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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 leftward evolution of anarcho-capitalism, and subset of market anarchism. In the introduction to New Libertarian Manifesto he credited Murray Rothbard, Robert LeFevre, and Ludwig von Mises as influences.
Like Rothbard, Konkin saw libertarianism as a movement of the radical left. He was a founder of the Agorist Institute and the Movement of the Libertarian Left.
Konkin rejected voting, believing it to be inconsistent with libertarian ethics. He likewise opposed involvement in the Libertarian Party, which he regarded as a statist co-option of libertarianism.
Konkin presents his strategy for achieving a libertarian society in his aforementioned manifesto. Since he rejected voting and other means by which people typically aim to change, reform, or "fight the system from the inside," his approach necessarily aimed at fighting "the system" from without. Specifically, he encouraged people to withdraw their consent from the state by moving their economic activities into the black market and grey market where they would be untaxed and unregulated.
Konkin was a proponent of historical revisionism, and while he personally rejected Holocaust denial, 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.[1]
Konkin was interested in TSR's role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, and contributed a newsletter to the role-playing fanzine 'Alarums and Excursions' for many years, starting in the late 1970's. He described the ongoing adventures of his group of characters in a D&D universe. One copy of the newsletter's cover featured them hanging D&D co-author and president of TSR Gary Gygax from a tree limb over a rule dispute.[citation needed]
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).
See also
References
- ^ Heider, Ulrike (1994). Anarchism. San Francisco: City Lights Books. ISBN 9780872862890.
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
- Murray Rothbard, "Konkin on Libertarian Strategy" followed by Samuel E. Konkin, "Reply to Rothbard" at AnthonyFlood.com
- Obituary for SEK3 by Jeff Riggenbach
- Obituary for Sam Konkin by Phil Osborn
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