Rothbard: "A Strategy for Victory"

Cleaning out desk drawers and filing cabinets can be a pain in the ass. But sometimes, treasures are found. Case in point: my notes from a dinner lecture given by the late Murray Rothbard in October 1993 at a meeting of the John Randolph Club in San Mateo, California. Fascinating stuff.

Murray’s talk was titled “A Strategy for Victory,” and from my scribbling, I see that he argued that the Libertarian Party is not a “real-world, real-people” organization where middle and working class Americans feel at home. Still true, 13 years later.

Rothbard said it was time for libertarians to re-enter the real world and create a new populist movement: “exciting, dynamic, tough, and confrontational, rousing and inspiring not only the exploited masses but the often shell-shocked right-wing intellectual cadre as well.” He suggested a few rules for radicals committed to building such a movement:

• Always hold the freedom principles aloft. Talk about them constantly to help keep your eye on the ultimate target.
• Any transitional demands must be radical and consistent with the ultimate goal.
• Accept no compromise.
• Remember, we’re guerilla fighters. We’re small and don’t have to worry about our image. We can pick our shots.
• Recapture the moral high ground from the Left. Our core principles are correct, moral, and newsworthy.
• Sustain the attack. Keep the enemy on the defensive.
• Tap the masses directly. Short circuit the dominant media and academic elites.
• Rip the mask off the unholy preppie-liberal-media-academic alliance. Our foe is the Elite — full-time professional tyrants. They are not well-meaning. Their motives are evil: expansion of their own power.
• Tell the truth.
• Expose the fraud.
• Demystify the State.
• Hammer home the message persistently. Accustom people to our ideas.

Still good guidelines for revolution, don’t you think?

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