Voluntary Communism IS Compatible With Libertarianism — These Economists Explain

I’m going to diverge into economics today for a second.

One of my favorite economists on the planet, Dr. Walter Block, had this to say during an email exchange shared today to LewRockwell.com:

If socialism is defined as the government owning all the means of production, obviously, that is incompatible with libertarianism.

On the other hand, a large voluntary commune is compatible with libertarianism. It undoubtedly would not function well, for reasons given by Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, but that is entirely a different matter.

If marxism is defined as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” as long as this is voluntary, it is compatible with libertarianism. And, it can function well, economically, if the group is small enough, for example, the typical family with mother and father and a few kids.

Best regards,

Walter

The reason this interests me is that as a card-carrying libertarian member of the Minnesota Libertarian Party, I found that there is actually a “socialist libertarian” caucus of some sort, represented by Vermin Supreme, the clown in the funny hat with a majestic beard. I was flabbergasted due to my understanding of the teachings of the Austrian school of economics being quite critical to understanding both libertarian theory and the libertarian movement.

So, yes, voluntary communism is compatible with the non-aggression principle of the libertarian philosophy, but as explained by the most important economist of the 20th century and of all time, Ludwig von Mises, and his Austrian colleagues F.A. Hayek and the massively influential intellectual Murray Rothbard…well, communism that is voluntary still will not succeed, except for at very low levels of poverty unless done on a small enough scale such as that of a nuclear family.

While the theory is all and well and makes sense to me, and even seems quite obvious, I’m still flabbergasted as to why there are “socialist libertarians.” They seem to either be schizophrenic in their economic reasoning, religiously anti-economic as a rule of thumb (ie “economics isn’t even real” hippie stupidity), or intentionally uninformed to the point of possible malevolence in their promotion of bad economics.

I just wanted to pontificate briefly on these discombobulating folksters who espouse a schizophrenic and fatally flawed economic ideology — libertarian socialism –and stop talking exhaustively about freaking marijuana legalization, an issue that should have been over with three decades ago.

Thanks for reading, and learn more about Ludwig von Mises below courtesy of the Atlas Society.

— Jason

Free Downloads:

The Meaning of Ludwig von Mises_2.pdf

The Meaning of Ludwig von Mises_2.pdf

“Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards de­struction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. No one can stand aside with unconcern: the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.” — Ludwig von Mises

For more information, see this concise talk by Mises Institute Senior Fellow Robert P. Murphy, titled “Ludwig von Mises’s contributions to Economics and Liberty:”