Libertarian Socialism

My friend Tim Barnett, in the wake of his advocacy of sensible drug law reform and championing of the campaign for Civil Unions in NZ, was once invited to some freedom jamboree organised by various bits of the libertarian right in New Zealand.

He spoke at their conference in Rotorua, and dined out a few times on the horrified and disbelieving response he got when he described himself as a Libertarian Socialist.

The general response seemed to be "no such thing! impossible!"

I think it's an interesting term that illuminates quite a few aspects of my own politics.

Probably one of my strongest dislikes in life is the sight of people exercising petty power over others.  Whether it is idiotic school prefecs (of which I unfortunately was one), police officers on a thuggish power trip, bosses out of control at work, politicians doing try hard get-tough routines, bullies in social settings -- all of them really turn me off.

In other words, I have a pretty strong anti-authoritarian streak in my character.  This is something I am perfectly comfortable with, but which presents some obvious challenges in working in a party like Labour.  I support collectivism in theory and in practice, but only when it is done in a democratic and egalitarian way.

It would be dishonest for me to say that Labour always operates this way, and also dishonest not to say that sometimes I have to bite my tongue.  That's always the consequence of working together to get things done, of course, and the obsession that the media have with any hint that people don't all think the same thing at all times, in a chillingly, almost Orwellian sense.

(Another time, I'll post on the obsession the media have with presenting political parties as either the Borg / the Hive Mind, or as disunified and chaotic basketcases, when the reality is and always should be of hard debates, contested ideas and objectives, and democratic pluralism.)

All of the above is a long-winded way of getting to this point: my politics is about freedom and liberation. I do not believe in hierarchies or authority, except those based on the consent of those who are subject to it, of their own free will and with their involvement.

That's an element of what might call libertarianism.

It's also one reason I am in the Labour Party.  The social democratic project is about freedom. We want to bring about an economy and a society that gives that legs, in a meaningful sense.

It's a nice provocative tag, though, don't you think? Libertarian Socialism?

Comments

[Draco T Bastard]

You know, the old-fashioned term is anarchist or communo-anarchist. BTW, There really isn't any difference between communism and anarchism. Both are based around the idea of individual and collective responsibility and action. To see society as a symbiot: The individual needs society and society needs the individual. Neither can exist without the other.

When you start talking about libertarianism you're talking hard-right individualism which denies the existence of society.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/margaret_thatcher_3.html
There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.
Margaret Thatcher

[Ryan Sproull]

Yep, "libertarian" originally meant (politically, not philosophically) an anarchist. American minarchists appropriated the term for their statist capitalist selves, and did it so effectively that you can actually have people saying, "Impossible! No such thing!" when "socialist libertarian" was originally a redundant redundancy of a superfluous term.

[Eturnerx]

I think libertarian socialist fits well to describe many I've met on the left. Many are about personal libertarianism but are fiscally socialist. That contrasts with the right who are generally seen as fiscal libertarians but social conservatives.
I have libertarian (social and fiscal) leanings so ACT was my natural party of affinity, but I am having to rethink my support of ACT due to Don Brash and John Banks' social conservatism.

[mark]

As someone said above, the original libertarian socialists were teh anarchists. There have always been libertarian socialists in NZ too, and there still are

theres a bit of stuff about the history of libertarian socialists/anarchists in NZ here
http://www.takver.com/history/nz/index.htm

and here are some current anarchist groups in NZ
http://awsm.org.nz/
http://beyondresistance.wordpress.com/

[mark]

Oh, and no you can't join, we don't take labour party supporters as members!

[GNZ]

"Freedom from" is not much use if you have no "freedom to". thats why libertarian capitalism doesnt really make you very free. The greatest amount of freedom results from careful balancing of policies.