Libertarian Alliance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Libertarian Alliance (LA) comprises two British libertarian think-tanks that promote free-market economics and civil liberties. The current director of one is the English libertarian Dr Sean Gabb. According to the websites of both organisations, “The Libertarian Alliance is a non-partisan group fighting statism in all its forms and working for the creation of a truly free society.”[1]
Between them, they have produced nearly 800 publications by over 250 authors. Free Life was formerly the LA's hardcopy journal. Most LA publications are now Internet based.
[edit] History
The original Libertarian Alliance was founded in 1977 by Mark Brady, Judy Englander, David Ramsay Steele and Chris Tame, in Mark Brady’s flat in Woking. It was an alliance of minarchist and classical liberals. The LA was not the continuation of any other organisation with a similar name, although its antecedents can be traced to the Radical Libertarian Alliance (founded by Mark Brady, Pauline Russell and Chris Tame) in late 1971, which itself had links to the Young Libertarians founded by David Myddelton in the late 1960s.
The LA had no director or president or any kind of official leader. But it did have a chairman (David Ramsay Steele), a secretary (Chris Tame) and a treasurer (David Farrer). The LA logo was commissioned and paid for by Mark Brady from Anthony Bartlett in 1977, but he has always allowed the LA to use it. The principles of the LA [1] were formulated by the founding members, and written out by David Ramsay Steele. When John Wood set up the Alternative Bookshop in 1978 the Bookshop became the unofficial hub of LA activities for a time.
In 1982 a split occurred in the LA [2];[3]. Since then there have been two groups both calling themselves the Libertarian Alliance (see above).
