Agorism: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Social philosophy advocating a voluntary society}}

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[[File:A3.JPG|thumb|Symbol for agorism, with a³ standing for "[[agora]], [[anarchy]], [[Direct action|action]]!"]]

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'''Agorism''' is a [[social philosophy]] that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of [[counter-economics]], engaging with aspects of [[nonviolent revolution]]. Agorism has similar elements to [[anarcho-capitalism]], but unlike some anarcho-capitalists, most agorists are strictly opposed to voting as a strategy for achieving their desired outcomes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://agorism.eu.org/docs/Counter-Economics.pdf|title=Interview With Samuel Edward Konkin III |access-date=2 March 2023}}</ref> It was first proposed by American [[left libertarian|libertarian]] philosopher [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]] (1947–2004) at two conferences, CounterCon I in October 1974 and CounterCon II in May 1975.

==Etymology==

The term was coined by Konkin, and comes from the word ''[[agora]]'' ({{lang-grc|ἀγορά}}), referring to an open area in a ''[[polis]]'' ({{lang-grc|πόλις}}; [[city-state]]) for assemblies and markets.<ref name="Gordon">[[David Gordon (philosopher)|Gordon, David]] (1 April 2011). [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon88.1.html "Sam Konkin and Libertarian Theory"]. ''[[LewRockwell.com]]''. Retrieved 21 November 2019.</ref>

==Origins==

According to Konkin, agorism and counter-economics were originally fighting concepts forged in the revolutionary atmosphere of 1972 and 1973.<ref name=LastWhole>{{cite web|last1=Konkin III|first1=Samuel Edward|title=Last Whole Introduction to Agorism|url=http://agorism.eu.org/docs/LastWholeIntroductiontoAgorism.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427031206/https://agorism.eu.org/docs/LastWholeIntroductiontoAgorism.pdf|archive-date=27 April 2022|website=Agorism.eu.org|access-date=4 May 2022|ref=2}}</ref> Konkin credits the [[Austrian School]] and particularly [[Ludwig von Mises]] as the base of economic thought leading to agorism and counter-economics.<ref name=LastWhole/>

In the 1960–1970s, there was an abundance of political alienation in the United States, particularly for those in favor of libertarian ideologies. Whereas [[Murray Rothbard]] chose to create political alliances between the [[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]] and the [[New Left]], [[Robert LeFevre]] and his West Coast followers pursued a non-participatory form of [[civil disobedience]].<ref name=LastWhole/>

LeFevre's anti-collaboration methods ultimately lost favor and faded away. According to Konkin, after the creation of the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] in 1971, the debate shifted from anarchy vs. [[minarchism]] to [[Particracy|partyarchy]] vs. agorism.<ref name=LastWhole/>

==Ideology==

{{quote|text=The goal of agorism is the agora. The society of the open marketplace as near to untainted by theft, assault, and fraud as can be humanly attained is as close to a free society as can be achieved. And a free society is the only one in which each and every one of us can satisfy his or her subjective values without crushing others' values by violence and coercion.|sign=[[Samuel Edward Konkin III]]<ref name="primer"/>}}

Konkin characterized agorism as a form of [[Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaus |first1=Gerald |last2=D'Agostino |first2=Fred |title=The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy |page=277 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2013 |isbn=9780415874564}}</ref> [[left-libertarianism]],<ref name=inter>[http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/software/konkin-interview.html "Smashing the State for Fun and Profit Since 1969: An Interview With the Libertarian Icon Samuel Edward Konkin III (a.k.a. SEK3)"].</ref><ref>D'Amato, David S. (27 November 2018). [http://www.libertarianism.org/columns/black-market-activism-samuel-edward-konkin-iii-agorism "Black-Market Activism: Samuel Edward Konkin III and Agorism"]. ''Libertarianism.org''. Retrieved 21 November 2019.</ref> and, generally, that agorism is a strategic branch of [[left-wing market anarchism]].<ref name="primer">{{cite book|url=http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311045911/https://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf|archive-date=11 March 2022|title=An Agorist Primer|last=Konkin III|first=Samuel Edward}}</ref> Although this term is non-standard usage, agorists identify as part of [[left-wing politics]] in the general sense and use the term left-libertarian as defined by Roderick T. Long, i.e. as "an integration, or I'd argue, a reintegration of libertarianism with concerns that are traditionally thought of as being concerns of the left. That includes concerns for worker empowerment, worry about plutocracy, concerns about feminism and various kinds of social equality".<ref>Long, Roderick. T. (4 January 2008). [http://en.liberalis.pl/2008/01/04/interview-with-roderick-long/ "An Interview With Roderick Long"]. Liberalis in English. Retrieved 21 December 2019.</ref>

===Counter-economics===

{{main article|Counter-economics}}

[[File:Agorism flag.svg|thumb|Flag of agorism in which the pattern represents [[Anarchism|anarchy]] and the colors represents the [[Grey market|grey]] and [[black market]]s]]

The concept of [[counter-economics]] is the most critical element of agorism. It can be described as such: {{quote|The Counter-Economy is the sum of all non-aggressive Human Action which is forbidden by the State. Counter-economics is the study of the Counter-Economy and its practices. The Counter-Economy includes the free market, the Black Market, the "underground economy," all acts of civil and social disobedience, all acts of forbidden association (sexual, racial, cross-religious), and anything else the State, at any place or time, chooses to prohibit, control, regulate, tax, or tariff. The Counter-Economy excludes all State-approved action (the "White Market") and the Red Market (violence and theft not approved by the State).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://agorism.eu.org/docs/Counter-Economics.pdf|title=Counter-Economics: what it is, how it works|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427030909/https://agorism.eu.org/docs/Counter-Economics.pdf|archive-date=27 April 2022|website=Agorism.eu.org|access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref>}}

====Profitable civil disobedience====

Agorism advocates for gradual withdrawal of state support through what Konkin described as "Profitable Civil Disobedience".<ref name=LastWhole/> Starving the state of its revenue and purpose by transferring these responsibilities over to decentralized institutions is the most feasible way to achieve free markets according to agorism: {{quote|Rather than slowly amass votes until some critical mass would allow state retreat (if the new statists did not change sides to protect their new vested interests), one could commit civil disobedience profitably, dodging taxes and regulations, having lower costs and (potentially) greater efficiency than one's statist competitors – if any.<ref name=LastWhole/>}}

====Opposition to political parties====

Agorism does not support political engagement in the form of political party promotion as a means to transition to a [[free-market anarchism]]. The methods of the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] are not compatible with agorist principles. Konkin referred to these attempts to fight for free markets through state approved channels of operation as "partyarchy": {{quote|Partyarchy, the anti-concept of pursuing libertarian ends through statist means, especially political parties.<ref name="newlibman">{{cite web|last=Konkin III|first=Samuel Edward|url=http://agorism.eu.org/docs/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf|title=New Libertarian Manifesto|year=1980|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427030909/https://agorism.eu.org/docs/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf|archive-date=27 April 2022|website=Agorism.eu.org|access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref>}}

====Voluntary association====

As with voluntaryists, agorists typically oppose electoral voting and political reform and instead they stress the importance of alternative strategies outside political systems to achieve a free society. Agorists claim that such a society could be freed more readily by employing methods such as [[education]], [[direct action]], [[Alternative currency|alternative currencies]], [[entrepreneurship]], [[self sufficiency]], [[civil disobedience]] and counter-economics.<ref name="newlibman"/>

===Konkin's class theory===

Wally Conger developed (based on work of Konkin) a class theory which includes [[entrepreneur]]s, non-statist [[capitalist]]s and [[State capitalism|statist capitalists]]:

{|class="wikitable"

|-

|Entrepreneur

|Non-statist capitalist

|Statist capitalist

|-

|Good

|Neutral

|Bad

|-

|Innovator, risk-taker, producer<br>The strength of a free market

|Holders of capital<br>Not necessarily ideologically aware<br>"Relatively drone-like non-innovators"

|The primary beneficiaries of government controls<br>"The main Evil in the political realm"

|}

Konkin claimed that while agorists see these three classes differently, anarcho-capitalists tend to conflate the first and second types while "Marxists" may conflate all three.<ref name=inter/>

==Intellectual property==

Konkin opposed the concept of [[intellectual property]] and wrote in an article entitled "Copywrongs" in support of such a thesis.<ref>Konkin III, Samuel Edward. [http://users.aol.com/vlntryst/wn20.html "Copywrongs"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813211015/http://users.aol.com/vlntryst/wn20.html|date=13 August 2006}}</ref> [[J. Neil Schulman]] criticized this thesis in "Informational Property: Logorights".<ref>Shulman, J. Neil. [http://www.pulpless.com/bp21samp/logorite.html "Informational Property: Logorights"].</ref> Whereas Konkin was opposed to the laws of the state in the cases of [[patents]] and [[copyright]], seen as creators of monopolies and distortion, Schulman agreed with Konkin that the state could not be a foundation for any class of rightful property yet sought to demonstrate that exclusive ownership rights could apply to what he ultimately termed "Media Carried Property"—created objects that exist independent of the subjective human mind yet are not themselves made of atoms or molecules.<ref>Shulman, J. Neil. [http://jneilschulman.agorist.com/2012/06/human-property/ "Human Property"].</ref>

==Literature==

Konkin's treatise ''[[New Libertarian Manifesto]]'' was published in 1980.<ref name="newlibman"/> Previously, the philosophy had been presented in [[J. Neil Schulman]]'s [[science fiction]] novel ''[[Alongside Night]]'' in 1979. [[Ayn Rand]]'s example, presenting her ideas in the form of a work of fiction in ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', had inspired Schulman to do likewise. Konkin's afterword to the novel, "How Far Alongside Night?", credited Schulman with integrating the "science of counter-economics" with Konkin's basic economic philosophy.<ref>Afterword by Samuel Edward Konkin III in ''Alongside Night'' (1999). Pulpless.com. pp. 271–290. {{ISBN|978-1-58445-120-4}}.</ref>

==See also==

{{cols|colwidth=18em}}

* [[Blockchain]]

* [[Cryptocurrency]]

* [[Debates within libertarianism]]

* [[Distributism]]

* [[Economic activism]]

* [[Expropriative anarchism]]

* [[Hawala]]

* [[Illegalism]]

* [[Individualist anarchism]]

* [[Market anarchism]]

* [[Insurrectionary anarchism]]

* [[Informal sector]] (or [[grey economy]])

* [[Issues in anarchism]]

* [[Libertarian municipalism]]

* [[Local exchange trading system]]

* [[Mutualism (economic theory)|Mutualism]]

* [[Philosophical anarchism]]

* [[Piracy]]

* [[Prefigurative politics]]

* [[Ross Ulbricht]]

* [[Sharing economy]]

* [[Silk Road (marketplace)]]

* [[System D]]

* [[Underground economy]]

{{colend}}

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{libertarianism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agorism}}

[[Category:Agorism| ]]

[[Category:1975 introductions]]

[[Category:Anti-capitalism]]

[[Category:Economic ideologies]]

[[Category:Free market]]

[[Category:Left-libertarianism]]

[[Category:Libertarianism by form]]

[[Category:Libertarianism in the United States]]