Libertarian Alliance

Libertarian Alliance
The logo of the Libertarian Alliance
Motto For Life, Liberty, and Property!
Predecessor Radical Libertarian Alliance
Successor Mises Centre UK
Formation 1977 (1977)
Founders Mark Brady, Judy Englander, David Ramsay Steele and Chris Tame
Extinction 2017 (2017)
Type Think tank
Headquarters London
Website www.la-articles.org.uk

The Libertarian Alliance (LA) was a libertarian think tank in the UK, which advocated the abolition of taxation and government intervention in economic and social life.[1] The Libertarian Alliance was dissolved in June 2017, and its successor organisation, Mises UK, owns the Libertarian Alliance Archives, which "include nearly 800 pamphlets in print and from more than 150 authors".[2]

Early history

With ancestral ties to the Liberty and Property Defence League 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 and Chris Tame in Woking. It was an alliance of libertarians, minarchists, anarchists, and classical liberals. 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.[3]

The principles of the LA were formulated by the founding members, and written out by David Ramsay Steele in its first Tactical Note.[4] 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.[3] The Alternative Bookshop, with Tame as its manager, was advertised in the National Association for Freedom's publication, The Free Nation. [5]

In 1982 a power struggle within the organisation caused a split.[6] 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!"[3]. In 2017, the Tame Libertarian Alliance renamed itself Mises UK - https://misesuk.org/

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.[7]

The Tame-Gabb LA for many years held dinners and conferences with high-profile speakers as Adam Smith Institute Director Eamonn Butler and libertarian writer Claire Fox in 2006,[8] anarcho-capitalist philosophers David D. Friedman and Hans-Hermann Hoppe in 2008,[9] and LGBT activist Peter Tatchell and Conservative Party Member of Parliament Steve Baker in 2010.[10] Since 2010, there have been no such events, with the focus being on publications, social media, and the Free Life Podcast.[11]

The Tame-Gabb Libertarian Alliance was a member of Backlash, which was formed in 2005 in order to oppose a new law criminalising possession of "extreme pornography".

In June 2017, Gabb resigned from the directorship of the Libertarian Alliance[12] and dissolved the organisation. Keir Martland is the founder and director of the successor organisation, Mises UK.[13]

The McDonagh Libertarian Alliance

The public face of the other organisation is usually David McDonagh, although Bob Layson sometimes acts as chairperson. They have no director or president. This LA has regular meetings in London with a lecture and then questions and answers. Sean Gabb has spoken at these meetings on a number of occasions and each time he is introduced by McDonagh as "the Director of the Libertarian Alliance". British sceptic philosophers JC Lester and Ray Percival are also involved with this LA. They maintain the website LA Articles and a blog at http://www.la-articles.org.uk/.

References

  1. ↑ Goodwin, Barbara (2007). Using Political Ideas. Wiley. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-470-02552-9.
  2. ↑ https://misesuk.org/about/libertarian-alliance/
  3. 1 2 3 "About", Libertarian Alliance.
  4. ↑ "Purpose and Strategy of the Libertarian Alliance" Libertarian Alliance, Tactical Note Number 1
  5. ↑ "Chris R. Tame: Two Years After" Sean Gabb, Free Life Commentary
  6. ↑ "Aftermath of the Split", Free Life, Journal of the Libertarian Alliance, Vol. 3, No. 3.;"Attempted Theft of an Organization", Free Life, Journal of the Libertarian Alliance, Vol. 3, No. 3.
  7. ↑ "Libertarian Alliance: Change of Status" Libertarian Alliance
  8. ↑ "LA Conference 2006" Libertarian Alliance
  9. ↑ "LA Conference 2008" Libertarian Alliance
  10. ↑ "LA Conference 2010" Libertarian Alliance
  11. ↑ "The Free Life Podcast" Free Life Podcast
  12. ↑ https://misesuk.org/2017/06/19/sean-gabb-notice-of-abdication/
  13. ↑ https://misesuk.org/2017/06/19/introducing-the-new-director/
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