Libertarian Sir: We welcome Philip Vander Elst's article (3 April)
informing your readers of the existence of a movement which advocates total individual liberty and the free market.
However, we wish to correct three erroneous impressions left by the author. Libertarian activity in America is not restricted to or even especially manifest in the Libertarian Party. Many libertarians prefer to work through such organisations as the League of Non-Voters and the New Libertarian Alliance, to organise tax resistance and 'black market' activities, and to engage in scholarly research and propaganda.
The rhetoric of libertarianism is not 'calculated' to appeal to both 'left' and 'right'. It is an honest expression of a completely consistent ideology of individual liberty which does not recognise the false dichotomy of 'left' and 'right'.
Moreover, we particularly wish to correct his implication that libertarians 'welcome'
the communist victory in Indochina and Speak a language more appropriate to the Soviet Ambassador at the United Nations'. Far from it. The libertarian view of world affairs is the product of its thoroughgoing critique of all forms of statism and collectivism. It exposes the neo-mercantilist nature of 'the West' where so often the rhetoric of freedom and democracy masks the reality of the corporate state. Both at home and abroad finance and industry operate not in a free market but use government in order to obtain and enjoy Privileged positions. And.go it is that the United States supports corrupt feudal dictatorships against the just claims of an OPpressed peasantry—with the alleged intention of defeating `Communism'. But at the same time the US seeks to conceal the true enormity of Soviet crimes and, as Professor Antony Sutton has shown, massively subsidises the provision of capital and technology to the Soviet economy. Such is the unblinkered perspective of libertarian analysis.
However, we would thank Mr Vander Elst for mentioning the existence of the Radical Libertarian Alliance. We look forward to receiving any inquiries from those who seek a radical defence of the inviolable rights of the individual against all forms of socialist and statist tyranny. Mark Brady Chris R. Tame Radical Liberation Alliance,
25 Hawthorn Road, Godalming, Surrey
Previous page
