The Libertarian Alliance (LA) refers to two
libertarian think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
s in the UK. Originally one organisation, it split in 1982. One Libertarian Alliance was renamed "Mises UK" in 2017; the remaining Libertarian Alliance holds regular meetings in London.
Early history
The Libertarian Alliance was founded to advocate the abolition of taxation and government intervention in economic and social life.
With ancestral ties to the
Liberty and Property Defence League
The Liberty and Property Defence League (LPDL) was a historic organisation, founded in 1882 by Lord Elcho, for the support of ''laissez-faire'' trade. It served as a lobby group for industrialists and land-owners who were alarmed by Georgism ("Sin ...
of
Lord Elcho and
Sir Ernest Benn's
Society of Individualists, the LA was founded in the 1970s by Mark Brady, Judy Englander,
David Ramsay Steele
David Ramsay Steele (born 23 June 1944) is the author of ''The Mystery of Fascism: David Ramsay Steele's Greatest Hits'' (2019, a collection of 23 previously published articles), ''Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab'' (2017, a study of Ge ...
and
Chris Tame in
Woking. It was an alliance of libertarians,
minarchists,
anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
, and
classical liberals
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econo ...
. The LA was perceived to be the continuation of the Radical Libertarian Alliance founded by Brady and Tame in late 1971, or the earlier Young Libertarians founded by David Myddelton in the late 1960s.
["About"]
Libertarian Alliance.
The principles of the LA were formulated by the founding members, and written out by David Ramsay Steele in its first Tactical Note. At its founding, the LA had no official leader, but had a chairperson, secretary, and a treasurer. The Alternative Bookshop, formed in 1978, became the unofficial hub of LA activities for a time.
[ The Alternative Bookshop, with Tame as its manager, was advertised in the National Association for Freedom's publication, ''The Free Nation.''
In 1982 a power struggle within the organisation caused a split. From then until 2017 there were two groups calling themselves the Libertarian Alliance and using the same logo and using the phrase "Let a Thousand Libertarian Alliances Bloom!".][
]
After 1982
The Tame Libertarian Alliance
The organisation led by Chris Tame from 1982 until his death in March 2006, was led by Sean Gabb from 2006 to 2017, whose involvement with the Libertarian Alliance dated back to December 1979. The Tame-Gabb Libertarian Alliance owned the libertarian.co.uk website, and managed ''The Libertarian Alliance Blog''. In 2015 Gabb's Libertarian Alliance was recognised by HMRC as an educational charity.
The Tame-Gabb LA for many years held dinners and conferences with high-profile speakers as Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a neoliberal UK-based think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The libertarian label was officially changed to neoliberal on 10 October 201 ...
Director Eamonn Butler
Eamonn Butler (born 1953) is a British economist. He is the co-founder and Director of the Adam Smith Institute.
Early life
Eamonn Butler was born in 1953. His brother is Stuart Butler.Michael David Kandiah, Anthony Seldon, ''Ideas and Think Ta ...
and libertarian writer Claire Fox
Claire Regina Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley (born 5 June 1960), is a British writer, journalist, lecturer and politician who sits in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated life peer. She is the director and founder of the think tank Institute of ...
in 2006, anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enfo ...
philosophers David D. Friedman
David Director Friedman (born February 12, 1945) is an American economist, physicist, legal scholar, and anarcho-capitalist theorist. Although he studied chemistry and physics and not law or economics, he is known for his textbook writings on m ...
and Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German-American economist of the Austrian School, philosopher and political theorist. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Senior Fellow of ...
in 2008, and LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
activist Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is a British human rights campaigner, originally from Australia, best known for his work with LGBT social movements.
Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey ...
and Conservative Party Member of Parliament Steve Baker in 2010. Since 2010, there have been no such events, with the focus being on publications, social media, and the ''Free Life Podcast.''
The Tame-Gabb Libertarian Alliance was a member of Backlash
Backlash may refer to:
Literature
* '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi
* ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston
* Backlash (Marc Slayton), comic book character
* ''Backla ...
, which was formed in 2005 in order to oppose a new law criminalising possession of "extreme pornography
Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is a law in the United Kingdom criminalising possession of what it refers to as "extreme pornographic images". The law came into force on 26 January 2009. The legislation was brought in ...
".
In June 2017, Gabb gave the Libertarian Alliance to Keir Martland, who renamed it Mises UK. Mises UK maintains the Libertarian Alliance Archives, which "include nearly 800 pamphlets in print and from more than 150 authors".
The McDonagh Libertarian Alliance
The Libertarian Alliance run by David McDonagh holds regular talks in London. There is evidence of a rapprochement between the two Libertarian Alliances, with some of these talks being given by Sean Gabb and Keir Martland. They also maintain archives of the Libertarian Alliance magazine "Free Life".
References
External links
The Libertarian Alliance
Mises UK
{{Authority control
Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom
Libertarian think tanks
Libertarian organisations based in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 1977
Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom