Samuel Edward Konkin III

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of the Politics series on Libertarianism Schools of thought Agorism Anarchism Geolibertarianism Green libertarianism Individualist anarchism Left-libertarianism Libertarian socialism Minarchism Neolibertarianism Paleolibertarianism Origins Individualist anarchism Austrian School Chicago School Classical liberalism Ideas Civil liberties Free markets Laissez-faire Liberty Individualism Non-aggression Private property Self-ownership Free trade Key issues History Parties Economic views Views of rights Theories of law Politics Portal ·  v • d • e

Part of the Politics series on Anarchism Schools of thought Capitalist • Christian Collectivist • Communist Eco • Feminist Green • Individualist Mutualist • Primitivist Social • Syndicalist Without adjectives Anarchism in culture Religion • Society • Arts History • Criticism Anarchist theory Origins • Economics Anarchism and capitalism Anarchism and Marxism Symbolism • Post-left Propaganda of the deed Anarchism by region Africa • Austria • China English Tradition • France Greece • Mexico • Russia Spain • Sweden • Ukraine United States Anarchism lists Anarchists • Books Communities • Concepts Organizations Anarchism Portal Politics Portal ·  v • d • e

Samuel Edward Konkin III (aka SEK3) (July 8, 1947 - February 23, 2004) was the author of The New Libertarian Manifesto and a proponent of the political philosophy which he called agorism. Agorism is a subset of market anarchism.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he lived with a group of other anarchists in an apartment building on 7th Street in Long Beach, California, nick-named the Anarcho-Village. During this time he was close friends with Dana Rohrabacher, who later became a U.S. Congressman.

Konkin argued against voting, and specifically opposed involvement in the Libertarian Party. In The New Libertarian Manifesto he explained how he believed a libertarian society could come about. This would theoretically be through a process of people withdrawing their consent to be governed by the state, and moving their economic activities into the black market and grey market where they would be untaxed and unregulated. Konkin used the term "Counter-Economics" to describe this approach. In the introduction to The New Libertarian Manifesto he credited Murray Rothbard, Robert LeFevre, and Ludwig von Mises as influences.

Unlike many libertarians, Konkin saw libertarianism as a movement of the left. He was a founder of the Agorist Institute and the Movement of the Libertarian Left. The novel Alongside Night by J. Neil Schulman is based on Konkin's political ideas as are the science fiction novels of Victor Koman.

Konkin was a proponent of historical revisionism, and while not known to advocate Holocaust denial himself, became active in support of the Institute for Historical Review on the grounds that their freedom of speech was under attack. Konkin is criticized in the book Anarchism: Left, Right, and Green by Ulrike Heider for this stance.

Konkin was editor and publisher of the irregularly produced New Libertarian Notes (1971-1975), the New Libertarian Weekly (1975-1978), and finally New Libertarian magazine (1978-1990), the last issue of which was a special science fiction tribute featuring a Robert A. Heinlein cover (issue 187, 1990).

[edit] See also

• economic secession

[edit] External links

• Agorism.info has archived Konkin writings and pamphlets in PDF format
• Interview with Konkin
• The New Libertarian Manifesto
• SEK3's history of the libertarian movement
• J. Neil Schulman's tribute to SEK3
• KoPubCo back issues of New Libertarian
• Movement of the Libertarian Left homepage on Geocities, no longer maintained