Libertarian Perspectives On Revolution - Methods - Violent Rebellion or Terrorism

Violent Rebellion or Terrorism

Reason senior editor Brian Doherty observes in Radicals for Capitalism that "ibertarians have always been more likely to head to a bookstore than an armory, which some think is half the problem."

In The Ethics of Liberty, Murray Rothbard notes: "To say that someone has the absolute right to a certain property but lacks the right to defend it against attack or invasion is also to say that he does not have total right to that property." However, Rothbard warns against harming innocents: "…the libertarian goal, the victory of liberty, justifies the speediest possible means towards reaching the goal, but those means cannot be such as to contradict, and thereby undercut, the goal itself. We have already seen that gradualism-in-theory is such a contradictory means. Another contradictory means would be to commit aggression (e.g., murder or theft) against persons or just property in order to reach the libertarian goal of nonaggression."

Rothbard's For a New Liberty cites the revolutionary war of the Bengali public against the Punjabi occupying state as being the recent conflict that comes closest to satisfying his criteria for a just war – namely, that it avoids injuring civilians in their persons or property; and uses volunteer rather than conscript armies; and is financed by voluntary methods instead of taxation. In response to Rothbard's rebuttal of the New Libertarian Manifesto, Konkin writes, "Rothbard’s statement that violent revolution (what other kind is there against a ruling class—would he like to mention an Establishment that stepped down peacefully?) never succeeded in history distorts either the language or history," and cites many examples of freedom-fighters throwing off oppressive democratic governments. But Konkin also spoke out against initiating violence against the State in his New Libertarian Manifesto, as mentioned below.

The Libertarian Forum newsletter that Rothbard edited frequently addressed issues related to revolution. Rothbard condemned, on several occasions, "going over into armed struggle" on tactical even if not on moral grounds.

In 1996, Claire Wolfe wrote in her 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution: "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." But in her more recent 2003 book, I Am Not A Number: Freeing America from the ID State, she recommended to readers the writings of nonviolent resistance theorist Gene Sharp.

Libertarian and crypto-anarchist Jim Bell invented the concept of an assassination market, a prediction market or dead pool where any party can place a bet on the date of death of a given individual, and collect a payoff if they "guess" the date accurately. After he was found in possession of various allegedly suspicious materials and weapons, and after placing a “stink bomb” in an Internal Revenue Service office, he was prosecuted and convicted of two felonies, for which he served eleven months in prison.