Left-libertarianism,^[1] also known as left-wing libertarianism,^[2] is a political philosophy and type of libertarianism that stresses both individual freedom and social equality. Left-libertarianism represents several related yet distinct approaches to political and social theory. Its classical usage refers to anti-authoritarian varieties of left-wing politics such as anarchism, especially social anarchism.^[3]

In the United States, left-libertarianism represents the left wing of the libertarian movement,^[3] including the political positions associated with academic philosophers Hillel Steiner, Philippe Van Parijs, and Peter Vallentyne that combine self-ownership with an egalitarian approach to natural resources.^[4] Although libertarianism in the United States has become associated with classical liberalism and minarchism, with right-libertarianism being more known than left-libertarianism,^[5] political usage of the term until then was associated exclusively with anti-capitalism, libertarian socialism, and social anarchism; in most parts of the world, such an association still predominates.^[3][6]

Left-libertarians are skeptical of, or fully against, private ownership of natural resources, arguing, in contrast to right-libertarians, that neither claiming nor mixing one's labor with natural resources is enough to generate full private property rights, and they maintain that natural resources should be held in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.^[7] Those left-libertarians who are more lenient towards private property support different property norms and theories, such as usufruct^[8] or under the condition that recompense is offered to the local or even global community.^[9][10]

Libertarianism is a philosophy that advocates for freedom, whether political, economical or metaphysical.^[11] The political definition of the term "libertarian" (from the French: libertaire) was coined by the French anarchist communist Joseph Déjacque in 1857, whereafter libertarianism became synonymous with anarchism.^[12] The term was widely used by anarchists until the 1970s, when libertarianism first started to be associated with a radical free market philosophy, particularly in the United States.^[13]

The oldest, traditional, definition of "left-libertarianism" used it synonymously with social anarchism.^[14] Seeking to distinguish themselves from the new generation of free-market libertarians, social anarchists began referring to themselves as "left-libertarians",^[15] while the new adoptees of the term became known as "right-libertarians".^[16]

At the same time as social anarchists began using the term to distinguish themselves from free-market libertarians, some of the advocates of free market economics that were associated with the New Left, including Roy Childs and Samuel Konkin, also began referring to themselves as "left-libertarians" in order to highlight themselves as the left-wing of the new free-market libertarian movement.^[11] As anti-capitalist advocates of free-market economics, they used the term "left-libertarian" in order to distinguish themselves from the right-wing advocates of libertarian capitalism.^[17]

By the turn of the 21st century, some analytic philosophers had also adopted the label of "left-libertarianism".^[11] This contemporary model of left-libertarianism, associated mainly with Peter Vallentyne and Hillel Steiner,^[18] distinguishes itself from right-libertarianism in its advocacy of the social ownership and equitable distribution of natural resources, while also upholding the libertarian principle of self-ownership.^[19]

While all libertarians begin with a conception of personal autonomy from which they argue in favor of civil liberties and a reduction or elimination of the state, left-libertarianism encompasses those libertarian beliefs that claim the Earth's natural resources belong to everyone in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.^{[2][3][7][9][10]}

Left-libertarians generally uphold self-ownership and oppose strong private property rights, instead supporting the egalitarian distribution of natural resources.^[20] Other left-libertarians believe that neither claiming nor mixing one's labor with natural resources is enough to generate full private property rights^[21][22] and maintain that natural resources ought to be held in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.^[23]

Political scientist Peter Mclaverty notes it has been argued that socialist values are incompatible with the concept of self-ownership when this concept is considered "the core feature of libertarianism" and socialism is defined as holding "that we are social beings, that society should be organised, and individuals should act, so as to promote the common good, that we should strive to achieve social equality and promote democracy, community and solidarity."^[24] However, political philosopher Nicholas Vrousalis has also argued that "property rights [...] do not pass judgment as to what rights individuals have to their own person [...] [and] to the external world" and that "the nineteenth-century egalitarian libertarians were not misguided in thinking that a thoroughly libertarian form of communism is possible at the level of principle."^[25]

Other left-libertarians make a libertarian reading of progressive and social-democratic economics to advocate a universal basic income. Building on Michael Otsuka's conception of "robust libertarian self-ownership", Karl Widerquist argues that a universal basic income must be large enough to maintain individual independence regardless of the market value of resources because people in contemporary society have been denied direct access to enough resources with which they could otherwise maintain their existence in the absence of interference by people who control access to resources.^[26]

Left-libertarianism is one of the three main branches of libertarian political philosophy, alongside right-libertarianism, a capitalist philosophy that defends strong private property rights; and socialist libertarianism, an anti-capitalist philosophy that opposes the concentration of wealth.^[20] In contrast to these two opposing philosophies, left-libertarianism holds that individuals should have no exclusive right to the exploitation of natural resources, instead advocating for an equitable distribution of resources, while also insisting on the protection of personal property rights.^[27] Like other forms of libertarianism, left-libertarian views on the state range from minarchism, which argues for a decentralised and limited government, to anarchism, which advocates for the state to be abolished entirely.^[28] While right-libertarianism is widely seen as synonymous with libertarianism in the United States, left-libertarianism is the predominant form of libertarianism in Europe.^[29]

In its oldest form, "left-libertarianism" was used synonymously with social anarchism.^[14] Although social anarchism and other forms of left-libertarianism share similar roots and concerns, social anarchism has distinguished itself as a distinct ideological tradition,^[30] due to its fundamental rejection of the state.^[31] In contrast to individualist tendencies, social anarchism rejects private property and market relations.^[32] which they believe will be eliminated with the abolition of the state.^[33]

Social anarchism, originally associated with the libertarianism of Joseph Déjacque, has historically encompassed collectivist anarchism, anarchist communism and anarcho-syndicalism; each of which became influential tendencies in the Russian and Spanish Revolutions.^[34] The contemporary left-libertarian Murray Bookchin advocated for the replacement of the state with a libertarian communist society, which he saw as a decentralized confederation of municipalities, in which decisions would be made by direct democracy.^[35] Bookchin was also harshly critical of individualist anarchism, which he held responsible for the failure of left-libertarianism to take a prominent place in public discourse.^[36]

Alongside social anarchists, left-wing proponents of free-market economics have associated themselves with left-libertarianism.^[11] This post-classical definition has been used synonymously with the free-market anti-capitalism (a.k.a. left-wing market anarchism) advocated by Kevin Carson, Gary Chartier, and Charles W. Johnson,^[37] who together formed the Alliance of the Libertarian Left and the subsequent Center for a Stateless Society.^[38] Drawing from the views of American individualist anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner, left-wing market anarchists defend the use of free markets and private property, which they consider to have an "essential coordinating role" in society.^[39] Free-market anti-capitalists hold market intervention responsible for capitalist control of the means of production, a situation they believe will be solved by the introduction of free competition. Building on Tucker's ideas, Kevin Carson has also defended the labor theory of value and occupancy-and-use land ownership, although not all free-market anti-capitalists agree with these positions.^[38] Like social anarchists and unlike many right-libertarians, left-wing market anarchists are opposed to capitalism and other forms of oppression such as racism and sexism; they consider this anti-oppression politics to be an integral part of left-libertarianism.^[40]

Contemporary left-libertarian scholars such as David Ellerman,^[41][42] Michael Otsuka,^[43] Hillel Steiner,^[44] Peter Vallentyne^[45] and Philippe Van Parijs^[46] root an economic egalitarianism in the classical liberal concepts of self-ownership and land appropriation, combined with geoist or physiocratic views regarding the ownership of land and natural resources (e.g. those of Henry George and John Locke).^[47][23][48] Their intellectual forebears include Henry George, Thomas Paine, and Herbert Spencer.^[49][50] Classical economists such as Henry George, John Stuart Mill, the early writings of Herbert Spencer,^[51] among others, "provided the basis for the further development of the left libertarian perspective."^[52] Most left-libertarians of this tradition support some form of economic rent redistribution on the grounds that each individual is entitled to an equal share of natural resources^[53] and argue for the desirability of state social welfare programs.^[54][55]

Scholars representing this school of left-libertarianism often understand their position in contrast to right-libertarians, who maintain that there are no fair share constraints on use or appropriation that individuals have the power to appropriate unowned things by claiming them (usually by mixing their labor with them) and deny any other conditions or considerations are relevant and that there is no justification for the state to redistribute resources to the needy or to overcome market failures. A number of left-libertarians of this school argue for the desirability of some state social welfare programs.^[56][55] Left-libertarians of the Carson–Long left-libertarianism school typically endorse the labor-based property rights that contemporary left-libertarians reject, but they hold that implementing such rights would have radical rather than conservative consequences.^[57]

Left-libertarians of this school hold that it is illegitimate for anyone to claim private ownership of natural resources to the detriment of others.^[49] These left-libertarians support some form of income redistribution on the grounds of a claim by each individual to be entitled to an equal share of natural resources.^[58][53] Unappropriated natural resources are either unowned or owned in common and private appropriation is only legitimate if everyone can appropriate an equal amount or if private appropriation is taxed to compensate those who are excluded from natural resources.^[53]

Modern green parties attempt to apply left-libertarian ideas to a more pragmatic system of democratic governance as opposed to contemporary individualist or socialist libertarianism. The green movement, especially its more left-wing factions, is often described by political scientists as left-libertarian.^[59][60][61]

Political scientists see European political parties such as Ecolo and Groen in Belgium, Alliance 90/The Greens in Germany, or the Green Progressive Accord and GroenLinks in the Netherlands as coming out of the New Left and emphasizing spontaneous self-organisation, participatory democracy, decentralization and voluntarism, being contrasted to the bureaucratic or statist approach.^[61] Similarly, political scientist Ariadne Vromen has described the Australian Greens as having a "clear left-libertarian ideological base."^[62]

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