From time to time we have discussed the group favouring extension of the principles and methods of the market. In IC 20 there was a piece entitled Friedman or Free Men? which discussed some of the ideas put forward by Milton Friedman, and in 1976 there was issued The Ideology of Freedom, a paper based… read more »
Anarchists routinely describe their desired society as one in which everybody would be free to act as they choose provided they did not interfere with the freedom of others. The 1945 constitution of Kemalist Turkey agreed: “Every Turk is born free and lives free. He has liberty to do anything which does not harm other… read more »
‘Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to… read more »
I liked George Walford, but I do not think that he was a wise man or even a very bright man. Nor do I hold myself to be very wise or bright, but the facts relating to the Socialist Party of Great Britain [SPGB] and Harold Walsby are not very difficult to see. I was… read more »
This paper is mainly a commentary on David Friedman‘s book The Machinery of Freedom. [1] Where it expands into comments on Anarcho-Capitalism (one name for the social system Mr.Friedman expounds) it is still based wholly on his book. I have heard a talk given by an Anarcho-Capitalist to the Walsby Society, but my recollections of… read more »
IC holds out a continuing invitation: We undertake to print any statement of up to 1,000 words carrying the approval of this party, or one of its branches. Letters from individual members will appear if they are cogent, interesting and concise, and if space permits. If you want your letter to appear unedited or not… read more »
The following ideas represent our own current views on anarcho-capitalism. Other anarcho-capitalist libertarians would disagree with some of what follows, and minimal-statist libertarians would disagree with much more. Anyone interested in finding out more can write to the Libertarian Alliance at [address]. Anarcho-capitalism (or market-anarchism) is the view is that a self-regulating market is possible… read more »
Jean Baptiste Colbert, Minister in charge of finance under Louis XIV, asked the merchants what he could do for them; they added to the common stock of cliches with the reply: “Laissez-nous faire.” Or so the story goes. After generations as an unassimilated immigrant the phrase has now been naturalised as the demand for a… read more »
Political movements vary in many ways but all of them, when in power, promote freedom. To meet the inevitable protest head-on: Nazism promoted freedom of action for anti-Semitism. To demand merely freedom, unspecified, is like asking for more without saying of what. For the demand to be capable of realisation we have to specify which… read more »
A talk delivered to a meeting organised by the Libertarian Alliance, on 25th June. By George Walford. (The version given here has been lightly edited in the transition from speech to writing). People who write books about doing talks offer several approved ways of beginning. You can start off with a BANG! to grip your… read more »