Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Right wing libertarianism obsesses over property rights. The original left wing libertarianism rejects property rights as incompatible with maximising liberty.

Dejacque, the father or libertarianism criticised Proudhon, the father of anarchism for being a "moderate anarchist, liberal but not libertarian", but strongly supported his infamous "property is theft".



yup, exactly. Unfortunately the original meaning is almost never what's meant by libertarianism.


It's part of why I like to bring it up. It's a toss-up whether it makes people really upset, make them refuse to accept it, or get them to learn something new, but occasionally it makes people think critically about how property rights relate to liberty.

Incidentally I think everyone should read Dejacque's open letter to Proudhon [1], irrespective of their political views - it's just one of the most poetically written political texts I've read (and his first use of the term libertarianism). Also somewhat relevant to the discussion here as an early example of a form of wokeness - Dejacque criticising an ally on the left for not going far enough in throwing off the social order Proudhon was ostensibly challenging by failing to stand up equally for women.

[1] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/joseph-dejacque-on-t...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: