbard and Hess. Now, let’s apply this same scale strictly to libertarianism, creating a movement with both left and right wings. As before, anarchists are found at the farthest left. But moving rightward, you shift into increasingly moderate, conservative, political territory. On this left-right libertarian spectrum, Rand falls right of center, somewhere near the Cato Institute but maybe left of the Libertarian Party.

Sunni: I’ll need to think about this organization some, Wally. But obviously you think that labeling things “left” and “right” has some value. And you’re part of the Movement of the Libertarian Left. What do you see as the advantages of a libertarian left?

Wally: Since the launch of modern libertarianism, which I date at, oh, 1965 with the appearance of Rothbard’s journal Left and Right, the movement’s always been split into two factions—one of uncompromising radical activists and freedom practitioners, the other of so-called pragmatists who want to seize state power through party politics, all in the name of liberty, of course. Left and right labels are a handy tool to distinguish those radical and conservative factions within our movement. I think a vocal, vigorous, self-aware libertarian left coalition of all anti-political varieties—agorists, mutualists, voluntaryists, whatever—will over time help radicalize a largely co-opted, corrupt, and overly cautious libertarian movement.

Sunni: So the right, in your view, are the compromisers, the minarchists?

Wally: Yes, I see limited-government minarchists as the right wing of the libertarian movement. We anti-politics anarchists are its extreme left wing.

Sunni: I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of it in that way [pauses] and that would put me squarely in the libertarian left, too. [pauses] Speaking of the MLL, is it safe now to speak of the recent changes apparently brought about by a “decider” amongst you? [laughs]

Wally: The changes are really in window dressing, and that just to avoid conflict with the present moderator of the old Left Libertarian e-list. At least for the time being, projects that would once have carried the MLL mark are now moving forward under new banners.

Sunni: [laughs] Well, there goes my attempt to be a hard-hitting interviewer! Can you help me understand the differences--if there are any differences--between the A3, the ALL, and the MLL?

Wally: You should probably lob that question to Brad Spangler, who spearheads the Agorist Action Alliance, and Roderick Long, the curator of the Alliance of the Libertarian Left web site. But here’s my take. Both A3 and ALL are radical libertarian networks for coordinating direct action projects. As its name suggests, A3 is explicitly agorist, although open to the involvement of non-agorists when goals are shared. ALL offers a wider umbrella for libertarian leftists of all stripes—including mutualists, agorists, voluntaryists, greens, georgists, dialectical anarchists, radical minarchists, left-Rothbardians, whatever. I’m sure some radical libertarians will feel more at home with ALL than A3, or vice versa. Me, I’m happy to work with both alliances.

Sunni: Time for another confession, I guess—looking over various sources in preparing for this conversation with you, I came across a lot of names that are vaguely familiar to me, but I really don’t know a lot about the history and individuals in the left-libertarian movement. What three individuals would you single out as the best three for providing a good introduction? What web sites would you recommend for somebody like me, who’d like a crash course in left libertarianism?

Wally: Gee, a crash course is a pretty tall order, Sunni. There are just too many distinct threads of libertarian leftism to make a real quick study possible.

Sunni: [laughing] I know—I tried it!

Wally: Well, the ALL web site offers a broad selection of article links and makes a pretty good starting point. The three individuals I’d single out as good introductions to my particular strain of Leftism—which is agorism, or revolutionary market anarchism—are Murray Rothbard, Samuel Edward Konkin III, and Karl Hess. Agorism was first exemplified by Rothbard, then later expanded by Konkin, who actually coined the term. Hess added a leftist sensibility to the movement’s vision. For a fairly short survey, I’d begin with Rothbard’s 1973 book For a New Liberty. It expounds, defends, and offers applications of what Murray called anarchocapitalism, what we lefties call agorism. It’s easy to read and not overly scholarly. Now, every radical activist needs a map to navigate the coming revolution, and we’re no different. Konkin provided one in 1980 with his New Libertarian Manifesto [PDF], a strategic and tactical guide to agorism and counter-economics. NLM is a vital left libertarian “how-to”. [pause]

Sunni: Ah, okay, some of this is a little familiar to me.