Left Libertarian Alliance

Indigo Edina (Chair & Spokesperson for North West England)

Left libertarianism refers to a collection of political views which value both a high degree of personal freedom and equality. The commitment to libertarian theories of personal freedom like self-ownership and individual sovereignty differentiates left libertarianism from more statist interpretations of leftism, while the egalitarian elements makes left libertarianism distinct from its more notorious right-wing counterpart. But left libertarianism is more than just a quadrant of the Political Compass negating other ideologies; it is a constructive theory of justice and social organisation in its own right.

In this introduction, I intend to summarise the key tenets of left libertarianism and argue for their importance. With the aim of being accessible to those who are not familiar with high theory, this summary will be far from comprehensive. Nevertheless, it shall explore the most central ideas of the libertarian left umbrella, emphasising its variants and their respective histories as we go. In so doing, I hope to persuade you of left libertarianism’s merits as a political philosophy.

I: Individual Sovereignty

Central to all libertarian theories is individual sovereignty, the view that you, and you alone, are your own master. This is often expressed in the form of self-ownership, the view that individuals have a property right over their own mind, body, and person. Individual sovereignty creates a sphere of exclusivity in which encroachment is only legitimate when the individual in question grants their full consent. Consequently, individual sovereignty creates robust protections for personal freedom against both other individuals and the state.

These idea can be traced back to John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, where he argues that self-ownership is a natural right from God. “Every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself.” This would become the backbone of classical liberal thought, with Thomas Paine further defending the natural right to personal liberty as unalienable and John Stuart Mill defending the sovereignty of the individual as a fundamental component of wellbeing. By the 20^th Century, this mantle was picked up by the libertarian movement. The non-aggression principle (NAP) was first articulated by Ayn Rand in 1946, arguing that aggression against an individual or their property is fundamentally wrong. Subsequently, the doctrine of self-ownership as understood by libertarians today was developed by political philosophers, with Robert Nozick’s contribution in Anarchy, State, and Utopia being particularly influential.

Some left libertarians ditch the property rights framework of individual sovereignty altogether and instead centre freedom from social domination as their ideal. Authority is objected to not as a violation of natural rights, but as an impediment to progress and collective emancipation. This has much the same implications for personal freedom from state authority as self-ownership does, but diverges in terms of the economy. With this logic, capitalism and conventional private enterprise are equally as threatening to liberty as the state. In place of the hierarchical relationship between worker and employer, more horizontal organisation emerges.

II: Geoism

Where left libertarians begin to really diverge from their rightist counterparts is in their views regarding world ownership. Right libertarians either reject any egalitarian concern for the distribution of natural wealth outright, as Murray Rothbard did, or only subject world appropriation to a limited degree of egalitarianism. Left libertarianism disagrees, placing more stringent egalitarian requirements on how natural resources are distributed. The world, being the common inheritance of all mankind, cannot unproblematically be taken into private ownership without equal opportunity being preserved for the rest of us. We already apply this principle to the air we breathe, so why not the land we stand on?

Geoism too can be traced back to Locke, more particularly his proviso regarding world ownership. He argued that when natural resources are brought into private ownership, there should remain, “enough, and as good, left in common for others.” While this can be interpreted as a limited check on monopoly, Locke’s assertion that the world was given, “to men in common,” substantiates a stronger egalitarian reading. Liberals and socialists alike have developed this idea into ownership egalitarianism, with some going as far as proclaiming the establishment of private property itself as theft.

In practice, geoists are most associated with advocacy for a tax on the unimproved value of the land (often abbreviated to LVT). This proposal, popularised by 19^th Century American economist Henry George, seeks to curb economic speculation on land and redirect its economic rent in the interests of the public at large. A version of this tax has already been implemented in a number of countries, including Australia, Namibia, and Germany, among others. Compared to other forms of tax, LVT is less distortionary and lacks the depressive effect on productivity. Additionally, the tax is virtually impossible to evade in the same way other wealth taxes are as selling one’s land is the only way to shed the responsibility for payment. On this basis, left libertarians advocate for this form of taxation for both philosophical and practical reasons.

III: Co-Operatism

Not confined to egalitarianism merely in the ownership of natural resources, left libertarians also have a long history of advocating for the common ownership of enterprise. Especially for those who consider their left libertarianism to be a form of socialism, such a commitment is central to the philosophy as a whole. Co-Operatism refers to a number of frameworks by which workers directly own enterprise in a democratic and decentralised manner, including worker and consumer co-operatives, trade unions, workers’ councils, syndicats, and other such arrangements. This differs from state socialism, which is primarily concerned with the state owning enterprise on the workers’ behalf.  

Though co-operative enterprises have existed in some form for centuries, the co-operative movement only took off with the Industrial Revolution. Taking over the mills at New Lanark in 1800, utopian socialist Robert Owen opened the first co-operative store. From then, the movement grew, specifically in Great Britain. 1844 saw the Rochdale Pioneers found their Equitable Society on the principles of open membership, democratic control, distributism in proportion to transactions, and political neutrality. These principles continue to guide the co-operative movement today, with the International Co-Operative Alliance refining them for modern contexts.

Parallel to this development was the emergence of libertarian socialism as a major constituent of the international left. From Proudhon’s publication of What is Property? in 1840, this persuasion has offered an alternative to the injustice of capitalism and the brutality of authoritarian socialism. They had a major presence in the International Workingmen’s Association (First International), continuing on as the Anti-Authoritarian International from 1872. Libertarian socialist experiments in Ukraine, Catalonia, Mexico, and beyond all demonstrate the viability and resilience of this movement in spite of attempted suppression.

IV: Why Left Libertarianism

These ideas of individual sovereignty, geoism, and co-operatism comprise the backbone of the libertarian left. The case for this platform compared to other political philosophies can be made in a number of ways; perhaps the most convincing of which being the ability of left libertarianism to synergise these values without internal conflict. Where egalitarians on the left often prioritise equality over liberty, and right libertarians vice versa, the libertarian left preserves both as central to its position. And unlike liberal egalitarianism, which endorses a compromise between liberty and equality, this reconciliation is not at the expense of either value. In drawing the delineation between libertarian self-ownership and egalitarian world ownership, two values so often at odds with each other can be brought together without having to make the trade-offs many competing theories do. If you, as I do, value liberty and equality dearly, left libertarianism is the best way to actualise these principles fully.

There is, of course, internal diversity insofar as these principles are understood in relation to each other. The libertarian left is best understood not as a homogenous bloc, but as a collection of liberals, socialists, libertarians, progressives, anarchists, ecologists, and others around the same basic principles. Some caveat individual sovereignty with consequentialist concern for overall utility, while others commit to geoism and co-operatism as preferences rather than absolutes. There is no orthodoxy we wish to impose; we merely seek to reorganise our politics on the basis of liberty and equality as derived from reason. Regardless of where you stand within or beyond the libertarian left, I hope to have provided a summary of the position’s fundamentals, history, and appeal. And if you are at all convinced, the Left Libertarian Alliance is the place for you.

If you believe in unalienable rights, you are probably a left libertarian.

If you believe in fair taxation, you are probably a left libertarian.

If you believe in workplace democracy, you are probably a left libertarian.