Libertarian socialism is any one of a group of political philosophies dedicated to the abolition of property by restoring direct control of production and resources to the working class. While many varieties of socialism emphasize the role of the state or the party in promoting social justice, libertarian socialists place their hope in trade unions, workers' councils, local municipalities, or other non-bureaucratic, decentralized, means of action. Many libertarian socialists, indeed, advocate doing away with the state altogether, seeing it as a bulwark of capitalist class rule.

One of the best known libertarian socialist ideologies is anarchism, especially so the currents anarchist communism and anarcho-syndicalism. Other prominent libertarian socialist ideologies include mutualism, council communism, autonomist Marxism, and social ecology. The terms anarchist communism and libertarian communism should however not be considered synonyms for libertarian socialism.

Overview

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In the United States, the term libertarian is usually associated with the pro-capitalist agenda of libertarianism (and of the United States Libertarian Party); the term libertarian socialism therefore strikes many as incongruous. The first person to describe himself as a libertarian, however, was Joseph DéjacqueDe l'être-humain mâle et femelle - Lettre à P.J. Proudhon par Joseph Déjacque (in French), an early French anarcho-communist. The word stems from the French word libertaire (synonymous to "anarchist"), and was used in order to evade the ban on anarchist publications, which were banned by law in FranceWikiquote, URL accessed on June 4, 2006. In the context of the European socialist movement, libertarian has conventionally been used to describe those like Mikhail Bakunin who opposed state socialism.

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L.A. Times - Politics

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Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700
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Politics

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washingtonpost.com - Politics

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