Agorism

Social philosophy advocating a voluntary society

Symbol for agorism, with a³ standing for "agora, anarchy, action!"

Part of a series on

Libertarianism
in the United States

Origins

* Abolitionism in the United States
* Age of Enlightenment
* Anti-Federalism
* Classical liberalism
* Individualist anarchism in the United States
* Transcendentalism

Concepts

* Anti-imperialism
* Civil libertarianism
* Counter-economics
* Decentralization
* Departurism
* Economic freedom
* Evictionism
* Free market
* Free-market environmentalism
* Free migration
* Free trade
* Free will
* Freedom of association
* Freedom of contract
* Freedom of speech
* Homestead principle
* Individuality
* Individualism
* Libertarianism
* Liberty
* Limited government
* Localism
* Marriage privatization
* Natural rights and legal rights
* Non-aggression principle
* Non-interventionism
* Non-politics
* Non-voting
* Polycentric law
* Private defense agency
* Private property
* Public choice theory
* Restorative justice
* Right to bear arms
* Rugged Individualism
* Self-ownership
* Single tax
* Small government
* Spontaneous order
* Stateless society
* Tax resistance
* Title-transfer theory of contract
* Voluntary association
* Voluntary society

Schools

* Austro-libertarianism
* Bleeding-heart libertarianism
* Christian libertarianism
* Consequentialist libertarianism
* Geolibertarianism
* Green libertarianism
* Natural-rights libertarianism
* Neo-libertarianism
* Paleolibertarianism
* Technolibertarianism

Theory

* Agorism
* Anarcho-capitalism
* Autarchism
* Constitutionalism
* Fusionism
* Libertarian feminism
* Left-wing market anarchism
* Libertarian conservatism
* Libertarian paternalism
* Libertarian socialism
* Libertarian transhumanism
* Minarchism
* Panarchism
* Propertarianism
* Voluntaryism

Economics

* Austrian School
* Economic liberalism
* Fiscal conservatism
* Georgism
* Laissez-faire
* Neoliberalism
* Supply-side economics

People

* Amash
* Andrews
* Barnett
* Block
* Brennan
* Burt
* Caplan
* Carson
* Chartier
* Chodorov
* Chomsky
* Coolidge
* Epstein
* D. Friedman
* M. Friedman
* P. Friedman
* R. Friedman
* Galambos
* Garrett
* George
* Gillespie
* Goldwater
* Greene
* Harper
* Hazlitt
* Heinlein
* Hess
* Heywood
* Hoppe
* Hospers
* Huemer
* Jillette
* Johnson
* Jorgensen
* Kinsella
* C. Koch
* D. Koch
* Konkin III
* C. Lane
* R. Lane
* LeFevre
* Machan
* McElroy
* Mencken
* Mises
* Napolitano
* Nock
* Nolan
* Nozick
* Paterson
* Paul
* Postrel
* Pugsley
* Rand
* Read
* Rockwell
* Rothbard
* Sarwark
* Schulman
* Sciabarra
* Scott
* Smith
* Sowell
* Skousen
* Spooner
* Stossel
* Supreme
* Swartz
* Szasz
* Taleb
* Teller
* Thiel
* Thoreau
* Tucker
* Warren
* Wilder
* Williams
* Woods

History

* New Left
* Old Right

Issues

* Abortion
* Capital punishment
* Criticism
* Foreign affairs
* Immigration
* Intellectual property
* Internal debates
* LGBT rights
* Objectivism
* Political parties
* Politics
* State
* Theories of law

Culture

* Come and take it
* Gadsden flag
* Libertarian science fiction
* Ron Swanson

Organizations

* Cato Institute
* Free State Project
* Foundation for Economic Education
* International Alliance of Libertarian Parties
* Libertarian Party
* Liberty International
* Mises Institute
* Reason Foundation
* Students for a Democratic Society
* Students for Liberty

Works

* The Anarchist Cookbook
* Anarchy, State, and Utopia
* The Betrayal of the American Right
* Civil Disobedience
* Conceived in Liberty
* Defending the Undefendable
* The Discovery of Freedom
* End the Fed
* The Ethics of Liberty
* For a New Liberty
* Free to Choose
* The God of the Machine
* Liberty
* The Machinery of Freedom
* Man, Economy and State
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
* The Mainspring of Human Progress
* The Market for Liberty
* No, They Can't
* No Treason
* New Libertarian Manifesto
* Our Enemy, the State
* The Problem of Political Authority
* Progress and Poverty
* Protection or Free Trade
* Radicals for Capitalism
* Seeing Like a State
* To Serve and Protect
* The Unconstitutionality of Slavery

Related topics

* American militia movement
* Boogaloo movement
* Conservatism in the United States
* Dark Enlightenment
* Left-libertarianism
* Liberalism in the United States
* Libertarian Democrat
* Libertarian Republican
* Libertarianism in Hong Kong
* Libertarianism in South Africa
* Libertarianism in the United Kingdom
* New Right
* Objectivism
* On Democracy in America
* Outline of libertarianism
* Right-libertarianism
* Sovereign citizen movement

* Liberalism portal
* Conservatism portal
* Libertarianism portal

* v
* t
* e

Agorism is a social philosophy that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, engaging with aspects of nonviolent revolution. It was first proposed by American libertarian philosopher Samuel Edward Konkin III (1947–2004) at two conferences, CounterCon I in October 1974 and CounterCon II in May 1975.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 Origins
* 3 Ideology
* 3.1 Counter-economics
* 3.1.1 Profitable civil disobedience
* 3.1.2 Opposition to political parties
* 3.1.3 Voluntary association
* 3.2 Konkin's class theory
* 4 Intellectual property
* 5 Literature
* 6 Other media
* 7 See also
* 8 References

## Etymology[edit]

The term was coined by Samuel Edward Konkin III and comes from the word agora (Ancient Greek: ἀγορά), referring to an open place for assembly and market in a polis (Ancient Greek: πόλις; city-state).[1]

## Origins[edit]

According to Konkin, agorism and counter-economics were originally fighting concepts forged in the revolutionary atmosphere of 1972 and 1973.[2] Konkin credits the Austrian School and particularly Ludwig von Mises as the base of economic thought leading to agorism and counter-economics.[2]

In the 1960–1970s, there was an abundance of political alienation in the United States, particularly for those in favor of libertarian ideologies. Whereas Murray Rothbard chose to create political alliances between the Old Right and the New Left, Robert LeFevre and his West Coast followers pursued a non-participatory form of civil disobedience.[2]

LeFevre's anti-collaboration methods ultimately lost favor and faded away. According to Konkin, after the creation of the Libertarian Party in 1971, the debate shifted from anarchy vs. minarchism to partyarchy vs. agorism.[2]

## Ideology[edit]

> The goal of agorism is the agora. The society of the open marketplace as near to untainted by theft, assault, and fraud as can be humanly attained is as close to a free society as can be achieved. And a free society is the only one in which each and every one of us can satisfy his or her subjective values without crushing others' values by violence and coercion.

> — Samuel Edward Konkin III[3]

Konkin characterized agorism as a form of left-libertarianism,[4][5] and, generally, that agorism is a strategic branch of left-wing market anarchism.[3] Although this term is non-standard usage, agorists identify as part of left-wing politics in the general sense and use the term left-libertarian as defined by Roderick T. Long, i.e. as "an integration, or I'd argue, a reintegration of libertarianism with concerns that are traditionally thought of as being concerns of the left. That includes concerns for worker empowerment, worry about plutocracy, concerns about feminism and various kinds of social equality".[6]

### Counter-economics[edit]

Main article: Counter-economics

Flag of agorism in which the pattern represents anarchy and the colors represents the grey and black markets

The concept of counter-economics is the most critical element of agorism. It can be described as such:

> The Counter-Economy is the sum of all non-aggressive Human Action which is forbidden by the State. Counter-economics is the study of the Counter-Economy and its practices. The Counter-Economy includes the free market, the Black Market, the "underground economy," all acts of civil and social disobedience, all acts of forbidden association (sexual, racial, cross-religious), and anything else the State, at any place or time, chooses to prohibit, control, regulate, tax, or tariff. The Counter-Economy excludes all State-approved action (the "White Market") and the Red Market (violence and theft not approved by the State).[7]

#### Profitable civil disobedience[edit]

Agorism advocates for gradual withdrawal of state support through what Konkin described as "Profitable Civil Disobedience".[2] Starving the state of its revenue and purpose by transferring these responsibilities over to decentralized institutions is the most feasible way to achieve free markets according to agorism:

> Rather than slowly amass votes until some critical mass would allow state retreat (if the new statists did not change sides to protect their new vested interests), one could commit civil disobedience profitably, dodging taxes and regulations, having lower costs and (potentially) greater efficiency than one's statist competitors – if any.[2]

#### Opposition to political parties[edit]

Agorism does not support political engagement in the form of political party promotion as a means to transition to a free-market anarchism. The methods of the Libertarian Party are not compatible with agorist principles. Konkin referred to these attempts to fight for free markets through state approved channels of operation as "partyarchy":

> Partyarchy, the anti-concept of pursuing libertarian ends through statist means, especially political parties.[8]

#### Voluntary association[edit]

As with voluntaryists, agorists typically oppose electoral voting and political reform and instead they stress the importance of alternative strategies outside political systems to achieve a free society. Agorists claim that such a society could be freed more readily by employing methods such as education, direct action, alternative currencies, entrepreneurship, self sufficiency, civil disobedience and counter-economics.[8]

### Konkin's class theory[edit]

Wally Conger developed (based on work of Konkin) a class theory which includes entrepreneurs, non-statist capitalists and statist capitalists:

Entrepreneur  | Non-statist capitalist  | Statist capitalist

|
|

Good  | Neutral  | Bad
Innovator, risk-taker, producer
The strength of a freed market  | Holders of capital
Not necessarily ideologically aware
"Relatively drone-like non-innovators"  | The primary beneficiaries of government controls
"The main Evil in the political realm"

Konkin claimed that while agorists see these three classes differently, anarcho-capitalists tend to conflate the first and second types while "Marxoids and cruder collectivists" conflate all three.[4]

## Intellectual property[edit]

Konkin opposed the concept of intellectual property and wrote in an article entitled "Copywrongs" in support of such a thesis.[9] J. Neil Schulman criticized this thesis in "Informational Property: Logorights".[10] Whereas Konkin was opposed to the laws of the state in the cases of patents and copyright, seen as creators of monopolies and distortion, Schulman agreed with Konkin that the state could not be a foundation for any class of rightful property yet sought to demonstrate that exclusive ownership rights could apply to what he ultimately termed "Media Carried Property"—created objects that exist independent of the subjective human mind yet are not themselves made of atoms or molecules.[11]

## Literature[edit]

Konkin's treatise New Libertarian Manifesto was published in 1980.[8] Previously, the philosophy had been presented in J. Neil Schulman's science fiction novel Alongside Night in 1979. Ayn Rand's example, presenting her ideas in the form of a work of fiction in Atlas Shrugged, had inspired Schulman to do likewise. Konkin's afterword to the novel, "How Far Alongside Night?", credited Schulman with integrating the "science of counter-economics" with Konkin's basic economic philosophy.[12]

## Other media[edit]

J. Neil Schulman adapted Alongside Night as a feature film released in 2014[13] as J. Neil Schulman's Alongside Night The Graphic Novel[14] and as an unabridged audiobook.[15]

## See also[edit]

* Blockchain
* Cryptocurrency
* Debates within libertarianism
* Distributism
* Economic activism
* Economic secession
* Expropriative anarchism
* Hawala
* Illegalism
* Individualist anarchism
* Insurrectionary anarchism
* Informal sector (or grey economy)
* Issues in anarchism
* Libertarian municipalism
* Local exchange trading system
* Mutualism
* Philosophical anarchism
* Piracy
* Prefigurative politics
* Ross Ulbricht
* Sharing economy
* Silk Road (marketplace)
* System D
* Underground economy

## References[edit]

1. ^ Gordon, David (1 April 2011). "Sam Konkin and Libertarian Theory". LewRockwell.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
2. ^ a b c d e f Konkin III, Samuel Edward. "Last Whole Introduction to Agorism" (PDF). Agorism.info. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
3. ^ a b Konkin III, Samuel Edward. An Agorist Primer (PDF).
4. ^ a b "Smashing the State for Fun and Profit Since 1969: An Interview With the Libertarian Icon Samuel Edward Konkin III (a.k.a. SEK3)".
5. ^ D'Amato, David S. (27 November 2018). "Black-Market Activism: Samuel Edward Konkin III and Agorism". Libertarianism.org. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
6. ^ Long, Roderick. T. (4 January 2008). "An Interview With Roderick Long". Liberalis in English. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
7. ^ "Counter-Economics: what it is, how it works" (PDF). Agorism.info. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009.
8. ^ a b c Konkin III, Samuel Edward (1980). "New Libertarian Manifesto" (PDF). Agorism.info. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
9. ^ Konkin III, Samuel Edward. "Copywrongs". Archived 13 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ Shulman, J. Neil. "Informational Property: Logorights".
11. ^ Shulman, J. Neil. "Human Property".
12. ^ Afterword by Samuel Edward Konkin III in Alongside Night (1999). Pulpless.com. pp. 271–290. ISBN 978-1-58445-120-4.
13. ^ "Alongside Night".
14. ^ "J. Neil Schulman's Alongside Night – The Graphic Novel".
15. ^ "Alongside Night – The Movie Edition".

* v
* t
* e

Libertarianism

Origins|

* Age of Enlightenment
* Anarchism
* Aristotelianism
* Liberalism
* Classical
* Radical

Schools|

| Libertarian capitalism
(Right-libertarianism)|

* Anarcho-capitalism
* Autarchism
* Christian libertarianism
* Conservative libertarianism
* Consequentialist libertarianism
* Fusionism
* Libertarian transhumanism
* Minarchism
* Natural-rights libertarianism
* Neo-classical liberalism
* Paleolibertarianism
* Propertarianism
* Voluntaryism

|

Libertarian socialism
(Left-libertarianism)|

* Anarchism
* Collectivist
* Free-market
* Agorism
* Green
* Individualist
* Insurrectionary
* Libertarian communism
* Mutualism
* Philosophical
* Social
* Autonomism
* Bleeding-heart libertarianism
* Communalism
* Geolibertarianism
* Georgism
* Green libertarianism
* Guild socialism
* Libertarian Marxism
* Revolutionary syndicalism

Concepts|

* Abstention
* Anti-authoritarianism
* Anti-capitalism
* Antimilitarism
* Anti-statism
* Class struggle
* Counter-economics
* Crypto-anarchism
* Decentralization
* Departurism
* Direct action
* Economic freedom
* Egalitarianism
* Evictionism
* Expropriative anarchism
* Federalism (anarchist)
* Free association (Marxism and anarchism)
* Free love
* Free market
* Free-market environmentalism
* Free migration
* Free trade
* Freedom of association
* Freedom of contract
* Gift economy
* Homestead principle
* Illegalism
* Individualism
* Individual reclamation
* Liberty
* Localism
* Natural law
* Natural rights and legal rights
* Night-watchman state
* Non-aggression principle
* Participatory economics
* Propaganda of the deed
* Property is theft!
* Refusal of work
* Self-governance
* Self-ownership
* Single tax
* Social ecology
* Spontaneous order
* Squatting
* Stateless society
* Tax resistance
* Voluntary society
* Workers' councils
* Workers' self-management

People|

* Stephen Pearl Andrews
* Mikhail Bakunin
* Frédéric Bastiat
* Jeremy Bentham
* Walter Block
* Murray Bookchin
* Jason Brennan
* Bryan Caplan
* Kevin Carson
* Frank Chodorov
* Noam Chomsky
* Grover Cleveland
* Calvin Coolidge
* Voltairine de Cleyre
* Joseph Déjacque
* Ralph Waldo Emerson
* David D. Friedman
* Milton Friedman
* Mahatma Gandhi
* Henry George
* William Ewart Gladstone
* William Godwin
* Emma Goldman
* Barry Goldwater
* Daniel Hannan
* Friedrich Hayek
* Auberon Herbert
* Karl Hess
* Thomas Hodgskin
* Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* Michael Huemer
* Penn Jillette
* Gary Johnson
* Jo Jorgensen
* Stephan Kinsella
* Samuel Edward Konkin III
* Janusz Korwin-Mikke
* Étienne de La Boétie
* Rose Wilder Lane
* Lord Acton
* Tibor Machan
* Wendy McElroy
* Ludwig von Mises
* Gustave de Molinari
* Albert Jay Nock
* Robert Nozick
* Thomas Paine
* Isabel Paterson
* Ron Paul
* Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
* Ralph Raico
* Ayn Rand
* Leonard Read
* Murray Rothbard
* Nicholas Sarwark
* Joseph Schumpeter
* Chris Matthew Sciabarra
* Julian Simon
* Herbert Spencer
* Lysander Spooner
* Max Stirner
* John Stossel
* Thomas Szasz
* Henry David Thoreau
* Benjamin Tucker
* Josiah Warren

Issues|

* Abortion
* Affirmative action
* Anarcho-capitalism and minarchism
* Capital punishment
* Criticism
* Foreign intervention
* Immigration
* Intellectual property
* Internal debates
* LGBT rights
* Objectivism
* Political alliances
* Political parties
* Theories of law

Books|

* Anarchy, State, and Utopia
* Atlas Shrugged
* For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
* Free to Choose
* Law, Legislation and Liberty
* The Market for Liberty

Related|

* Abolitionism
* Anti-collectivism
* Anti-communism
* Anti-fascism
* Anti-socialism
* Austro-libertarianism
* Center for Libertarian Studies
* Civil libertarianism
* Classical liberalism
* Constitutionalism
* Economic liberalism
* Freeman on the land
* Fusionism
* Green libertarianism
* Libertarian conservatism
* Libertarian Democrats
* Libertarian socialism
* Libertarian Republicans
* Libertarian science fiction
* Libertarianism in South Africa
* Libertarianism in the United Kingdom
* Libertarianism in the United States
* Objectivism
* Public choice theory
* Small government
* Sovereign citizen movement
* Technolibertarianism

* Libertarianism portal
* Outline of libertarianism

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template