Ideology
Libertarian SocialismLeft
Holds that workers and communities should own and run production directly through voluntary, decentralized bodies, rejecting both private capital and state ownership.
Portrait: Engelbert Reineke, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons
Core ideas
- Workers' self-management of workplaces and self-governance of communities.
- Opposition to state ownership as well as to private ownership of the means of production.
- Decentralization and mutual aid as organizing principles.
- Broad umbrella: includes anarchist and Marxist currents that oppose the state and capitalism.
Where it sits on the 12 axes
On the Economy axis the position leans strongly toward Collectivize (80). On Government it sits well toward Freedom (20, so about 80% Freedom). On Diplomacy it leans toward Internationalism (80), and Society is at the midpoint (50). That mix of collective economics, little authority and an international outlook is what separates it from state-centred socialism in this test. You are matched here only when your four scores are closer to these values than to any other ideology.
The bar shows the position on each of the four axes an ideology is matched on; the middle mark is the centre.
Sample result
History
Libertarian socialism was first constituted as a tendency by the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association, during its conflict with the Marxist faction. It spread across Europe and the Americas and reached its height in the early stages of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and in the Spanish Revolution of 1936. Defeat in those revolutions led to a decline, and its principles were taken up again by the New Left and new social movements of the late 20th century. Schools differ on revolutionary spontaneity, reform, and whether to abolish the state or capitalism first.
Associated thinkers
- Mikhail Bakunin
- Peter Kropotkin
Common misunderstandings
- It is not a mild form of right-libertarianism: it rejects private ownership of the means of production, which separates it from market-centred libertarian ideas.
- It is not state socialism: the defining feature is rejecting state ownership in favour of self-management.
Related ideologies
Is Libertarian Socialism your closest ideology?
Take the test and see which of the ideologies your answers sit closest to.
Questions
What is libertarian socialism?
An anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist current that stresses self-governance and workers' self-management. It rejects state ownership, and rejects private property in the means of production, and includes anarchist and Marxist schools.
Is libertarian socialism left or right?
Left. Its economics are collectivist, though it opposes the state as well as capitalism, so a single left-right line misses what distinguishes it. In this library it is filed under left.
Libertarian socialism vs democratic socialism?
Democratic socialists usually work through elections and public institutions to socialize the economy. Libertarian socialists distrust central institutions and favour workers' councils, cooperatives and decentralised, self-managed ownership instead.
How does the 12 Axes test decide I am a libertarian socialist?
The test compares your Collectivize–Privatize, Security–Freedom, Internationalism–Nationalism and Progressive–Traditional scores with each ideology's four values. The ideology with the smallest total distance is your closest match. The other eight axes are not used.