Maintaining principles, changing banners

A specter is a’haunting the loose coalition we have for three decades called the “Movement of the Libertarian Left” (MLL). And that specter is...well, by now, most everybody knows who this specter is. He is, ironically, the author of the only purely agorist novel ever written. And three years after the death of Samuel Edward Konkin III (SEK3), MLL’s “founder,” he has announced he is executor of what small SEK3 estate exists and has decided to declare his “ownership” of MLL and Sam’s old LeftLibertarian Yahoo e-list. (This is interesting, in that Sam never believed in intellectual property, and none of his works — his book New Libertarian Manifesto, his newsletters, his logos, his articles, etc. — ever bore copyright or trademark symbols.) In the past few days, the Executor Who Shall Not Be Named (henceforth, “EWSNBN”) has threatened, censored, and intimidated members of the old Yahoo list and those who have for the past couple of years worked tirelessly to reinvigorate the Movement of the Libertarian Left, including my comrades Brad Spangler, Kevin Carson, Jack Shimek, Freeman, and Roderick Long. Anyway, this has resulted in two actions in the last 72 hours or so:

First, several dozen members of the old LeftLibertarian Yahoo e-list — in fact, the most active, committed members — have seceded and spun out into a new list, LeftLibertarian2. It is essentially SEK3’s original list without the authoritarianism of EWSNBN.

Second, Brad Spangler, creator of Agorism.info, has launched an alternative to MLL — the Agorist Action Alliance (A3). This is MLL with a new face; in Brad’s words, “an agorist-led network for radical libertarians and all anarchists who hate the State more than the Market (Konkin’s Rule of Thumb). Our emphasis is on ACTION!” In the true spirit of SEK3, Brad continues,

“Because we are an anti-political network for radical action, A3 members and affiliates don’t have to agree on a platform or candidate. Limited government libertarians (‘minarchists’), market anarchists and those who identify as ‘libertarian socialist’ can work together through A3 affiliated local groups where they have a common interest in a particular project/action. We use Konkin’s broad definition of the term ‘libertarian’ to unite us. Libertarian — one who opposes state intervention, i.e., a defender of Liberty.”

Someday, we may all again march under the (non-registered trademark) MLL banner. Who can say? But in the meantime, I give A3 two agorist fists thrust into the air. May the black flag under which it marches forever wave.

For elaboration on this week’s MLL e-list “schism,” see here, here, here, and here.