The Libertarian Alliance (LA) refers to two

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

s in the UK. Originally one organisation, it split in 1982. One Libertarian Alliance was renamed "Mises UK" in 2017; the remaining Libertarian Alliance holds regular meetings in London.

Early history

The Libertarian Alliance was founded to advocate the abolition of taxation and government intervention in economic and social life. With ancestral ties to the

Liberty and Property Defence League The Liberty and Property Defence League (LPDL) was a historic organisation, founded in 1882 by Lord Elcho, for the support of ''laissez-faire'' trade. It served as a lobby group for industrialists and land-owners who were alarmed by Georgism ("Sin ...

of Lord Elcho and

Sir Ernest Benn Sir Ernest John Pickstone Benn, 2nd Baronet, (25 June 1875 – 17 January 1954) was a British publisher, writer and political publicist. His father, John Benn, was a Liberal politician, who had been made a baronet in 1914. He was brother of t ...

's Society of Individualists, the LA was founded in the 1970s by Mark Brady, Judy Englander,

David Ramsay Steele David Ramsay Steele (born 23 June 1944) is a British author. He has published several works, such as ''The Mystery of Fascism: David Ramsay Steele's Greatest Hits'' (2019, a collection of 23 previously published articles), ''Orwell Your Orwell: A ...

and

Chris Tame Christopher Ronald Tame (20 December 1949 – 20 March 2006) was an English libertarian political activist. He is best known as the founder and Director of the Libertarian Alliance, a free market and civil liberties think tank.

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. It was an alliance of libertarians, minarchists,

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

, 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."About"
Libertarian Alliance. The principles of the LA were formulated by the founding members, and written out by David Ramsay Steele in its first Tactical Note. 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. The Alternative Bookshop, with Tame as its manager, was advertised in the National Association for Freedom's publication, ''The Free Nation.'' In 1982 a power struggle within the organisation caused a split. 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!".

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. The Tame-Gabb LA for many years held dinners and conferences with high-profile speakers as

Adam Smith Institute The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a UK-based neoliberal think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The Institute advocates free market and classical liberal ideas, primarily ...

Director

Eamonn Butler Eamonn Butler (born 1953) is a British economist. He is the co-founder and director of the Adam Smith Institute. Early life Eamonn Butler was born in 1953. His brother is Stuart Butler.Michael David Kandiah, Anthony Seldon, ''Ideas and Think Ta ...

and libertarian writer

Claire Fox Claire Regina Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley (born 5 June 1960), is a British writer, journalist, lecturer and politician who sits in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated life peer. She is the director and founder of the think tank the Academy ...

in 2006,

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of Sovereign state, centralized states in favor of Stateless society, stateless societies, where systems of p ...

philosophers

David D. Friedman David Director Friedman (; born February 12, 1945) is an American economist, physicist, legal scholar, and anarcho-capitalist theorist. Although his academic training was in chemistry and physics and not law or economics, he is known for his t ...

and

Hans-Hermann Hoppe Hans-Hermann Hoppe (; ; born 2 September 1949) is a German-American academic associated with Austrian School economics, anarcho-capitalism, right-wing libertarianism, and opposition to democracy. He is professor emeritus of economics at th ...

in 2008, and

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activist

Peter Tatchell Peter Gary Tatchell (born 25 January 1952) is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements. Tatchell was selected as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party's Parliament of the United Kingdo ...

and Conservative Party Member of Parliament Steve Baker in 2010. Since 2010, there have been no such events, with the focus being on publications, social media, and the ''Free Life Podcast.'' The Tame-Gabb Libertarian Alliance was a member of

Backlash Backlash may refer to: Literature * '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi * ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston * Backlash (Marc Slayton), a comic book character from ...

, which was formed in 2005 in order to oppose a new law criminalising possession of "

extreme pornography Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is a law in the United Kingdom criminalising possession of what it refers to as "extreme pornographic images". The law came into force on 26 January 2009. The legislation was brought i ...

". In June 2017, Gabb gave the Libertarian Alliance to Keir Martland, who renamed it Mises UK. Mises UK maintains the Libertarian Alliance Archives, which "include nearly 800 pamphlets in print and from more than 150 authors". As of 2023, the website is offline.

The McDonagh Libertarian Alliance

The Libertarian Alliance run by David McDonagh holds regular talks in London. There is evidence of a rapprochement between the two Libertarian Alliances, with some of these talks being given by Sean Gabb and Keir Martland. They also maintain archives of the Libertarian Alliance magazine "Free Life".

References

External links

The Libertarian Alliance

Mises UK
{{Authority control Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Libertarian think tanks Libertarian organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1977 Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom