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6Introduction 
7
8Agorism can be denned simply: it is thought 
9and action consistent with freedom. The 
10moment one deals with "thinking," "act- 
11ing," "consistency," and especially "freedom," 
12things get more and more complex. 
13
14Hold on to the virtue of consistency. The refusal to 
15compromise, to deceive oneself, to "sell out" or to "be 
16realistic" created agorism. Consider "being realistic." 
17This usually implies that theory is fine for thinking, 
18but in practice one must deal with reality. Agorists 
19believe that any theory which does not describe 
20reality is either useless or a deliberate attempt by 
21intellectuals to defraud non-specialists. 
22
23When someone urges you to be realistic, may 
24you pick an agorist book to get the best descrip- 
25tion you can find of how agorism actually works. 
26If you want to find books and articles that will 
27"fake reality" for wishes, whims, fears, and spite, 
28look for labels such as "Liberal," "Conservative," 
29"Socialist," "Communist," "Fascist," or — worst of 
30all — "middle of the road" and "moderate." 
31Reality knows no moderation; it is — all the way. 
32One way of thinking came close to agorism 
33and is fairly well-known today; we will deal with 
34Libertarianism later in some detail. An ideology 
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44of Liberty, it had to choose at one point between 
45consistency with reality and being the "politics of 
46liberty." It chose the latter: the contradiction of 
47seeking political power over others to eliminate 
48political power over others. 
49
50Those who continued to seek liberty consis- 
51tently and without the practical contradiction of 
52Libertarians became agorists. This is a second, 
53historical definition for you. 
54
55Agorism is an ideology, then, but it is also a sci- 
56entific and definitely materialist way of thinking. 
57It is not a religious view — save that it believes 
58absolute freedom to be moral — nor does it wish 
59to displace anyone's religious views — unless they 
60lead to slavery. Agorism wants no "true believers" 
61in the sense of blind followers. Like any scientifi- 
62cally based mode of thought, it will evolve as does 
63our understanding of reality. One who has faith 
64in something proven false that was once a tenet 
65of agorism is not an agorist. 
66
67Reality is our standard. Nature is our lawgiver. 
68
69In a general sense, agorism is scientific in that 
70it bases itself on verifiable observations about 
71reality. But it is scientific in a specific sense as 
72well. It may be hard for chemists, physicists, and 
73engineers to believe that a "hard science" was ever 
74developed in fields such as economics and political 
75science; but the discovery of this science by me — 
76a hard-bitten theoretical chemist, cynical of "soft" 
77science — led eventually through libertarianism 
78to agorism. 
79
80The study of human action (praxeology)* pro- 
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90duced some repeatable observations deserving the 
91title of scientific law. The area of human action 
92dealing with exchanges between acting humans 
93(catallactics)* covers the same area of thought that 
94economics is supposed to cover, but often with very 
95different conclusions. 
96
97This kind of economics (sometimes called Aus- 
98trian economics)* was used by speculators such 
99as Harry Browne and Doug Casey for investing 
100in hard-money instruments, beating taxes, and 
101surviving when society around them is operating 
102on unreason and folly. It is that potent, a tool for 
103survival amidst gloom and doom. 
104
105However, it can be more. By applying this economic 
106understanding to all human action regardless of the 
107wishes, whims, fears, and spite of the most powerful 
108agency in society — the State (coercive government) 
109— a new field of theory dealing only with practical 
110action emerges: Counter- Economics. 
111
112Finally, when libertarian theory meets Counter- 
113Economics, what comes out — in strict consistency, 
114both external and internal — is Agorism. This is 
115still another definition. 
116
117And this is the definition with which I feel 
118most comfortable, the one that the thieves of the 
119intellect find hardest to pervert or steal: Agorism 
120is the consistent integration of libertarian theory 
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124*If this area of study appeals to you, by all means 
125go to the source: Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises. 
126You'll find all the terms starred herein are derived and 
127denned in detail. 
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137with counter-economic practice; an agorist is one 
138who acts consistently for freedom and in freedom. 
139
140A basic understanding of agorism falls natu- 
141rally into four phases of integration or four steps 
142of learning. In addition to grasping the premises 
143involved, one should be able to apply them. Re- 
144member always that agorism integrates theory 
145and practice. Theory without practice is game- 
146playing; taken seriously, it leads to withdrawal 
147from reality, mysticism, and insanity. Practice 
148without theory is robotic; taken seriously, it leads 
149to tilling barren soil and showing up for work at 
150closed factories. Perhaps it would help to think of 
151theory as wedded to practice where divorce leads 
152to ruin. Or the relationship could be viewed as 
153that between brain and stomach or mind and body: 
154neither can survive without the other. 
155
156So four concepts and four applications lead 
157naturally to eight chapters. 
158
159The author and publisher welcome your ques- 
160tions because they will indicate where we can 
161clarify and improve subsequent editions. 
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173Chapter One 
174Economics 
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182conomics is a dismal science. Those under- 
183~H standing certain economic concepts profit 
184^/flamboyantly. Economics is a tool corpo- 
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188rations and governments use to control society. 
189Those understanding economic concepts have 
190toppled governments that refuse to face the very 
191same concepts. Economics is a meaningless college 
192exercise. Speculators understanding economics 
193make millions of dollars and save others from 
194financial ruin. Here is our problem: all the above 
195statements are true. 
196
197If that makes you think there's an inconsistency 
198in the use of Economics, you are correct. With a 
199lower-case "e," economics is the study of relations 
200between people involving goods and services. With 
201a capital "E," Economics is an institution financed 
202mostly by government and its tax-privileged foun- 
203dations. With foundation money, this institution 
204controls — however imperfectly — those who 
205would learn and teach economics at government 
206schools or private colleges. 
207
208Maybe this appears to be a big deal made out 
209of little; after all, is not most of chemistry and 
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219astronomy and mathematics also institutional- 
220ized? Imagine the case where only "pro- government 
221chemistry," "conservative astronomy," or "socialist 
222biology" was taught and those who tried to teach 
223straight science were vilified as crackpots. Fan- 
224tastic? Lysenko's pseudo-biology was taught in 
225the Soviet Union because it was more in line with 
226Marxist theory than was straight genetics. Cur- 
227rently, Man-Made Global Warming is approach- 
228ing the status of state-approved climatology, with 
229dissenters shouted down, de-funded, smeared as 
230apologists for polluters, and even threatened with 
231the recision of their academic degrees. 
232
233Perhaps you will grant that government can use 
234its control of schools and colleges to teach a twisted 
235version of economics. Could, then, better econom- 
236ics be taught if government were improved? The 
237answer is, "not a chance!" As you will see in Chap- 
238ter Six, if people understood economics, coercive 
239government could not survive. (And uncoercive 
240government is a contradiction in terms.) 
241
242What we wish to accomplish in this chapter is 
243simply to give you a basic understanding of real 
244economics. No, this is not just to help explain the 
245rest of this book; with even an elementary un- 
246derstanding of economics, fewer con games can 
247defraud you — especially the high stakes, politi- 
248cal kind. 
249
250Let us start with why people act economically. 
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262Value 
263
264Right down there at the very bottom, we be- 
265gin. Human beings act. Why? Ludwig Von 
266Mises said it best: to remove felt unease. If you 
267were perfectly content, nothing and no one nagging at 
268you, and you knew that if you did nothing you could 
269continue to be content, would you move? Remember, 
270moving from this state would increase unhappiness. 
271Of course you wouldn't move. Even if you said you 
272would move to relieve boredom, you would be violating 
273the hypothesis. You would be more bored by moving 
274since that is an increase in unhappiness. 
275
276Aha! Is that not a contradiction? you rightfully 
277ask. Correct. And if an assumption leads to a con- 
278tradiction, it is wrong. Our assumption was that 
279you could achieve a state of ease; therefore, such 
280a human condition is impossible. 
281
282In reality, man always has reason to feel unease: 
283to feed himself, clothe himself, shelter himself, 
284reproduce, and feed, shelter, and clothe others, 
285amuse himself, and so on. Unease cannot be elimi- 
286nated. It can, however, be reduced. It can also, 
287unfortunately, be augmented. 
288
289If you seek to starve yourself or bore yourself, 
290you increase your unease. Some actions you per- 
291form achieve negative goals; some achieve positive 
292ones. Those which remove felt unease are values. 
293
294If someone else has something that will remove 
295your unease but taking it will increase theirs, we 
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305have a conflict in values. This conflict in values 
306need not arise from direct confrontation. Suppose 
307you and another are offered a scrumptious dessert, 
308and the other is dieting desperately. You value it; 
309the other disvalues it. 
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311Value is subjective. This simple insight, made by 
312Carl Menger (teacher of Von Mises), revolution- 
313ized primitive economics and cured many of the 
314problems plaguing the science since Adam Smith. 
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316Had Marx heeded Menger, socialism would have 
317been abandoned. 
318
319Subjective value leads to individualism. It also 
320explains so powerfully why people trade and 
321it demolishes theories of "exploitation". Before 
322subjective value, Marx could look at the work of 
323Adam Smith — who thought value arose from the 
324amount of labor one put into producing something 
325— and see no productive role for anyone but labor- 
326ers, concluding that all the others must be para- 
327sites. There are parasites in our system, economics 
328tells us, and we shall use our new understanding 
329to ferret them out in the next chapter. 
330
331Finally, when people trade, they are acting to 
332remove felt unease in both directions. You may 
333give up a smaller value for a larger but never the 
334other way around — voluntarily. If you're willing 
335to let your brother work for you and pay him "more 
336than he's worth," you know that this means, to 
337you, "he's worth extra because he's my brother." 
338You've still gained a greater value. 
339
340If values were not subjective, why would anyone 
341trade? We would all value things equally and be 
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351content with what we had. Well, not entirely; we 
352could also want more of a value. Onward, then, to 
353the next powerful economic concept. 
354
355Marginal Utility 
356
357Suppose you, being a shepherd, had ten sheep, 
358and a nice woolen coat you laboriously made 
359from your eleventh sheep. If someone came along 
360and offered you a coat just like it for your tenth 
361sheep, you'd tell them to buzz off. Along comes a 
362rich shepherd and sees your coat. You tell him 
363how you got it and even tell him how to make one. 
364He can think of better things to do than to make 
365a coat, but he'd like to have one. He'll trade you a 
366sheep for a coat. 
367
368No better off subjectively, you refuse. He offers you 
369two and you know you'd be ahead: you can make an- 
370other coat and have eleven sheep again. Meanwhile, 
371the rich shepherd would rather have 98 sheep and 
372a coat than a hundred sheep and no coat. 
373
374But this example so far is still one of subjective 
375value. His final offer is three sheep. Joyfully, you 
376accept. As you are leaving, you run into another 
377poor shepherd with ten sheep and a coat. (There 
378seems to be a lot of this going on.) 
379
380He offers you coat for sheep and is willing to 
381accept two sheep. You're still ahead — eleven 
382sheep and the coat! And you don't have to make 
383it yourself. Such a deal! 
384
385Using the wool coat as our medium of exchange, 
386we find out something interesting. Sheep are sheep 
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396(as far as this example is concerned) yet while you 
397traded your eleventh sheep for a coat and would 
398not have traded your tenth, you did trade both 
399your twelfth and thirteenth sheep for a coat. This 
400principle where you value each additional unit 
401less and less is called marginal utility. (You are 
402operating at the margin and "utility" is an older 
403word for value.) 
404
405All sheep (and dollars) are not alike; marginal 
406ones are cheaper. Besides giving us an idea which 
407can handle more in economics, and also help us 
408to spot frauds such as tax redistribution (see next 
409chapter), marginal utility leads directly to the 
410next concept. 
411
412Division of Labor 
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414O ubjective value may lead us to think we would 
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418O'prefer producing some goods rather than oth- 
419ers, or transporting them, trading them, serving 
420them, or storing them. Yet it is marginal utility 
421which tells us why this specialization works. If I 
422produce ten cooked hamburgers an hour and you 
423produce twelve, and we happen to eat the same, it 
424is obvious who has more surplus to trade and will 
425be eager to do so. I should check out other lines of 
426productivity or move to a less desirable (at least 
427to you) location where I can compete. 
428
429This process, where we are led to specialize by 
430greater productivity and greater reward (value- 
431seeking), is called division of labor. Von Mises 
432speculated that it was the glue holding society 
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443together; and if you think of society as bigger than 
444a nuclear or extended family, he is right. 
445
446If Jane sings beautifully, and we do not, division 
447of labor is why I'm writing this book, eating your 
448hamburgers, and we're listening to Jane on the radio. 
449
450Basics 
451
452ith such basic ideas as those about trade, 
453exchange, goods and services that you 
454(hopefully) already brought with you to this dis- 
455cussion, added on to the concepts of subjective 
456value, marginal utility, and division of labor, you 
457are properly armed for understanding agorism. 
458There is far more to economics and still more being 
459discovered and written about by the (all too few) 
460right kind of economists. 
461
462Before moving on, there is one economic spe- 
463cialty that deserves some extra attention. Since 
464it is so much on everyone's minds, you probably 
465guessed that it is money. 
466
467Money 
468
469oney is heavily mystified and it's not hard 
470to see why. "A fool and his money are soon 
471parted" is a truism nearly as old as money itself. 
472If you can be confused as to what money is or how 
473it works, you can be parted from it by those who 
474know what money is. 
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476Remember our sheep example? We called the 
477wool coat a medium of exchange to show the dif- 
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489ferent values of a sheep. But if we had many 
490wool coats and one sheep being traded back and 
491forth, we could use the same example to show the 
492marginal utility of the eleventh coat (or whatever 
493number happened to work) and the use of sheep 
494as a medium of exchange. 
495
496Straight trade of goods for goods — barter — is 
497crude, and problems related to making change are 
498difficult to solve. Sheep die and wool coats wear 
499out; they do not store value well. And — since value 
500is subjective — changes in your needs, tastes, and 
501circumstances alter your values anyway. Nothing 
502can store a changing quantity or, as math majors 
503would say, fix a variable. 
504
505What we would like is something that makes 
506change, stores its value, and is universally accept- 
507able (everyone wants it all the time). To be blunt, 
508there is no such thing and never will be, though 
509all bank directors, congressmen, and commissars 
510might decree otherwise. Subjective value assures 
511us of that. 
512
513But suppose some substance could be divided 
514down to its atoms without changing, be more resis- 
515tant to wear and corrosion than almost anything 
516else, be easily recognized and easily checked as 
517to purity, and be valued already by a lot of people 
518for its usefulness and good looks. Suppose further 
519that it "did it better" than anything else offered 
520in competition? 
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522Would not most people flock to it and make it 
523money? No laws would need be passed or institu- 
524tions founded or advertising campaigns conducted 
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534to make it so. Nature would take care of it. Second, 
535third, and fourth choices might be used, but the 
536first would be the standard by which the others 
537were measured. 
538
539Such a substance has been known for millennia. 
540Gold, and its close chemical relatives platinum, 
541silver, and copper, remains the choice of a free 
542market. Even in an unfree market, where money 
543is imposed by force against the will of traders (that 
544is, by fiat), gold remains the money of the "under- 
545ground economy" and of the "overseas economy" 
546working around the fiat money. 
547
548Why fiat money exists at all and what it has to 
549do with inflation is an important topic in our next 
550chapter. 
551
552Value-Free Economics 
553
554(Oo far we have avoided loaded terms such as 
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5580>"free market," "competitive economy," "free 
559trade," "fair trade," and so on. The Austrian 
560economists (Menger, von Mises, Eugen von Bohm- 
561Bawerk and their students) believed economics 
562should be a science free of such terms, a "value- 
563free" (wertfrei) science. 
564
565Science has values; try to engage in research 
566without a commitment to truth or an affinity for 
567reality. Many people hold values that are impos- 
568sible to achieve in reality and are frustrated — 
569they hurt themselves. Many people seek to gain 
570values by misrepresenting reality to others; when 
571they are challenged, they accuse the exposers of 
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582holding different, competing values. Thus "value- 
583free scientists" — including economists — find they 
584cannot remain forever neutral in their ivory towers. 
585
586To the extent, though, that they try by keeping 
587their own subjective values out of the way, they do 
588accomplish much. The scientific method works. And 
589being able to tell people that stealing from everyone 
590and then giving it back to them will make them 
591less well off is useful, not matter how unpopular. 
592
593This is where the application of economics enters. 
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605Chapter Two 
606Applied Economics 
607
608Agorism is more than economics, but agorist 
609thinking is impossible without that basic 
610understanding. Just applying the basic 
611economics we have learned so far can sweep 
612away a lot of misconceptions and eliminate a lot 
613of confusion about how the world works. We also 
614can deal with some of the misleading con jobs of 
615Economics — however, explaining why Econom- 
616ics is so twisted will have to wait until we apply 
617libertarianism later. 
618
619The Free Market 
620
621Agorism upholds the free market. To under- 
622stand why, one first needs to know what 
623the free market is and what its alternatives are. 
624Again, why is left for later. The term "agorism" 
625is derived from the ancient Greek word agora, 
626meaning an open market place. 
627
628The market is not a single place or center. Goods 
629and services are exchanged at the corner store, on 
630the stock exchange, at a swap meet, in your back- 
631yard, or across the Internet. Playing a game with 
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641a friend is not a market transaction, but foregoing 
642the time that each of you could spend on working 
643or buying or selling is a market transaction. 
644
645All social interaction has a market component. 
646Economics may be far more pervasive than we 
647thought. It is difficult to imagine how we could 
648have a free society — should we wish it — without 
649a free market. Perhaps we should be clear with 
650reference to what we mean by "free." 
651
652Free means the absence of coercion. Coercion 
653is threatening violence upon someone in order 
654to make him surrender something. In a strictly 
655value-free sense, then, coercive human action of- 
656fers to create a greater disvalue to you if you do 
657not yield up your lesser value. You gain nothing 
658but lose less. 
659
660Repeated application of coercion destroys val- 
661ues. The coercer gains without producing anything 
662of value and the victim always loses. Voluntary 
663exchange, as we have seen, occurs when both feel 
664a gain in subjective value. Unease is relieved in 
665both directions. In coercive transactions, unease 
666is increased. 
667
668Retrieving your goods from the coercer with 
669the threat of greater force and enough extra for 
670your time and trouble at least wipes out your loss, 
671although it leaves the original coercer with a net 
672loss. At this point, he may finally become aware 
673of the value destruction of coercion. Or he may 
674simply decide he needs still greater force. (The 
675biggest force of all in an area is usually the State, 
676but we'll come to that later.) 
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686Strictly speaking, the free market is the absence 
687of all that coercion. If there were only a few "pri- 
688vate thieves" and they were usually apprehended 
689and forced to make restitution, something very 
690close to a free market would exist. People would 
691have locks, fences, alarms, and insurance policies 
692and protection-agent policies, but would act oth- 
693erwise on the assumption that they were free to 
694give up their property to those of their choice and 
695accept from others who gave freely to them. They 
696could not plan on people changing their minds, 
697but they could make contracts (exchanging a good 
698here and now for one to be given later) so that if 
699others changed their minds, some compensation 
700would result. 
701
702Planning and Chaos 
703
704It quickly becomes clear that planning is far more 
705practical in a free market than in a coerced mar- 
706ket. If coercion becomes regular and predictable, 
707innovative people find ways around it and soon 
708enough join forces to evade the coercive regula- 
709tions, frustrating and/or starving the coercer. (See 
710the next chapter.) 
711
712So new forms of coercion must be brought in 
713and economic planning is disrupted once again. 
714
715Some argue that a free market is Chaos; they 
716see no one giving orders and so think that there 
717is no order. In reality, a completely free market 
718is a highly decentralized order. Each "cog" in the 
719great machine keeps itself well-oiled and seeks 
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729to mesh itself with the other cogs in ever-better 
730fits. An even better example is the human body. 
731While the brain has some overall direction, it can- 
732not instruct various cells to go about their ways 
733delivering blood and building tissue and contract- 
734ing muscle and transmitting energy. A disease or 
735parasite may "direct" some cells to a common task 
736— but this results in disruption of the natural or- 
737der. Even without a "foreign invader," if the brain 
738could force some cells to act other than naturally, 
739the entire body would suffer by this imposed order 
740and the body could die. 
741
742The fallacy in "planned economics" is the error 
743of assuming that order is imposed. Scientists are 
744aware that order is something you look for in na- 
745ture — it's already there. 
746
747Economics tells us that attempts to impose order 
748by coercion are destructive and chaotic, yet "economic 
749planning" of the imposing kind is common to nearly 
750all schools of Economics. We begin to see where the 
751gap between economics and Economics lies. 
752
753Competition and Monopoly 
754
755It's nice if more than one person offers to trade 
756the same thing with you. You usually can get a 
757better deal. When more than one seller offers identi- 
758cal goods, and when more than one buyer offers to 
759acquire the same goods, pure competition exists. 
760
761If only one buyer or seller is available, the buyer 
762or seller is said to have a monopoly . 
763
764Competition is always good in the sense that it 
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774maximizes value exchanges. Although it would 
775take more theory to prove this, most people have 
776had enough experience to accept the foregoing as 
777a factual statement. 
778
779Surely not all monopoly is bad? If we banned all 
780monopoly, then Leonardo da Vinci would have had 
781to give up painting what only he can paint. And the 
782Beatles would have had to stop composing what 
783only they can compose. In fact, since a little bit of 
784"artistry" distinguishes all goods, pure competition 
785is impossible. There are no identical products. 
786
787Yet, for your subjective purposes, you can see 
788no difference worth paying for among all sorts of 
789goods. And they do not have to be all that similar. 
790With fifteen dollars you might decide to buy a book 
791you wished to spend the evening with. Finding 
792the book sold, you consider a movie instead. The 
793lines are too long, so you buy a six pack instead 
794and go home. 
795
796Someone else would have different goods com- 
797peting for that fifteen dollars, even if he had 
798started out trying to buy that same book. 
799
800If I told you at this point that some Economists 
801defined a "free market" as a "perfectly competitive" 
802market, you might wonder when they lost their 
803senses. After all, if people want to produce different 
804things (remember division of labor), and are more 
805productive doing so, you will not get "perfect com- 
806petition" in the free market. You will have lots of 
807competition by giving each human actor maximum 
808freedom to explore his values and find alternatives. 
809
810Now if I tell you that these Economists say that 
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822if a market is not "perfectly competitive," force 
823should be used to make it so. You probably are 
824beginning to wonder if I have not lost my senses. 
825Whatever these Economists are after, it is not 
826a free market. Nor will they generate any gains 
827since values are always net-destroyed by coercion. 
828
829Adam Smith defined monopoly as a grant of 
830exclusive trading by the king. It was a royal privi- 
831lege; that is, the State coerced some people not to 
832produce goods when the king's friend was already 
833doing so. Breaking up these forced monopolies was 
834an issue for freedom-lovers and rightfully so. 
835
836The problems arose when people stopped think- 
837ing clearly — or had their thoughts muddled by 
838Economists. Monopoly became bad, not because it 
839was coercive, but because it was not competitive. 
840Clear thinking and consistency lead us easily to 
841realize that the opposite of forced monopoly and 
842of forced competition is natural monopoly and free 
843competition. The correct opposition is the coerced 
844market vs. the free market. 
845
846
847
848ne problem with monopoly we seemed to have 
849
850
851
852\JJ overlooked: do not the "big get bigger" and the 
853"small get driven out" even if the market is left 
854alone? The answer is obvious empirically: histori- 
855cally, it has never happened. There is extensive 
856literature by the better sort of economists on 
857many historical examples where businesses were 
858accused of forming "trusts" — that is, attempting 
859
860
861
862Cartels 
863
864
865
866
86729 
868
869
870
871Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
872
873to monopolize one industry through cartels. 
874
875Most cases, when State trustbusters were 
876brought in to "break up" a large company, proved 
877to have been instigated by smaller companies 
878against a more efficient competitor. 
879
880Cartels, as Dr. Murray Rothbard has beauti- 
881fully shown, tend to break up from market forces. 
882The most efficient cartel member can outsell his 
883fellow members and has a tremendous incentive 
884to "cheat" on the cartel agreement. He can "steal" 
885the customers from his fellow members and soon 
886does, "under the table." Upon discovery, his fellow 
887cartel members fight back by cutting prices and 
888the cartel disintegrates. 
889
890In a coerced market, however, the cartel will 
891run to someone to force compliance with the cartel. 
892That someone is, in any realistic unfree market, 
893the State. And once again we are back to the forced 
894or State monopoly. 
895
896Profit and Enterprise 
897
898Sometimes the terms "free enterprise" and "capi- 
899talism" are used to mean "free market." 
900Capitalism means the ideology (ism) of capital or 
901capitalists. Before Marx came along, the pure free- 
902marketeer Thomas Hodgskin had already used the 
903term capitalism as a pejorative; capitalists were trying 
904to use coercion — the State — to restrict the market. 
905Capitalism, then, does not describe a free market but 
906a form of statism (see Chapter Five), like communism. 
907Free enterprise can only exist in a free market 
908
909
910
91130 
912
913
914
915Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
916
917and is an acceptable synonym, yet while the term 
918market covers all human transactions, enterprise 
919seems limited to certain types of business. And 
920what about profit! Is it the result of "exploitation," 
921enterprise, hard work, or something else? 
922
923Applying economic knowledge here resolves the 
924problem clearly but it will take a little effort to 
925follow through. According to (Austrian) econom- 
926ics, there are three productive functions in the 
927marketplace: Labor, capital, and entrepreneur- 
928ship. In the simplest, primitive economy, capital 
929consists of tools, food you have stored to keep you 
930going until your harvest comes in or you can sell 
931the shoes you made, and storefronts or wagons to 
932take your goods to market. Labor is the work you 
933put into farming or shoemaking or whatever. 
934
935Entrepreneurship is direction, the reins of the 
936operation, deciding where to invest the capital 
937and which and how many workers to hire. As the 
938market progresses to greater wealth and complex- 
939ity, we can see that the important components 
940of entrepreneurship are risk-taking and innova- 
941tion. Speculators, inventors, and artists (without 
942patrons) are the best-known, fairly "pure" entre- 
943preneurs. They take risks, create (1) a product 
944that did not exist before, which turns out to have 
945a demand; (2) a better product to replace one that 
946existed before, winning away the demand; (3) a 
947cheaper method of producing or marketing the 
948same product, again winning away the demand. 
949
950The gain resulting from pure entrepreneurship 
951is profit. It is not the everyday return on investment 
952
953
954
95531 
956
957
958
959Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
960
961that a businessman counts over his expenses and 
962takes home. 
963
964Windfall profits occur when there is a sudden 
965change in market conditions, such as weather 
966wiping out crops or producing bumper harvests, 
967mineral and oil strikes suddenly coming onto the 
968market or — when the market is not free — sud- 
969den government interference in the marketplace. 
970Those who make the most effort to anticipate the 
971unexpected tend to make the most profits. 
972
973Taking risks also means one can introduce prod- 
974ucts no one wants, invent devices that are laughed 
975away, and create artsy trash. Such creations incur 
976negative profit (loss) and, alas, this is at least as 
977common, historically, as profit. 
978
979Nonetheless, without entrepreneurship — en- 
980terprise — the economy would stagnate as people 
981continue investing the same capital in the same 
982way, over and over, and workers continue at the 
983same jobs. When skilled laborers begin to die 
984out and capital runs out of components, such as 
985minerals at mines or new forests for timber, the 
986economy would regress and collapse. 
987
988Everyone is part laborer, pan capitalist, and 
989part entrepreneur, but by division of labor we 
990tend to specialize. There is nothing to prevent us 
991from all being wealthy (some day, at any rate) 
992and using our money (as James Garner put it so 
993well in the film The Wheeler Dealers) as a way of 
994keeping score in capital investment. And capital, 
995in the form of ever-more-intelligent computers, 
996can reduce labor to a vestigial activity (as neces- 
997
998
999
100032 
1001
1002
1003
1004Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1005
1006sary as the human appendix). Entrepreneurship, 
1007on the other hand, is increased, not decreased, 
1008by a progressive market. As our society becomes 
1009more complex and more wealthy, more people will 
1010specialize in entrepreneurial activity and more 
1011people must be free to do so. 
1012
1013Entrepreneurship cannot be forced. When bu- 
1014reaucrats "plan," they spend their time finding 
1015ways of covering their posteriors and pass the 
1016losses on to the taxpayers. They fear replacement 
1017and since they reap little or no reward for success, 
1018they become timid about actually taking risks, and 
1019spend their time creating red tape entanglements 
1020designed to stymie innovation. 
1021
1022Regulation 
1023
1024f TT %ere is nothing positive to say about regula- 
1025JL tion. Regulation is coercion. It prevents subjec- 
1026tive values from being satisfied, "protecting" only 
1027those who do not wish to be protected and penal- 
1028izing only the law-abiding. Regulation destroys 
1029initiative and stifles innovation. Regulation stag- 
1030nates markets. Regulation can and does kill people 
1031when the regulators deny victims the right to take 
1032a chance with so-called risky medication. 
1033
1034Regulation is motivated by fear, envy, and colos- 
1035sal ignorance. There is nothing that can protect 
1036innocent people more than a thorough education 
1037and a vigorous pursuit of fraud; yet regulation of 
1038advertising and experimentation destroys infor- 
1039mation transfer and regulation of quality merely 
1040
1041
1042
104333 
1044
1045
1046
1047Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1048
1049certifies incompetent "professionals" and protects 
1050them from fraud charges. 
1051
1052If all the regulation passed in any country you 
1053wish to name were completely obeyed, let alone 
1054enforced, we would all be dead. 
1055
1056Consider a particularly pathological case in the 
1057United States of America. If you charge a price for 
1058your product higher than your competitors, this is 
1059taken as evidence under the Sherman Anti-Trust 
1060Act that you have a monopoly and charges may be 
1061brought against you. The same problem arises if 
1062you charge the same; that is considered evidence 
1063of a cartel and you and your competitors can all be 
1064fined. Finally, if you charge less than your com- 
1065petitors, you are violating the "Fair Trade" laws 
1066in most states and can be arrested and fined. It is 
1067impossible to obey all the regulations. 
1068
1069
1070
1071Taxation 
1072
1073r ][ %ere is a serious moral question about taxa- 
1074X. tion that we will leave for later. Let it suffice 
1075now to recognize that taxation takes something 
1076from someone against his or her will and is a vio- 
1077lation of his or her subjective values. Any specific 
1078form of taxation directs resources counter-entre- 
1079preneurially. In short, taxation has no place in a 
1080free market. 
1081
1082
1083
108434 
1085
1086
1087
1088Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1089
1090
1091
1092Interest 
1093
1094
1095
1096T 
1097
1098
1099
1100^here are three very closely related concepts 
1101in economics, and they have to do with capital, 
1102land, and money. It is often said that capital earns 
1103a rate of return on investment (remember, only 
1104entrepreneurs make profits), land earns rent, and 
1105money earns interest. With an efficient medium of 
1106exchange, an entrepreneur will quickly shift from 
1107capital goods of one type to another if the rate of 
1108return is higher in one sector of the market than 
1109the other. Land is a fixed form of capital, and — if 
1110we are in a free market — we should expect rent to 
1111come to equal the rate of return as in other invest- 
1112ments — assuming no risks (where profit would 
1113be added or subtracted). And so it is with interest. 
1114
1115Originary interest is what money earns if you lend 
1116it out to an entrepreneur risk-free. Should you ac- 
1117cept risk yourself, you may add on a risk component, 
1118a form of profit. At the same level of risk, in a highly 
1119developed market, interest rates should stabilize 
1120and slowly decrease — as wealth increases. 
1121
1122Only if something becomes powerful enough 
1123— coercive enough — to monopolize (by force) all 
1124the media of exchange (or money supply) and then 
1125increase it so that the value of each unit declines, 
1126will another component appear to increase the 
1127interest rate (regardless of risk). Conceivably it 
1128could decrease the money supply so that the value 
1129would be expected to increase and interest to be 
1130
1131
1132
113335 
1134
1135
1136
1137Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1138
1139discounted. In an extreme case, this inflationary 
1140component could drive interest rates to zero or 
1141negative — that is, someone pays you to take his 
1142money and give it back to him later. Deflation is 
1143rare, as there is very little incentive for controllers 
1144of the money supply to deflate. 
1145
1146Inflation 
1147
1148"TT Tnderstanding how inflation works and what 
1149
1150
1151
1152U to do about it made the fortunes of the "gold 
1153bugs" and investment analysts mentioned earlier. 
1154While there is considerable fog and confusion 
1155thrown around this subject, inflation is simple 
1156enough to understand if you follow our step-by- 
1157step logic and (always!) watch for inconsistencies. 
1158
1159From Chapter One we know what money is. 
1160Free-market money could be affected by, say, a gold 
1161strike or, if for some reason the gold was all kept in 
1162a "Fort Knox," by James Bond's Goldfinger nuking 
1163it. Even then, there would be a brief dip or jump 
1164in the "price of gold" (the price of money is simply 
1165the inverse of the prices of everything bought with 
1166it), and stability would resume at the new level. In 
1167a worldwide market, the effect — even of nuking 
1168Fort Knox — would be barely noticeable. 
1169
1170Inflation is the increase of the money supply. In- 
1171flation results only when the most powerful force 
1172in society — the State — commands a monopolistic 
1173fiat money system, creates legal tender laws (legal 
1174tender compels the monopoly, contracts are not up- 
1175held in other "tender" or money), and — with army 
1176
1177
1178
1179
118036 
1181
1182
1183
1184Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1185
1186and police to back it up — debases a form of money 
1187that was acceptable in the marketplace. 
1188
1189States that have imposed fiat money from 
1190scratch (such as in newly emerging Third World 
1191countries) find their money rapidly rejected in fa- 
1192vor of foreign currency and gold. The usual route 
1193to inflation takes four steps: 1) Replacement of 
1194money by certificates for the money. A weight of 
1195gold or silver is replaced by a certificate claiming 
1196an ounce of gold or pound of silver in some pre- 
1197cious metal warehouse or "bank." 2) Legal defini- 
1198tion of possession of the certificate as equivalent 
1199to possessing the wealth. (The government gets 
1200into the act.) 3) Restriction of all exchanges (save 
1201primitive bartering) to the legal certificates; this is 
1202the creation of legal tender. 4) Issuing certificates 
1203without money to back them up. At this point we 
1204have fiat money and inflation. 
1205
1206Inflation leads to crack-up booms (German in 
12071923) and depressions (U.S. in 1929). This analy- 
1208sis is a bit more complicated and is best left to the 
1209more cataclysmic scenarios we'll present near the 
1210end of the book. 
1211
1212Oh, and as you probably guessed, one result 
1213of inflation is a general rise in price level. Notice 
1214that some prices rise faster than others, and some 
1215even seem to drop. Only the distortion is common 
1216to all price changes. 
1217
1218
1219
122037 
1221
1222
1223
1224Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1225
1226
1227
1228A Little Knowledge 
1229
1230If you have mastered the first two chapters, con- 
1231gratulations! You will quickly discover two 
1232things by simply reading your daily newspaper 
1233or news blog or shooting the breeze with your 
1234acquaintances. 
1235
1236First, you will discover the appalling level of 
1237ignorance with which most of society is afflicted. 
1238Be careful — some people get very irritable when 
1239challenged by someone who knows what he is 
1240talking about. A knowledgeable person might be 
1241tempted to use his knowledge to bilk the ignorant. 
1242Many people with only a little knowledge do just 
1243that. However, there are moral ways to profit by 
1244your understanding and, by all means, go to it. 
1245
1246Second, you will discover that the appalling 
1247web of Statism is controlling — or attempting to 
1248control — nearly every aspect of human action. 
1249You will probably feel smothered and that is not 
1250surprising. You may also feel like giving up and 
1251giving in — but survival alone dictates otherwise. 
1252
1253Survival — let alone prosperity — demands 
1254that you tear through the web of legislation and 
1255follow nature's laws instead. You must abandon 
1256Economics to the regulators and the political 
1257"businessmen" who play ball with them. You are 
1258left with the alternative: stifle yourself and starve 
1259or embrace Counter-Economics. 
1260
1261
1262
126338 
1264
1265
1266
1267Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1268
1269
1270
1271Chapter Three 
1272Counter-Economics 
1273
1274e see that nearly every action is regu- 
1275lated, taxed, prohibited, or subsidized. 
1276Much of this Statism — for it is only 
1277the State that wields such power — is so contradic- 
1278tory that little ever gets done. If you cannot obey the 
1279(State's) laws and charge less than, more than, or 
1280the same as your competitor, what do you do? You go 
1281out of business or you break the law. Suppose paying 
1282your taxes would drive you out of business? You go 
1283out of business — or you break the law. 
1284
1285Government laws have no intrinsic relationship with 
1286right and wrong or good and evil. Historically, most 
1287people knew that the royal edicts were for the king's 
1288good, not theirs. People went along with the king be- 
1289cause the alternative looked worse. This line of thinking 
1290leads to Chapter Five, so we'll just note here that even 
1291today, society recognizes the conscientious objector. 
1292the religious dissenter to laws that his deity forbids 
1293him to obey, the man or woman who follows the Law 
1294of God or Nature against the monopoly of force in 
1295society. Since they would rather die than submit, a 
1296society which restrains its government from heavy 
1297repression will exempt many objectors. 
1298
1299
1300
1301
130239 
1303
1304
1305
1306Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1307
1308
1309
1310But everyone is a resister to the extent that he 
1311survives in a society where laws control everything 
1312and give contradictory orders. All (non-coercive) 
1313human action committed in defiance of the State 
1314constitutes the Counter-Economy. (For ease of later 
1315analysis, we exclude murder and theft, which 
1316are done with the disapproval of the State. Since 
1317taxation and war encompass nearly all cases of 
1318theft and murder, the few independent acts really 
1319should be classified as other forms of statism.) 
1320Since anything the State does not licence or ap- 
1321prove of is forbidden or prohibited, there are no 
1322third possibilities. 
1323
1324A Counter-Economist is (1) anyone practicing 
1325a counter-economic act; (2) one who studies such 
1326acts. Counter-Economics is the (1) practice (2) 
1327study of counter-economic acts. 
1328
1329
1330
1331The Size of the Counter-Economy 
1332
1333
1334
1335T 
1336
1337
1338
1339^he Counter-Economy is vast. Our brief study 
1340of economics tells us that this should be no 
1341surprise. The more controls and taxation a State 
1342imposes on its people, the more they will evade 
1343and defy them. Since the United States is one of 
1344the less (officially) controlled countries, and the 
1345Counter- Economy here is fairly large, the global 
1346Counter-Economy should be expected to be even 
1347larger — and it is. 
1348
1349U.S. government estimates of the size of just 
1350the tax-dodging part of the Counter-Economy 
1351is twenty to forty million of the population. The 
1352
1353
1354
135540 
1356
1357
1358
1359Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1360
1361Western European Counter-Economy is larger; in 
1362Italy, much of the civil service sits in government 
1363offices during the early part of the day and then 
1364moonlights at private jobs and business in the 
1365afternoon and evening. 
1366
1367Communism collapsed in no small part due to 
1368the Counter-Economy. Nearly everything was 
1369available in the Counter-Economy with only 
1370shoddy goods and shortages in the official social- 
1371ist economy. The Soviets called Counter-Economic 
1372goods "left-hand" or nalevo and entire manufac- 
1373turing assembly lines co-existed nalevo with the 
1374desultory State industry ones, on the same factory 
1375floor. Counter- Economic "capitalists" sold shares 
1376in their companies and vacationed in Black Sea 
1377resorts. Managers of collective farms who needed 
1378a tractor replaced in a hurry look to the Counter- 
1379Economy rather than see their kolkhoz collapse 
1380awaiting a State tractor delivery. Currently, the 
1381Russian government seeks to reestablish State 
1382control of the economy by granting monopolies 
1383to cronies and imprisoning recalcitrant corporate 
1384executives. As with Communism, this flirtation with 
1385Fascism is just as doomed to failure. 
1386
1387Nothing works in "right-hand" communism; 
1388everything works in the left-hand free market. 
1389
1390From "black" market apartments in the Neth- 
1391erlands to "black" housing in Argentina, the 
1392Counter- Economy is well known to the people 
1393of the world as the place to get things otherwise 
1394unobtainable — or keep things one has earned. 
1395Inflation breeds flight from fiat money; exchange 
1396
1397
1398
139941 
1400
1401
1402
1403Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1404
1405controls have created dual exchange rates in 
1406nearly every country on the globe. Whatever the 
1407number of local currency units a tourist can get 
1408for his dollars at the official exchange rate, he or 
1409she can get more on the black market. 
1410
1411Smuggling is so commonplace that nearly all 
1412tourists slip purchases past customs agents with- 
1413out thinking. Perhaps 20%-30% of Americans fail 
1414to report taxable income (actually nearly 100% fail 
1415to report at least some); but, in Latin American 
1416countries, close to 80% goes uncollected and the 
1417State supports itself by ever-greater inflation of 
1418the fiat money supply. 
1419
1420The border between Hong Kong and Communist 
1421China and even the ocean straits between Taiwan 
1422and the mainland bustle with illegal trade. West- 
1423ern DVDs and jeans were once illegally available 
1424in most provinces of China — now they're manu- 
1425facturing them there! 
1426
1427Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City, remains 
1428the black market center of Vietnam. Even more 
1429telling, it produces most of the goods and services 
1430of all Vietnam. Myanmar's (Burma's) rigidly con- 
1431trolled official economy, according to the Manches- 
1432ter Guardian, is nothing but paper and the entire 
1433market has gone black. 
1434
1435Under the noses of American forces, Afghani tribes 
1436grow, process, and ship heroin by the metric tonne. 
1437
1438Tax evasion, inflation avoidance, smuggling, 
1439free production, and illegal distribution still com- 
1440pose only half the Counter- Economy. Labor flows 
1441as freely as capital, as hordes of "illegal aliens" 
1442
1443
1444
144542 
1446
1447
1448
1449Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1450
1451pour across borders from more-statist to less- 
1452statist economic regions. 
1453
1454Consciousness-altering substances and even 
1455unproven medicines such as dichloroacetate and 
1456Laetrile make up a well-known but small frac- 
1457tion of the Counter- Economy. Drugs are grown 
1458on huge plantations, refined in scores of factories 
1459and laboratories, distributed by fleets of boats, 
1460planes, trucks and cars, and sold to customers by 
1461regiments of wholesalers and armies of street dealers. 
1462
1463The State's imposition of some people's moral 
1464codes on others leads to Bible smuggling in atheist 
1465States and pornography publishing in conserva- 
1466tive religious States. The "world's oldest profes- 
1467sion," as sexual prostitution has been titled, is 
1468also — if that title is true — the world's oldest 
1469counter-economic industry. 
1470
1471Feminists seeking control of their own bodies 
1472look to the Counter-Economy to obtain contracep- 
1473tives and find midwives to deliver babies their way 
1474in the Counter- Economy. 
1475
1476Nobody works at anything anywhere which is 
1477not connected with Counter-Economics. Those 
1478looking for a more exhaustive listing of counter- 
1479economic activities, with all the sources and refer- 
1480ences footnoted, are invited to read the author's 
1481upcoming book Counter -Economics . 
1482
1483Information 
1484
1485r If ^ wo Counter- Economic industries are singled 
1486
1487
1488
1489out for their importance to agorism. Justice 
1490
1491
1492
1493
149443 
1495
1496
1497
1498Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1499
1500is a commodity; its manner of distribution defines 
1501a social system and will be covered in detail in 
1502Chapter Seven. 
1503
1504The other business is Information. The Internet 
1505explosion has led the American State — for now, 
1506at any rate — to throw up its tentacles at regula- 
1507tion of the Information industry. Every legisla- 
1508tive session, however, brings new attempts to tax 
1509and control the World Wide Web. But consider 
1510this well: should the Counter-Economy lick the 
1511information problem, it would virtually eliminate 
1512the risk it incurs under the State's threat. That 
1513is, if you can advertise your products, reach your 
1514consumers and accept payment (a form of infor- 
1515mation), all outside the detection capabilities of 
1516the State, what enforcement of control would be left? 
1517
1518At the leading edge of Web development today 
1519is encryption. Advanced researchers have devel- 
1520oped methods of "locking away" data in memory 
1521banks that defy any "breaking in." That is, the 
1522State cannot reach the invoices, inventory lists, 
1523accounts and so on of the Counter-Economist. An 
1524area of human society immune to the power of the 
1525State deserves the name — if anything does — of 
1526Anarchy. The State, though, continues to attempt 
1527to penetrate privacy with quantum computing 
1528methods of cracking even the most complex cryp- 
1529tographic schemes. Will the Counter-Economy 
1530respond with quantum cryptography? Stay tuned 
1531— the race is hardly at an end. 
1532
1533This leads us to two crucial questions: what 
1534happens if the State is abolished and we have a 
1535
1536
1537
153844 
1539
1540
1541
1542Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1543
1544free market and why has the Counter- Economy 
1545not overwhelmed the existing economy already? 
1546These questions bring us back to the land of theory 
1547where libertarianism answers the first question 
1548and agorism the second. 
1549
1550Before we deal with them, let us consider some 
1551applications of counter-economic business prac- 
1552tices and social interactions, which will both il- 
1553lustrate our descriptions and possibly be of some 
1554profit to you and yours. 
1555
1556
1557
155845 
1559
1560
1561
1562Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1563
1564
1565
1566Chapter Four 
1567Applied 
1568Counter-Economics 
1569
1570
1571
1572ounter- Economics is application. 
1573
1574
1575
1576People have discovered and acted in 
1577
1578
1579
1580^w/a Counter-Economic way without un- 
1581derstanding what they are doing, why they are 
1582doing it, and even denying that they are doing 
1583it at all. 
1584
1585Understanding what you are doing usually 
1586helps, and applying Counter-Economics system- 
1587atically and consistently maximizes both your 
1588profit and freedom. As it turns out, the basic 
1589formula is no more difficult than simple account- 
1590ing arithmetic used in all business. 
1591
1592The basic law of Counter-Economics is to trade 
1593risk for profit. Having done so, one naturally 
1594(acting to remove felt unease) attempts to reduce 
1595the risks. If you reduce your risks while others 
1596continue to face the higher risks, you naturally 
1597out-compete and survive longer. And you profit. 
1598
1599
1600
1601
160246 
1603
1604
1605
1606Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1607
1608
1609
1610What's The Risk? 
1611
1612
1613
1614It is possible to make a reasonable estimate of 
1615the risks you are taking in Counter- Economic 
1616activity, which is better precision than many busi- 
1617ness ventures offer. The government itself gathers 
1618statistics concerning apprehension of "criminals." 
1619And publishes them. The police agencies brag about 
1620how few cases are solved and how fast the "crime 
1621rate" is growing to justify ever-bigger budgets. 
1622
1623Nonetheless, most "crimes" go completely unre- 
1624ported and undetected, so the State's stats are an 
1625upper limit of apprehension. That is, their figures 
1626are useful as maximum risk. The highest appre- 
1627hension rate for the most foul crimes seldom hit 
162820%, an indication of government effectiveness in 
1629maintaining public order. 
1630
1631
1632
1633uppose you wish to do something Counter-Eco- 
1634
1635
1636
1637O'nomic. To be specific, you can buy something 
1638for $10,000 and sell it for $20,000. Your regular 
1639overhead is $5000. Your net return on investment 
1640is $5000 (on an investment of $15,000 that's 33%, 
1641extremely high) but, since there is a risk, how can 
1642you tell if the return is worth it? 
1643
1644Let's say the government claims it catches 20% 
1645of those doing what you want to do. If you are 
1646caught, the penalty would be a (maximum) fine 
1647of $50,000 or six months in jail. Your "downside" 
1648risk, then, is 20% of $50,000 or $10,000. In this 
1649
1650
1651
1652Is It Worth It? 
1653
1654
1655
1656
165747 
1658
1659
1660
1661Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1662
1663example, it would not be worth it: to gain $5000 
1664but risk losing $10,000. 
1665
1666If the apprehension rate were 10% and the fine 
1667$25,000, then your risk would be $2500 for a gain 
1668of $5000. As is obvious, you could get caught one 
1669time in ten, pay off your fines, and still come out 
1670way ahead. Of course, all these calculations make 
1671certain assumptions about your subjective values. 
1672You may fear risk to a pathological state and any 
1673risk is too much. Or you may love frustrating the 
1674State and take high risks for lower gain just for 
1675the fun of it. 
1676
1677Actually, a more realistic risk estimate would in- 
1678clude the price of a lawyer to beat your charges and 
1679the probability of being convicted after apprehension. 
1680
1681Assume that the retainer to your lawyer raises 
1682your overhead $1000 per transaction. Now your 
1683payoff is $4000, but the conviction rate (with plea 
1684bargaining and court delays) is only 20%. (Again, 
1685that is high in many jurisdictions; many cases are 
1686dropped long before they come to trial.) 
1687
1688Now your risk, using our first figures, is 20% of 
168920% of $50,000, or $2000. With a payoff of $4000, 
1690a loss of $2000 would deter few entrepreneurs. 
1691If you would like a simple formula for your own 
1692business, try this: 
1693
1694Counter-Economic Payoff = profit minus loss = 
1695(Promised price) minus (cost minus overhead) minus 
1696((Penalty or Fine) x (probability of arrest) x (probability of conviction)) 
1697
1698If positive, go. If negative, don't go. 
1699
1700
1701
170248 
1703
1704
1705
1706Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1707
1708
1709
1710Lowering Risks 
1711
1712
1713
1714T 
1715
1716
1717
1718taking reasonable steps to conceal your activi- 
1719ties from accidental discovery, learning to talk 
1720only to trusted friends, spotting poor risks or gov- 
1721ernment agents all reduce your risk and increase 
1722your payoff. As you develop techniques to lower 
1723your risk, you will increase your counter-economic 
1724activities. More of them become profitable. 
1725These side effects include the creation of an agorist 
1726society. More on that in Chapter Seven. 
1727
1728
1729
1730Counter-Economizing 
1731
1732hile it's true that you cannot obey all the 
1733inconsistent laws of the State and so be 
1734completely "white market," you can live completely 
1735Counter- Economically and be completely "black 
1736market." 
1737
1738In the middle 1970s, the federal State passed 
1739a regulation imposing a maximum speed limit 
1740on U.S. highways of 55 mph. With the threat of 
1741cutting federal funds to states and counties, the 
1742entire driving population decelerated to a creeping 
1743crawl. Or did it? 
1744
1745Consider the following calculation: at 55 mph a 
1746trucker can drive 55 miles in an hour, 550 miles in 
1747ten hours and 2200 miles in 40 hours. At an aver- 
1748age of 70 mph, he makes 700 miles in ten hours 
1749and 2800 miles in 40 hours. 
1750
1751To make it even clearer, assume that the trucker 
1752nets $1000, after costs, for each 600 mile run. 
1753
1754
1755
1756
175749 
1758
1759
1760
1761Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1762
1763He makes four runs legally for $4000 in an easy 
1764week, or $5000 by extending his hours or work- 
1765ing weekends. At 70 mph he makes $5000 for the 
1766(roughly) 40 hour week. 
1767
1768With that type of incentive, the race went to 
1769the swift and the "double nickel" speed limit was 
1770scofflawed. But being caught and fined could wipe 
1771out that advantage. Suppose fuel were consumed 
1772at a rate that cost an extra $200 at the higher 
1773speed, and you received an average fine of $200. 
1774Four busts a week and it's no longer worth it. 
1775
1776Along came Citizen's Band Radio. Put $200 or 
1777$400 once into a CB radio investment, reduce your 
1778busts to once a week, and you're back in business. 
1779And that, of course, is what happened. Truckers 
1780"spotted" for each other, formed convoys, and 
1781thwarted the State's "Smokey Bear" highwaymen. 
1782
1783Consider the side effects: 
1784
1785• Truckers found "solidarity" economically, cul- 
1786turally, and anti-politically 
1787
1788• A CB culture exploded into the popular culture 
1789with C. W. McCall's classic song "Convoy" 
1790
1791• Non-truckers who were willing to buy a CB 
1792and learn the culture (especially the language) 
1793were accepted freely into the ordered highway an- 
1794archy. More evasion of regulations followed and the 
1795Counter- Economy grew 
1796
1797• Truckers, many of conservative upbringing, 
1798became considerably more tolerant and willing to 
1799help other "lawbreakers" when their common enemy, 
1800Smokey, threatened. 
1801
1802
1803
180450 
1805
1806
1807
1808Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1809
1810The CB explosion is not meant here to be a 
1811model, in the sense of waiting around for the State 
1812to trigger off mass rebellion by an egregiously 
1813stupid law. This happened to be a particularly 
1814spectacular case, but no more than the sudden 
1815jump in counter-economics when Prohibition was 
1816passed in the 1920s or when the draft led to two- 
1817year slavery, and possible death, in 1964. And the 
1818State does not learn from its mistakes, as recent 
1819efforts to reimpose the 55 mph limit as well as 
1820reactivate the draft arise again. 
1821
1822Counter-Economizing Yourself 
1823
1824hatever service you provide the market, you 
1825know best how to counter-economize. You 
1826know best which regulations to avoid first for 
1827maximum payoff-to-risk ratio. You know which 
1828suppliers can be trusted and which cannot. You 
1829know which customers to trust and which not to 
1830trust. Division of labor, subjective value, and hu- 
1831man individuality all contribute to making your 
1832case (and everyone else's) unique. 
1833
1834If you seek or want advice on how best to coun- 
1835ter-economize, you need personal counseling (simi- 
1836lar to investment counseling). But, considering 
1837the hundreds of millions of people — many with 
1838educational and cultural handicaps — who coun- 
1839ter-economize quite successfully, the challenge is 
1840not that great. You need mostly the will to do it. 
1841(And that "Psychological Counter-Economics" will 
1842be important as part of Chapter Eight.) 
1843
1844
1845
1846
184751 
1848
1849
1850
1851Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1852
1853It's undoubtedly easier to extend your counter- 
1854economizing when everyone else is doing it. Most 
1855people are, but in small and different ways. 
1856
1857Still, if you could win more suppliers and cus- 
1858tomers over to your trust and get them to counter- 
1859economize, they would not only resist turning you 
1860in but they would develop a tendency not to leak 
1861secrets and would, therefore, decrease your risk 
1862and increase your payoff both ways. 
1863
1864This fact is the driving force toward expansion of 
1865the Counter- Economy. This force is what Agorism 
1866unleashes against the State. 
1867
1868
1869
187052 
1871
1872
1873
1874Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1875
1876
1877
1878Chapter Five 
1879
1880LlBERTARIANISM 
1881
1882
1883
1884T 
1885
1886
1887
1888"^he basic premise of agorist thinking is that 
1889Counter-Economics has failed to free soci- 
1890ety because Counter-Economics lacks a 
1891moral structure that only a full-blown philosophi- 
1892cal system can provide. In this chapter, we deal 
1893with the other half of this problem: an ideology 
1894unconnected to reality. Where Counter-Economics 
1895is application without theory, Libertarianism is 
1896theory without application. 
1897
1898
1899
1900Many Gods, One Morality 
1901
1902Libertarianism differs from all other philoso- 
1903phies by its pluralism. It does not to ask how 
1904you came to the fundamental moral premise: re- 
1905ligious revelation, atheistic observation, natural 
1906law theory, or many others. Christians, Taoists, 
1907Objectivists, and Pagans travel different routes 
1908to arrive at one moral code in common: initiation 
1909of coercion, or the threat of violence, is immoral. 
1910This is the libertarian principle. 
1911
1912Two things follow from the phrasing: (1) there 
1913are no exceptions, hence libertarianism affects all 
1914
1915
1916
191753 
1918
1919
1920
1921Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1922
1923human action by this formulation; (2) it is phrased 
1924negatively , so that anything else is permissible 
1925human behavior, though each adherent may find 
1926other acts immoral or objectionable. 
1927
1928Christianity yields a yes-no answer to every 
1929aspect of human activity; so, too, Marxism, Islam, 
1930Objectivism, and many, many other understand- 
1931ings of the world's nature. In these systems, any- 
1932thing not prohibited is mandatory. You must or 
1933you must not. Libertarianism answers only that 
1934you may or you may not, leaving choice to you. 
1935
1936Any religion or ideology that swears not to co- 
1937erce others to act in accordance with its precepts 
1938is compatible with libertarianism. All religions 
1939and ideologies that use force for anything save 
1940self-defence (in the narrow, immediate sense, 
1941excluding "preventive aggression" and other such 
1942rationalizations) are enemies of libertarianism. 
1943
1944
1945
1946Libertarian Society 
1947
1948Libertarianism's very pluralism prevents one 
1949from ascribing any unanimous characteristic 
1950to Libertarians. They all want Liberty, but for dif- 
1951ferent reasons, and see different ways of achieving 
1952it. Some would take control of the State and "force 
1953people to be free," others would not even resort to 
1954violence to defend themselves. Giving all those 
1955groups their due for enriching Libertarian thought 
1956and life with greater variety than any other ide- 
1957ology, the rigorous application of consistency (to 
1958
1959
1960
196154 
1962
1963
1964
1965Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
1966
1967which agorists and this book adhere) does settle 
1968some issues. 
1969
1970A free society is one in which Man is constrained 
1971only by unthinking Nature. His fellow men leave 
1972him alone. One can personally live up to this and 
1973one can admit only those who uphold it, expelling 
1974all those who don't. But one cannot prevent anyone 
1975from instituting aggression, one can only deal with 
1976it after the fact. 
1977
1978Statists advocate creating a bigger criminal, a 
1979great monster institution which will terrify nearly 
1980everyone, innocent or guilty, into submission. This 
1981organization will extract some form of acceptance 
1982from its "citizens" and yet plunder them at will 
1983(taxation). It will control their behavior and even 
1984their thinking, though some statists seek to place 
1985some restraints upon this super-criminal organi- 
1986zation. Some of those who advocate the strongest 
1987restraints (as they perceive them) call themselves 
1988"limited government libertarians." Since they seek 
1989a small state or "mini" -archy, they are minarchists. 
1990
1991Consistent libertarians see no place for crimi- 
1992nals, even to fight other criminals. They believe 
1993free-market (all-voluntary) methods will take care 
1994of the few criminals; finding them (investigation), 
1995arresting them (delegated protection), trying them 
1996(arbitration), and restoring lost value to the victim 
1997from the aggressors (restitution). The means of 
1998accomplishing this vary from communal power to 
1999highly technological, competitive business agen- 
2000cies and others in between, such as neighborhood 
2001block associations. Such "no- government libertar- 
2002
2003
2004
200555 
2006
2007
2008
2009Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2010
2011ians" are called anarchists. The peaceful libertar- 
2012ians who refuse even to defend themselves have 
2013to be classified with anarchists. 
2014
2015It is bitterly ironic that heavy State propaganda 
2016has convinced many people that anarchists throw 
2017bombs, since most anti-war movements, draft re- 
2018sistance, disarmament, and tax resistance groups 
2019were organized by anarchists of one sort or an- 
2020other. Perhaps 0.01 % of those calling themselves 
2021anarchists throughout history have used a bomb; 
2022100% of all States bomb, shell, and machine-gun 
2023regularly as a matter of course. 
2024
2025A Libertarian society is one which approximates 
2026a free society save for a small percentage of crimi- 
2027nal aggression, which is handled by voluntary 
2028mechanisms. A society in which aggression gets 
2029"out of hand" is one with a ole facto, if not ole jure, 
2030State or government: a statist society. 
2031
2032Libertarianism and the Free Market 
2033
2034A few libertarians advocate communal or 
2035neighborhood social organization with col- 
2036lectively held "property" voluntarily surrendered. 
2037Most libertarians have adopted the free market 
2038and the economic understanding of it developed 
2039in Chapter One. So whenever a conflict between the 
2040Economics of government intervention or confiscation 
2041(statism, for short) and free enterprise emerges in 
2042public debate, Libertarians rush to the forefront 
2043of defence of the individual or non-state group. 
2044
2045
2046
204756 
2048
2049
2050
2051Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2052
2053Libertarianism often confuses statists of the Left 
2054wing and the Right by opposing both. Libertarians 
2055see war as total "socialism" and march with many 
2056Leftists against it. Yet opposition to welfare stat- 
2057ism allies Libertarianism with some Rightists. 
2058
2059But Statists of the Left and Right are easily distin- 
2060guishable from libertarians in any coalition: threaten 
2061the State's existence and observe their reaction. 
2062
2063Conservatives will give up free enterprise rather 
2064than see government abolished; liberals will go 
2065to war rather than see government abolished. 
2066Libertarians will abolish the State and end both 
2067socialism and war. 
2068
2069Libertarianism and the 
2070Counter-Economy 
2071
2072Libertarian dissidents, from Polish professors 
2073to American students, make up an intellec- 
2074tual field of Counter-Economics. A Yugoslavian 
2075theorist, raised in the Marxist tradition, called for 
2076removing politics from Socialism and embracing 
2077a market economy. 
2078
2079It would appear that there is a natural affin- 
2080ity between the philosophers of freedom and the 
2081practitioners of Counter-Economics. Indeed, few 
2082libertarians would deny the moral correctness of 
2083the latter. An early slogan some radical libertar- 
2084ians put on a button was "Defend The Black Mar- 
2085ket." Libertarianism in the United States traces 
2086its history from the Abolitionist movement to free 
2087
2088
2089
209057 
2091
2092
2093
2094Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2095
2096the slaves, an act of human counter-economics. 
2097
2098And yet, while many abolitionists created and 
2099maintained an Underground Railway to assist 
2100slaves who freed themselves counter-economically, 
2101others called for upholding the law, working 
2102within the system and engaging in politics to take 
2103over the government and pass laws to free slaves. 
2104The same division between activists and reform- 
2105ers afflicts modern libertarians — and many other 
2106ideological movements, to be sure. 
2107
2108George Orwell, who came to a type of libertarian- 
2109ism from activism in the Socialist movement of the 
21101930s, castigated some of his fellow socialists for 
2111refusing to dirty their hands in actually fighting 
2112for their beliefs on the battlefields of Spain. This 
2113perceptive author of 1 984 and Animal Farm noted 
2114these hypocritical dilettantes' proclivity for hang- 
2115ing around English drawing rooms and waxing 
2116eloquent for the socialist cause while contributing 
2117precious little else. He called them "Parlor Pinks." 
2118
2119Libertarianism is afflicted with more than its 
2120share of "Library Libs" today. Some, though, are 
2121horribly paralyzed by the question, "How do we 
2122achieve a free society?" 
2123
2124This combination of strategic paralysis, moral 
2125lassitude, honest confusion due to the rich variety 
2126of libertarian pluralism, and not a little "selling 
2127out", has weakened libertarianism to the point 
2128where what is presently called the "Libertarian 
2129Movement" may no longer be trusted to defend the 
2130Counter-Economy and achieve a libertarian society. 
2131
2132The next chapter shows why. 
2133
2134
2135
213658 
2137
2138
2139
2140Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2141
2142
2143
2144Chapter Six 
2145Applied Libertarianism 
2146
2147
2148
2149T 
2150
2151
2152
2153A Brief History of Liberty 
2154
2155Y "If ^he history of the Libertarian movement can 
2156be divided into four historical periods. The 
2157first covered most of our history, when 
2158many men and women derived the ideas of free- 
2159dom and defended freedom as they understood 
2160it with little comprehension of the mechanics of 
2161human action. Some of these, such as the Quak- 
2162ers of Pennsylvania, settled colonies away from 
2163predatory statism and developed peace and trade 
2164with the natives. 
2165
2166The American Revolution erupted the year that 
2167Adam Smith published the first basic work on 
2168economics. Still, the confused American Revolu- 
2169tionaries allowed the Federalist statists to restore 
2170a strong central government by a bit of trickery 
2171called the "Constitution," a piece of paper which 
2172supposedly guaranteed to restrain the new State. 
2173Most of the Revolutionaries — nearly all the 
2174signers of the Declaration of Independence, for 
2175instance — opposed the Constitution. Many Amer- 
2176
2177
2178
217959 
2180
2181
2182
2183Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2184
2185icans were taken in by the statist selling job and 
2186laid down their arms that were defending them, 
2187practically in exchange for the paper guarantee. 
2188
2189As soon as the new government was elected, 
2190it sent the military to Pennsylvania to crush the 
2191tax-rebels who opposed the new tax on whiskey 
2192distillation. 
2193
2194In England, soon after, a man named William 
2195Godwin took the political ideas of the American 
2196Revolutionaries to their logical conclusion and 
2197became the first anarchist. In the 1830s European 
2198intellectual scene, a man named Max Stirner com- 
2199bined anarchy with defence of the free market (as 
2200far as Adam Smith understood it then) and created 
2201a philosophy of egoism or total individualism. For 
2202a time, he contested with Marx and Engels for 
2203the loyalty of the Young Hegelians in the German 
2204clubs. They wrote a two-volume defense of their 
2205theory against Stirner (The German Ideology). 
2206
2207In the United States, Josiah Warren continued 
2208the anarchist tradition in Massachusetts. One 
2209of his abolitionist followers, Lysander Spooner, 
2210finally developed the killing argument against the 
2211U.S. State in his remarkable natural law treatise, 
2212No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority. 
2213Alas, it was nearly a century late because the 
2214State was entrenched well enough to fight a civil 
2215war to destroy the remaining internal restraints 
2216on its power — naturally, under the pretext of 
2217expanding freedom by abolishing slavery. 
2218
2219Spooner saw through that smokescreen and 
2220supported both abolition and secession of the 
2221
2222
2223
222460 
2225
2226
2227
2228Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2229
2230Southern States. His follower, Benjamin Tucker, 
2231discovered Stirner's European individualism 
2232and combined the two traditions. The heyday of 
2233Individualist Anarchism, during the publication 
2234of Tucker's Liberty magazine, from 1881 to 1908, 
2235could be called the second stage of Libertarianism. 
2236George Bernard Shaw, for example, broke into the 
2237American literary scene through Liberty. (The full 
2238title of Tucker's journal was Liberty: the Mother, 
2239Not the Daughter, of Order) 
2240
2241Tucker still had problems with economics, not 
2242understanding subjective value or the validity of 
2243rent, interest, and profit. While willing to accept 
2244anything arrived at freely, he and his associates 
2245spent their energies on side issues and invalid 
2246controversies. When World War I broke out, they 
2247lost the center stage of history to the socialists for 
2248half a century. 
2249
2250At the same time that Tucker himself was giv- 
2251ing up, brilliant Austrian economist Ludwig Von 
2252Mises wrote his doctoral thesis (1910), The Theory 
2253of Money and Credit, which explained interest, 
2254inflation, and business cycles. His analysis led to 
2255an easy explanation (and prediction) of the Great 
2256Depression, but it went unheeded. In 1949, Mises 
2257published his magnum opus, Human Action. Along 
2258the way, he sent the Communist Economists into 
2259a panic by proving that economic calculation was 
2260impossible once socialist statists destroyed the 
2261free-market pricing system. 
2262
2263During the 1920s and 1930s, proto-libertarians 
2264such as H.L. Mencken and Albert J. Nock kept 
2265
2266
2267
226861 
2269
2270
2271
2272Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2273
2274the philosophy alive but in despair. One of Nock's 
2275students, Frank Chodorov, reached one of Mises's 
2276students, Murray Rothbard. In 1950, Rothbard 
2277connected with the American anarchist tradition 
2278and the modern libertarian stage began. 
2279
2280Another of Nock's students, Suzanne LaFollette, 
2281inspired many modern libertarian feminists. More 
2282women — Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Patterson 
2283— kept libertarianism alive in the 1940s. 
2284
2285For twenty years, Rothbard tirelessly sold his 
2286consistent libertarian view in intellectual circles 
2287and was purged from the Right, from Objectivists, 
2288from the Left, and various other groups, always 
2289taking a few more with him, never despairing. In 
22901969, during the heat of the student revolt against 
2291the Vietnam War and the draft, both the leftist 
2292Students for a Democratic Society and the rightist 
2293Young Americans for Freedom split internally. The 
2294anarchists from SDS joined the free marketeers 
2295from YAF at a convention called by Dr. Rothbard, 
2296and thousands of young activists were unleashed 
2297onto the campuses to fight for pure freedom. 
2298
2299Within a few years, there were a million Liber- 
2300tarians in North America and small groups from 
2301England to Spain to Australia. Libertarians gradu- 
2302ated and started businesses or entered the higher 
2303levels of academy, bringing reinforcements to Dr. 
2304Rothbard and his previously small corps. Liber- 
2305tarian reporters, authors, and even newscasters 
2306spread through the media. 
2307
2308Robert LeFevre, another libertarian educator 
2309contemporary with Rothbard, graduated hundreds 
2310
2311
2312
231362 
2314
2315
2316
2317Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2318
2319of businessmen from his seminars and thousands 
2320from Rampart College. Leonard Read and his crew 
2321reached many from all walks of life at the Foun- 
2322dation for Economic Education. New foundations 
2323and institutes sprang up. 
2324
2325Early in 1971, a group of Calif ornians started a 
2326"Libertarian Party" as a front for distribution of 
2327literature and appeal for equal time on local me- 
2328dia. In December of 1971, David F. Nolan convened 
2329a founding convention of a Libertarian Party in 
2330deadly earnest. Rothbard scoffed at the idea of a 
2331party as wildly premature. 
2332
2333In 1972, an LP presidential candidate got few 
2334votes, but, thanks to a renegade Republican elec- 
2335tor from Virginia, John Hospers, Professor of Phi- 
2336losophy at the University of Southern California, 
2337received one electoral vote. His running mate, 
2338Toni Nathan of Oregon, became the first woman to 
2339receive one. The elector, Roger MacBride, became 
2340the LP nominee for president in 1976. 
2341
2342The LP emerged from two sources: impatience 
2343and inconsistency. In 1972, the student movement 
2344collapsed but the graduates needed years to affect 
2345society by working their way through the system 
2346and building alternatives outside it. This desire 
2347to achieve results now — get rich quick — was 
2348expressed in the return of many who had rejected 
2349the Statist system to re-enter it, though most of 
2350those entering the LP were not the politically 
2351cynical old-timers. 
2352
2353The more raw recruits to libertarianism had lit- 
2354tle direct experience with politics and so accepted 
2355
2356
2357
235863 
2359
2360
2361
2362Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2363
2364arguments that the party would spread the word 
2365to people used to receiving it via the biennial elec- 
2366toral process. While half the LP recruiters swore 
2367that the LP was an educational tool and would 
2368never win an election and take power, the other 
2369half promised the replacement of the Republicans 
2370by the new party and the transformation of society 
2371from the top down. 
2372
2373During 1973, the party threat became serious 
2374and the libertarian movement began to split. The 
2375anti-party libertarians called themselves vari- 
2376ous names such as New Libertarians, Left (more 
2377consistently radical) Libertarians, Radical Liber- 
2378tarians, and exotic names such as Voluntaryists. 
2379The common goal of these activists was to deflect 
2380the Party anti-principle in the minds and hearts 
2381of most libertarians and pursue the original goals 
2382of Liberty in libertarian — that is, anti-political 
2383— ways. The Partyarchs (as those who professed 
2384being ruled by a party, yet called themselves an- 
2385archists, were then called) and their minarchist 
2386allies were small in number but did have an 
2387advantage in getting newspaper and television 
2388coverage. (Radical libertarian campaigns such as 
2389the 1976 "Vote For Nobody" CounterCampaign 
2390received publicity on several hundred radio sta- 
2391tions and 50% of registered American voters failed 
2392to cast ballots.) 
2393
2394More and more "pure" libertarians gave up on 
2395the label as the word was increasingly identified 
2396with a group out to take political power — as 
2397opposed to abolishing it. The New Libertarians 
2398
2399
2400
240164 
2402
2403
2404
2405Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2406
2407found that many who would agree to live freely 
2408and trade without aggression were repelled by the 
2409Libertarian name. 
2410
2411Finally, in 1983, the Movement of the Libertar- 
2412ian Left, the New Libertarian Alliance, and others 
2413moved to drop the Libertarian label entirely. Some 
2414chose the name Voluntaryism. Those wishing to 
2415promote the completely consistent ideology de- 
2416scribed in this book chose the name agorist. 
2417
2418During the 1973 struggle, the challenges for an 
2419alternative strategy to politics were answered by 
2420the NLA founder who discovered and coined the 
2421term Counter-Economics (see Chapter Three). 
2422In 1980, the NLA published New Libertarian 
2423Manifesto, which explained agorism and beyond 
2424to libertarian activists. 
2425
2426The Libertarian Failure 
2427
2428Libertarians were and still are a pluralistic 
2429group. Different interpretations of Liberty 
2430and how to achieve it were cheerfully tolerated for 
2431the most part. The appearance of a "Party line" 
2432was anathema to this spirit of living variety. The 
2433burning issue shifted from "which new libertar- 
2434ian theory works and which does not?" to "which 
2435'Libertarian' candidate can get elected?" 
2436
2437To many, Libertarianism was a fine theory 
2438which had no obvious practice. There are many 
2439paths to freedom (true) and each individual should 
2440choose the one he or she thought most workable. 
2441One that was chosen swallowed up the others. 
2442
2443
2444
244565 
2446
2447
2448
2449Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2450
2451(How it did was simple: it tied into the State's 
2452grant of monopoly to ideologies that form a cen- 
2453tralized "political party" and then spokespersons 
2454of that ideology are automatically represented 
2455as servitors or functionaries of that party, even 
2456when they vigorously deny any connection, by the 
2457statist media.) 
2458
2459And, then again, maybe not. "Libertarian" may 
2460have come to mean "LP member" but agorists, 
2461Voluntaryists, Left Libertarians, and such still 
2462outnumber the few thousand LP members and 
2463even the never-since-matched million votes their 
2464candidate, Edward Clark, received in the 1980 
2465U.S. presidential race. 
2466
2467Whether or not libertarianism failed and died — 
2468perverted — so near to 1984 (Orwell's deadline for 
2469tyranny's triumph. . . in the form of an all-powerful 
2470party) or was simply a stage in the evolution of 
2471agorism, building a theory to explain and morally 
2472defend Counter- Economics, is a moot point. Both 
2473positions are, in a sense, true. Agorism is here and 
2474viable for those who wish to live as freely as pos- 
2475sible now and increase their freedom in the future. 
2476What now calls itself "Libertarian" cannot honestly 
2477offer that anymore. Those who understand this will 
2478reject the "Libertarian" Party and other political 
2479solutions to the statist problem; those who accept 
2480the LP will waste their time, energy and wealth in 
2481building a new means of keeping people in bondage 
2482under the thumb of the State. 
2483
2484
2485
248666 
2487
2488
2489
2490Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2491
2492
2493
2494The Libertarian Insight and Fallacy 
2495
2496Libertarian theory provided the crucial insight 
2497as to why Counter-Economics was morally 
2498correct as well as (obviously) practical and very 
2499profitable. The crucial issue was that of the State, 
2500its nature, and its evolution. 
2501
2502The easiest paradigm (short model) for the origin 
2503of the State was offered by Franz Oppen-heimer, 
2504a German sociologist, and adapted into American 
2505libertarianism in Albert J. Nock's 1935 book, Our 
2506Enemy, The State. All historical examples fit this 
2507simple paradigm: 
2508
2509When most of humanity settled into peace- 
2510ful farming communities, with perhaps larger 
2511marketplaces (remember the original agora of 
2512Greece) in towns, some people discovered a means 
2513of surviving parasitically from the productivity of 
2514others. They formed robber bands and attacked 
2515towns and settlements, plundering, raping, and 
2516murdering. Probably the original barbarian hordes 
2517were hunters who took to hunting man when their 
2518game died out rather than taking to farming, trad- 
2519ing, or productive manufacture. 
2520
2521These roving groups were a small minority (or 
2522their victims would have died out and they as 
2523well) but large as compared to a single town or 
2524village. Somewhere along the way, one of them 
2525discovered that they could allow the peasants to 
2526live with enough to survive on and come back at 
2527the next harvest for another raid. 
2528
2529
2530
253167 
2532
2533
2534
2535Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2536
2537Then these raiders had another idea: they would 
2538stay in the same towns, steal lightly but regularly, 
2539murder enough to keep the peasants and mer- 
2540chants in line, and live well. Other areas, seeing 
2541these petty kingdoms arise, decided to submit 
2542themselves to their own home-grown warlords 
2543so that they would not fall prey to foreign war- 
2544riors. (The Book of Samuel in the Old Testament 
2545describes the anarchist prophet Samuel trying to 
2546convince the Israelites that they didn't really want 
2547a king but finally giving in to them.) 
2548
2549Parasites must remain a minority or kill their 
2550hosts. So they discovered religion (and later ideol- 
2551ogy) as a means to intimidate peasants and win 
2552the all-important sanction of the victim (an apt 
2553phrase of Ayn Rand's). Brutal thugs became "kings 
2554by divine right" and some very powerful statists 
2555called Emperors, Pharaohs, or Tsars were said to 
2556be divine, the unstoppable choice of gods. 
2557
2558And so these barbarian raiders institutional- 
2559ized plunder (taxation), murder (execution and 
2560warfare), and even rape (droit de seigneur, for 
2561example). They took control of roads to plunder 
2562the caravans (tolls, tariffs), they suppressed all 
2563rival criminal gangs with their own (police), and 
2564established their own churches, schools, judges, 
2565and even philosophers, minstrels, and artists to 
2566work in their royal courts. 
2567
2568Thus was born the State. 
2569
2570As people come to understand this situation, 
2571and especially important questions of conscience 
2572split religions and ideologies, dissidence grew. 
2573
2574
2575
257668 
2577
2578
2579
2580Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2581
2582The State learned to survive by adapting. It used 
2583its Court thinkers (intellectuals) to come up with 
2584new ways of mystifying the people. 
2585
2586The kings "limited" themselves and shared 
2587their plunder with aristocrats and certain favored 
2588merchants. Thus was born mercantilism (which 
2589Adam Smith challenged). Then even peasants and 
2590workers were permitted to plunder their fellow 
2591merchants, farmers, and workers. This was called 
2592Democracy. Groups were allowed to organize to 
2593fight over who should steal from whom (though 
2594an elite of bureaucrats and very rich businessmen 
2595continue, no matter who is elected) and thus were 
2596formed political parties. 
2597
2598The libertarian analysis superbly explained the 
2599political history of the world and — combined with 
2600free-market economics — analyzed depressions, 
2601modern warfare, and revolutions, describing their 
2602causes and predicting the futility of political solutions. 
2603
2604When Libertarianism began to organize itself, 
2605though, much of the movement was bought off 
2606with yet another political party. 
2607
2608To understand the Libertarian fallacy, consider 
2609its insight in other terms. Oppenheimer and Nock 
2610pointed out that there were only two ways to ac- 
2611quire wealth (food, shelter, tools, entertainment). 
2612One could produce some and trade for others — or 
2613one could steal those produced. Those are all the 
2614choices there are. They named the productive way, 
2615the economic means, and the parasitic way, the 
2616political means. 
2617
2618
2619
262069 
2621
2622
2623
2624Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2625
2626Murray Rothbard, following Ludwig Von Mises's 
2627Human Action with his own economic treatise Man, 
2628Economy and State, added that insight onto Aus- 
2629trian economics in the final chapters. The demand 
2630for elucidation was so great that he wrote, in detail, 
2631an entire book on the subject: Power and Market. 
2632
2633It is amazing that, for a time, even Dr. Rothbard 
2634forgot his own lesson. The choice was power/poli- 
2635tics vs. market/economics. Using political means 
2636to achieve free-market ends is self- destructive and 
2637self-defeating. 
2638
2639The recognition of the Libertarian incompat- 
2640ibility of statist means to anti-statist ends was 
2641the first agorist insight. Following that, the new 
2642agorists looked for the proper means to achieve a 
2643free society or at least a fully libertarian society. 
2644They sought market means only. 
2645
2646The author of this book and his companions 
2647found the Counter- Economy "staring them in the 
2648face" as soon as they thought of looking. 
2649
2650
2651
265270 
2653
2654
2655
2656Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2657
2658
2659
2660Chapter Seven 
2661Agorism 
2662
2663
2664
2665T 
2666
2667
2668
2669"^o understand agorism fully and to compare 
2670it to competing ways of thinking, one needs 
2671to know two things about it: its goal and 
2672its path to that goal. This knowledge is critical 
2673to evaluating all ideologies. The goal is living in 
2674the agora and the path is expanding Counter-Eco- 
2675nomics. Remember our constant, if not nagging, 
2676emphasis on consistency, both internally and with 
2677reality. Agorism must have a path consistent with 
2678its goal and a goal consistent with its path. 
2679
2680
2681
2682The Axioms of Agorism 
2683
2684A free society is the goal of many people, not 
2685all of them agorists or even libertarians. Ago- 
2686rists can see nothing but a free market in a free 
2687society; after all, who or what will prevent it? 
2688
2689The First Axiom of Agorism: the closest 
2690approach to a free society is an uncorrupted 
2691agora (open marketplace). 
2692
2693An axiom is a principle or premise of a way of 
2694thinking. It is arrived at by insight, induction, and 
2695observation of nature. Theorems are arrived at 
2696
2697
2698
269971 
2700
2701
2702
2703Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2704
2705deductively from axioms. A "zeroeth" axiom of 
2706agorism might be "there are no contradictions 
2707in reality and theory must be consistent with 
2708reality." Commonly known axioms in philosophy 
2709are "existence exists" and "A is A." Well-known math- 
2710ematical axioms are "things equal to another thing 
2711are equal to each other" and "a statement leading to 
2712a contradiction with a theorem or axiom is false." 
2713
2714The first six chapters of this "primer" preceded 
2715the actual presentation of agorism to give you, 
2716the reader, enough understanding of economics, 
2717Counter-Economics, and libertarianism to see 
2718from where the insights that produced agorism 
2719were derived. They were not chosen arbitrarily 
2720but rather as a result of years of bitter experience 
2721and, in some cases, furious battles and acts of 
2722resistance. The "hard core" agorists had to have 
2723something worth dying for, and, far more impor- 
2724tant, worth living for. 
2725
2726The Second Axiom of Agorism: the agora self- 
2727corrects for small perturbations of corruption. 
2728
2729This axiom leads us to a far more detailed pic- 
2730ture of what our nearly free society would look 
2731like. It means simply that free-market entities will 
2732defend the free market. People have to choose to do 
2733it, of course, but the incentive (offering of subjec- 
2734tive-value satisfaction) will be present to motivate 
2735them to do so and will be sufficient to motivate 
2736enough people to do so. Occasional criminals will 
2737be discovered, sought, found, apprehended, tried, 
2738sentenced, compelled to deliver restitution, and (if 
2739possible) deterred from further actions. 
2740
2741
2742
274372 
2744
2745
2746
2747Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2748
2749The Third Axiom of Agorism: the moral 
2750system of any agora is compatible with pure 
2751libertarianism. 
2752
2753This axiom means that life and property are safe 
2754from all those who act morally in this society. We 
2755will describe this in the next section. But let us 
2756complete the axioms first. 
2757
2758The Fourth Axiom of Agorism: agora in 
2759part is agora in whole; to a workable approxi- 
2760mation, the corruption of an agora raises 
2761protection costs and risks. 
2762
2763This axiom's use will become blindingly clear 
2764when we deal with the path. 
2765
2766Agorism has more theory, but it is derived from 
2767these axioms. For the professional logicians trip- 
2768ping across the theory for the first time, I need to 
2769add a fifth axiom for completion: agorism qua 
2770theory is an open system. This simply means 
2771that we may discover and add on other axioms, 
2772then check to see how consistent they are with 
2773what we already have. 
2774
2775The Goal of Agora 
2776
2777ith that short burst of hard philosophy in 
2778the last section, we are ready to picture the 
2779society we are aiming for. The goal of agorism is 
2780the agora. The society of the open marketplace as 
2781near to untainted by theft, assault, and fraud as 
2782can be humanly attained is as close to a free society 
2783as can be achieved. And a free society is the only 
2784one in which each and every one of us can satisfy 
2785
2786
2787
2788
278973 
2790
2791
2792
2793Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2794
2795his or her subjective values without crushing oth- 
2796ers' values by violence and coercion. 
2797
2798It's a bit late to notice, perhaps, but if your 
2799highest values require murder and theft, you will 
2800not like the agora. Still, you have not wasted your 
2801time as you have just read an introduction to the 
2802thinking of your worst enemy. 
2803
2804Science fiction has given us many convincing 
2805portrayals of future societies, from the grotesquely 
2806tyrannical (1984) to the transitional- to-freedom (The 
2807Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Kings of the High Fron- 
2808tier) to actual free-market anarchies that acciden- 
2809tally arose (The Syndic, The Great Explosion, The 
2810Probability Broach). One even portrayed a likely 
2811scenario for an agorist revolution (Alongside Nighty 
2812
2813Still, we cannot predict or foresee all the chang- 
2814es. Fortunately, we can get a good picture of an 
2815agorist society by picking out those changes (from 
2816our present statist societies) that must occur (or 
2817we simply don't have agorism). Our axioms give 
2818us that much. 
2819
2820States will be gone. Roads will be run by com- 
2821peting market companies and kept in repair (for 
2822a change) to attract more customers. Then, again, 
2823cars may levitate over the roads for all we know 
2824or fly or take tunnels to preserve scenery. If you 
2825can think of one good reason to do something some 
2826way, in a free market it will be tried and many 
2827ways will work at the same time for different reasons. 
2828
2829The post office will be gone and mail — if not 
2830replaced by e-mail entirely — will be efficiently 
2831and cheaply delivered ever-faster. 
2832
2833
2834
283574 
2836
2837
2838
2839Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2840
2841War will be gone. "Defence budgets" will be gone. 
2842Taxes will be gone. You will pay for what you get only 
2843when you want it — unless what you want is a gift. 
2844
2845I repeat, and cannot emphasize enough or wax 
2846floridly enough: the opportunities in freedom ex- 
2847plode into the unimaginable. The sheer complex- 
2848ity of all possible choice moves to the infinite as 
2849restrictions approach zero. 
2850
2851Let us focus very narrowly on only one business 
2852in the totally free marketplace. 
2853
2854Justice 
2855
2856Justice is a business. It's not free; someone must 
2857pay for its workings. While Justice in the ab- 
2858stract is not an economic question (remember the 
2859wertfrei of Chapter One), the obtaining of justice 
2860is an economic service. 
2861
2862Consider this illustration: Your completely 
2863tricked-out media center is stolen from your home. 
2864You notify Laissez Faire Insurance & Protection 
2865Company immediately. As fast as modern tech- 
2866nology permits, you receive an identical screen, 
2867receiver, game station, speakers, cables, and a 
2868sack full of remotes to replace the original, with 
2869downloads of any programs you missed in the in- 
2870terim. You have achieved full restoration of your 
2871subjective value to the condition it would have 
2872been had there been no act of aggression. Surely 
2873that is the goal of Justice. 
2874
2875Now, how is this paid for in a free market, con- 
2876sistently with our understanding of economics and 
2877
2878
2879
288075 
2881
2882
2883
2884Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2885
2886libertarian morality? The moral position first: you 
2887delegate LFI&PCo as your agent to use defensive 
2888force to regain your missing property and all ex- 
2889penses incurred. (If LFI&PCo attempt to extract 
2890more from the ultimately caught thief, they're on 
2891their own. The thief's Insurance and Protection 
2892Company is entitled to defend the thief.) 
2893
2894Costs are paid for in three ways. First, as insur- 
2895ance: a small number of criminals may elude even 
2896the highly efficient, super-technological, extremely 
2897competitive protection agencies of the agorist fu- 
2898ture. Insurance is simply sharing the risk of some- 
2899thing happening with all the others subscribing 
2900to LFI&PCo. As the odds of a thief "getting away 
2901with it" approach zero, your premium approaches 
2902zero. Second, as protection: you install locks and 
2903detectors, alarms, and maybe even booby traps. 
2904Actually, since your premiums will go down as 
2905you make yourself aggression-proof, protection 
2906will incur minimal additional costs. Third, as 
2907restitution: the aggressor, when apprehended, 
2908pays LFI&PCo (1) the cost of replacement of the 
2909purloined or damaged goods; (2) interest for the 
2910time the goods were stolen; (3) any costs related 
2911to apprehension, including fees for investigators, 
2912arresting agents, arbitrators (market judges), and, 
2913if still necessary, enforcers' charges to reclaim 
2914your property. 
2915
2916Note all the differences between statism and 
2917agorism. First, in a State, you can expect nothing 
2918from the police if you report a criminal. Maybe, 
2919some day, you'll get your property back if the 
2920
2921
2922
292376 
2924
2925
2926
2927Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2928
2929criminal is ever caught and when they're through 
2930using the components as evidence. Since the odds 
2931of police accomplishing this are less than 10%, 
2932your insurance premiums (if the government still 
2933allows insurance companies) reflect the sharing of 
2934the high risk of theft plus whatever taxes the State 
2935tacks on plus the inefficiencies and additional 
2936costs of government regulation of the insurance 
2937industry. Did you ever try to collect insurance? 
2938Notice the form-filling and red tape — just like 
2939any other government bureaucracy imposed on a 
2940supposedly free enterprise? 
2941
2942Second, in a State, you are under the control of 
2943the State in a criminal proceeding — even though 
2944you are the victim! You will be told when to ap- 
2945pear, where to go, and you will be forced to see 
2946the case through even if you change your mind. 
2947In the agora, should the matter go to arbitration, 
2948you will be required to report your loss since you 
2949want it replaced. That's all. The theft may even 
2950have been recorded on video, but even if not, the 
2951protection company's detectives do all the work. 
2952You stand back (or go about your business) and let 
2953them do their jobs. That's all. You may never be 
2954called again even if the thief is caught, convicted, 
2955and compelled to provide restitution. If LFI&PCo 
2956needs more testimony from you, they will ask you 
2957to attend the arbitration and, if they err, they 
2958will pay for the error. Should they need you inor- 
2959dinately, they will pay you for your trouble — or 
2960they will let you go and lose the case if you want 
2961too much for your time. 
2962
2963
2964
296577 
2966
2967
2968
2969Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
2970
2971Third, in a State everything is monopolized; 
2972your appeal is to another judge who works for the 
2973State, too. In the agora, competition and choice is 
2974everywhere. There are plenty of insurance and 
2975protection companies from which to choose, all 
2976eager for your business. They can choose from a 
2977number of crack detectives, all competing to show 
2978that they are the best investigators. Should the 
2979matter go to arbitration, a number of arbitrators 
2980are competing for the positions, hoping to prove 
2981themselves the fairest and most worthy of your 
2982company's hire. 
2983
2984Furthermore, if crime risks go up in your neigh- 
2985borhood, it is in the interest of your protection 
2986company (and those companies of your neighbors) 
2987to hire protectors (or guards) to patrol your area. 
2988Unless you attack your neighbor, their protectors 
2989will never threaten you. 
2990
2991Fourth, in a State, your police protection is just 
2992as likely to arrest you for some crime that has no 
2993victim. There are no such victimless "crimes" in 
2994the agora. 
2995
2996Fifth, the rights of the victim (you) can never 
2997be overridden by the rights of the real criminal. 
2998Under agorist justice, the arbitrator rules on 
2999the evidence that you are, or are not, entitled to 
3000restitution of goods (or even parts of the body, as 
3001technology makes that possible), interest for time 
3002lost, and your protection agency's expenses, includ- 
3003ing detection and apprehension costs. The moment 
3004the line is crossed into extracting more from the 
3005media-center thief than full restoration of your 
3006
3007
3008
300978 
3010
3011
3012
3013Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3014
3015components and all costs incurred, you or your 
3016company become the aggressor and the ex-thief s 
3017protection agency will now honor its contract to 
3018defend him. (All insurance and protection con- 
3019tracts in an agorist society will stipulate that you 
3020cannot be protected from restoration proceedings 
3021after the protection company has defended you up 
3022to a fair arbitration. This ideal, seldom lived up to 
3023by States, is called "due process.") 
3024
3025The difference between agorist protection and 
3026State policing has many more characteristics but 
3027this list gives you a good idea. There is nothing 
3028the State can offer you in moral protection that 
3029the market cannot offer; and the free market will 
3030function faster and better than the State. It's 
3031true that an occasional market company may be 
3032unsound, but you will always have the option of 
3033switching to a better competitor. Under a State, 
3034you know your protection service will always be 
3035the same — poor with no alternative. 
3036
3037The State offers one thing the free market can- 
3038not and will not offer: aggression. If you wish to 
3039attack your immediate neighbors, you'll need State 
3040police to attack them for the crimes of belonging 
3041to the "wrong" religious group or of taking the 
3042"wrong" intoxicant or of performing sex in a way 
3043of which you disapprove. And, of course, your 
3044neighbors will need State police to attack you for 
3045similar "reasons." If you want to attack faraway 
3046neighbors, you need a State army. 
3047
3048Or maybe you want to live in peace and freedom 
3049and will be satisfied with protection and defence. 
3050
3051
3052
305379 
3054
3055
3056
3057Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3058
3059
3060
3061Two Words or So 
3062About National Defence 
3063
3064"TT^ull agorism obviously needs no "national de- 
3065
3066
3067
3068fence." There are no nations to defend and no 
3069nations from which to be defended. Local protec- 
3070tion against occasional criminals is sufficient. 
3071
3072Once in a while, criminals might band together 
3073to overwhelm a single protection company. Then 
3074the agorist protection agency merely needs to hire 
3075another protection company to assist it. 
3076
3077Similarly, should one protection company "go 
3078bad," a few of the hundreds of others would be 
3079enough to apprehend its agents and shut it down. 
3080But, in fact, market forces would sap such a com- 
3081pany's destructive power long before it came to 
3082that. People raised in an agorist society would 
3083stop paying its insurance premiums and shift to its 
3084competitors. Detective and investigation agencies 
3085would terminate their contracts with it. Arbitra- 
3086tors would consistently rule against its aggressive 
3087moves. Agents working for the company would 
3088quit and go elsewhere. Secretaries and office help 
3089would walk out rather than have their reputations 
3090sullied by associating with such un-agorist types. 
3091Even restaurants and grocery stores would refuse 
3092to sell to the renegades or would hike their prices 
3093to show their additional loss of subjective value in 
3094dealing with such coercive filth. 
3095
3096
3097
3098
309980 
3100
3101
3102
3103Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3104
3105Perhaps the company-turning- State would pay 
3106higher prices to hold on to their employees and 
3107supplies or replace them. But where would they 
3108get their money? They would lose customers the 
3109moment they started to act like a government. It 
3110is just as likely that they would collapse if they 
3111attempted to live by stealing (tax-collecting) since 
3112they would be compelled by force (of other compa- 
3113nies) to cease and desist their aggression against 
3114those companies' clients. 
3115
3116People raised and educated to love an agorist 
3117society could not fall for taxpaying. And if they 
3118ever do, we will sink all the way down the road of 
3119corruption and oppression to the level of statism. . . 
3120that we "enjoy" today! 
3121
3122The second word about territorial defence deals 
3123with the concerns of most people when they meet 
3124some version of anarchy — even the businesslike, 
3125efficient, free-market kind. How does the non-state 
3126defend itself against all the States still left? 
3127
3128The glib answer is "let me count the ways." A 
3129few should suffice to allay nameless fears. 
3130
3131First, the context must not be forgotten. Gov- 
3132ernment will not disappear until it is rejected by 
3133the overwhelming majority of the people under its 
3134rule. It is highly unlikely that other people, in oth- 
3135er countries around the world, will be unaffected 
3136should North America oust its State through this 
3137libertarian infection. A Libertarian International 
3138formed in 1980, had its first convention in Zurich 
3139in August, 1982, and continues into the 21st cen- 
3140tury as the International Society for Individual 
3141
3142
3143
314481 
3145
3146
3147
3148Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3149
3150Liberty (ISIL). Many of these members could be 
3151relied upon to act as fifth columnists in their home 
3152countries to stop their governments from attacking 
3153the obviously peaceful anarchy. 
3154
3155Second, although we do not rule out "naked 
3156aggression," remember that wars are caused by 
3157both sides. There is an entire branch of libertar- 
3158ian theory we skipped in making this presenta- 
3159tion (actually, more than one) called Revisionist 
3160History, which rips the mask off government 
3161war propaganda to reveal the gleaming skull 
3162underneath. The United States, for example, has 
3163not been involved in a single war since the first 
3164Revolution that could not have been avoided nor 
3165one that would have cost American citizens their 
3166liberty had it been avoided (said liberty, to be 
3167sure, which they were already losing to their own 
3168government). Several volumes have been written 
3169about each of these wars, from Establishment and 
3170Revisionist perspectives, but, let me just list the 
3171bold, simple conclusions here and you can research 
3172for yourself whether I'm right. 
3173
3174War of 1812 — US "Warhawks" sought a land 
3175grab in Canada. Pretext for the war: "impressment 
3176of American seamen" in ships running the British 
3177blockade of Napoleon. (True but trivial in com- 
3178parison to war and its cost in lives and freedom.) 
3179
3180Mexican War — U.S. Southern interests 
3181sought land grab of Texas and other Mexican 
3182territories to form more "slave states" to balance 
3183off new Northern "free" states. Pretext: Mexico 
3184
3185
3186
318782 
3188
3189
3190
3191Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3192
3193attacked Republic of Texas and thus U.S. sod. 
3194(Probably not; and Texas was not U.S. sod then.) 
3195
3196War Between The States — North wished to 
3197enslave the South; South (justifiably) wished to 
3198be free of the North. Pretext: Abolition of slavery 
3199in South. (North kept slavery in Northern terri- 
3200tory; also, hard-core abolitionists supported both 
3201Southern secession and abolition of slavery as 
3202same issue of freedom.) 
3203
3204Spanish-American War — U.S. interests 
3205grabbed Spanish colonies (Cuba, Philippines) for 
3206exploitation and turned the U.S. State into an 
3207old-world empire. Pretext: U.S. battleship Maine 
3208was "attacked" in a Cuban harbor. (Even though 
3209innocent, Spain apologized anyway and bent over 
3210backwards to avoid war.) 
3211
3212World War I — U.S. interests, especially bank- 
3213ers, bet on Great Britain and moved U.S. in to 
3214save their investments when Russians pulled out 
3215leaving Germany one front. Pretext: German U- 
3216Boats attacked British ship carrying Americans; 
3217declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare 
3218zones by Germany. (Trivial relative to war, and 
3219U.S. ships should have "taken their chances" if 
3220they insisted on running huge risks for high profits 
3221by penetrating the blockades. GB was blockading 
3222Germany and other interests wanted to replay 
3223"War of 1812" and attack Britain.) 
3224
3225World War II (Europe, 1939) — Britain gave 
3226Poland a "blank-check treaty" if they would hold 
3227out 99%-German Danzig from Germany — the last 
3228adjustment of the Versailles Treaty (ending WWI) 
3229
3230
3231
323283 
3233
3234
3235
3236Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3237
3238that penalized Germany. Also, Britain and France 
3239refused alliance with Russia against the "fascist 
3240menace" (although Bolshevik Russia was seriously 
3241threatened by Nazi aggression, unlike Danzig-less 
3242Poland, not to mention distant Great Britain) 
3243and thus pushed USSR to German side in fear. 
3244Poland was overwhelmingly outnumbered and 
3245still refused to return German Danzig. Pretext: 
3246Germany invaded Poland without provocation. 
3247(Nonsense; allied war propaganda. Poland was so 
3248surprised that they were already fully mobilized 
3249and standing on the border on September 1,1939.) 
3250
3251World War II (Pacific, 1941) — The United 
3252States New Deal administration sought entry to 
3253the European theatre (above) and required an "at- 
3254tack" since 80% of Americans opposed 'bailing out 
3255Britain" again. Japanese were strangled by British 
3256blockade aided by "neutral" U.S. ships; Japanese 
3257funds in U.S. were seized by U.S. government, and 
3258Japanese emissaries for peace were insulted and 
3259scorned. Pretext: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor 
3260naval installation — few, if any innocent U.S. ci- 
3261vilians injured. (Japan knew it would be dragged 
3262into the war and would lose; it struck first to de- 
3263lay the inevitable. Japanese "bushido" code was 
3264offended — deliberately and provocatively — by 
3265U.S. statists.) 
3266
3267Korean War — Artificial division of Korea 
3268(WWII) between a Northern communist dictator- 
3269ship and a Southern, pro-U.S. State dictatorship; 
3270U.S. entered to prop up colonies France and Japan 
3271were abandoning in Southeast Asia for variety 
3272
3273
3274
327584 
3276
3277
3278
3279Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3280
3281of corporate-interest and Soviet-containment 
3282reasons. Pretext: Communist aggression which 
3283involved China and Russia. (China attacked the 
3284U.S. after American troops threatened to cross 
3285the Yalu River into China. Russia sat back and 
3286sold arms — as the U.S. had done before landing 
3287troops.) 
3288
3289Vietnam War — U.S. attempted to keep former 
3290French Indo-China from passing into Eastern 
3291bloc. (See Korean War; this was a continuation 
3292from 1954.) As became obvious immediately after, 
3293when China switched over to U.S. side, "Commu- 
3294nist" countries are not necessarily threats to U.S. 
3295Pretext: Defend South Vietnamese, who wanted 
3296Western-style democracy, from Communist form 
3297of statists. (South Vietnamese were split and there 
3298was never anything even as "free" as democracy 
3299there under the various generals and the Diem 
3300dictatorship.) 
3301
3302El Salvador — Certain U.S. industries and 
3303banks have heavy investments in Latin Ameri- 
3304can countries and fear their expropriation by 
3305Communist or Marxist governments. Pretext: 
3306Salvadorans want democracy, not communism. 
3307(Salvadorans voted in U.S. -monitored election 
3308and got a genuine fascist government [ARENA 
3309party of Roberto D Aubuisson] and massive mur- 
3310der of "democrats" — let alone communists — by 
3311ARENA death squads. The U.S. then overruled 
3312the results of an election they had demanded in 
3313the first place.) 
3314
3315
3316
331785 
3318
3319
3320
3321Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3322
3323Iraq War I — U.S. sought to preserve its in- 
3324terests in Saudi Arabian oil fields, fearing that if 
3325Kuwait fell and former U.S. ally Saddam Hussein 
3326enriched himself from oil profits there, then Saudi 
3327Arabia might be next. Pretext: Iraq invaded Ku- 
3328wait (separated from Iraq by British in 1932) to 
3329regain its port and to seize oil fields on the theory 
3330that they were using a slant drill to "drink the 
3331milkshake" of Iraq's al-Rumaila fields. 
3332
3333Afghan War — U.S. and U.K. attempt to se- 
3334cure Afghanistan to protect a proposed natural 
3335gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and 
3336India passing right through the Kandahar prov- 
3337ince. This, in an effort to counteract perceived 
3338Russo-Iranian energy trade in the region. Pre- 
3339text: Taliban gave aid and comfort to 9/11 attack 
3340coordinator Osama bin Laden, oppressed women, 
3341and served as a training haven for Islamic funda- 
3342mentalist terrorists. 
3343
3344Iraq War II — U.S. continued to perceive Iraq 
3345as a threat to its oil interests in the middle east, 
3346especially after Iraq's scorched-earth retreat from 
3347the Kuwaiti oil fields in 1991. In addition, per- 
3348sonal grudges may have played a part, since the 
3349sitting president's father had once been targeted 
3350for assassination by Hussein. Pretext: Saddam 
3351Hussein's repeated scofflawing of numerous U.N. 
3352resolutions and rumours that Iraq still pursued 
3353weapons of mass destruction. 
3354
3355By the way, those quickie explanations are not 
3356meant to convince you that the U.S. was wrong 
3357and the other sides were right. The agorist view- 
3358
3359
3360
336186 
3362
3363
3364
3365Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3366
3367point is that the U.S. State was wrong and its war 
3368opponents were wrong. Both or either could have 
3369avoided any of the above wars. 
3370
3371And, before we forget, there is an obvious third 
3372way the North American non- state defends itself 
3373against the State around it, if it is agorist. The pro- 
3374tection agencies form larger syndicates than the 
3375ones they form in the case we mentioned above of a 
3376local protection company going renegade. If all the 
3377policy holders of all the insurance and protection 
3378companies are threatened by invasion, they will 
3379throw all their combined resources (and higher 
3380technology, judging by free enterprise's past per- 
3381formance) on defence of the common ground. 
3382
3383Fourth, the people would rise up in militias or 
3384guerrilla units to defend their incredibly free so- 
3385ciety. (There were advance hints of this strategy 
3386when the Ukrainian Anarchist army, under Nestor 
3387Makhno, had no trouble raising militia to protect 
3388the local fanners from roving armies of Reds and 
3389Whites during the Russian Revolution.) 
3390
3391Fifth, most wars have had a strong Economic 
3392component. Often access to goods or natural 
3393resources was barred by protectionist State Eco- 
3394nomic policies. The anarchy would have full free 
3395trade with full access. Anyone wanting anything 
3396produced in the North American anarchy could 
3397easily buy it — without taxes and tariffs and at 
3398a cheaper price than anywhere else. (Notice how 
3399giant Communist China went out of its way not 
3400to conquer tiny Hong Kong, although the British 
3401were ready to toss it to them any time they asked, 
3402
3403
3404
340587 
3406
3407
3408
3409Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3410
3411and finally did. Even now, Hong Kong has not 
3412seen Red Chinese tanks rolling through its streets 
3413to crush its capitalist minions. In fact, much of 
3414China has become a mirror of Hong Kong, with 
3415Party leaders and the People's Liberation Army 
3416growing rich on market activities white, black, and 
3417grey. Check also the little free ports and cities of 
3418Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Singapore and 
3419San Marino.) 
3420
3421Sixth, (and we'll have to stop eventually, so 
3422let it be here) the States will quarrel amongst 
3423themselves. Since the anarchy threatens no State 
3424immediately (point two) (long-term, it does, as a 
3425shining example of better conditions), but other 
3426States with standing militaries do threaten at all 
3427times, what State would want the easy-access to 
3428resources (point five) in the anarchy cut off by an- 
3429other State using it? That could mean war — but 
3430among the States while the Anarchy freely sells 
3431to all sides without favor or penalty. 
3432
3433Critics of market anarchy often try to have their 
3434cake and eat it too. For example, they may argue 
3435that there are too few States — "what happens if 
3436the States gang up?" — and at the same time too 
3437many — "how can one anarchy survive among all 
3438those States?" As in the case of historical examples 
3439such as Revolutionary France and Revolutionary 
3440Russia where the surrounding States did gang up 
3441to crush the new type of State, if the country is 
3442big enough, it will survive even foreign interfer- 
3443ence, even in the middle of civil war (which both 
3444experienced) — let alone agorist peace. 
3445
3446
3447
344888 
3449
3450
3451
3452Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3453
3454Additional tactics for defence and reasons for 
3455nonaggression are left as an exercise for the reader. 
3456
3457
3458
3459The Agorist Path 
3460
3461/f^ etting from here (statism) to there (agorism) 
3462
3463
3464
3465\_JTis the second and perhaps defining character- 
3466istic of the latter. Unlike libertarianism, agorism 
3467offers both goal and path as an internally consis- 
3468tent package deal. 
3469
3470The short answer is given in Axiom Four. A 
3471longer answer is "applying Counter -Economics to 
3472all your actions and linking preferentially with 
3473others who do so creates an ever-bigger agora." 
3474How that works — and what two things you need 
3475to watch for — is an excellent chapter with which 
3476to end this primer. 
3477
3478
3479
3480
348189 
3482
3483
3484
3485Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3486
3487
3488
3489Chapter Eight 
3490Applied Agorism 
3491
3492
3493
3494At this concluding point, we would like to 
3495tie together all we have learned. Thus we 
3496can see clearly the path to be taken with 
3497a view to ending up with a new ability: to figure 
3498out how each of us can best walk that path to our 
3499own advantage. So let us begin by visualizing that 
3500pathway. 
3501
3502The Road From Agora 
3503
3504(Q ince we have some picture of an agorist soci- 
3505
3506
3507
3508Oety and an all-too-good picture of a statist so- 
3509ciety, let us connect them by slowly degenerating 
3510one into the other. Since it is usually more difficult 
3511to see how the "real here-and-now" becomes the 
3512possible, let's run the film backwards. Let us start 
3513with an agorist society and run backwards in time 
3514to what we have now, a statist society. 
3515
3516The State exists because of a mystique that 
3517confers upon it the sanction of the victim. Thus, 
3518we each must have lost our sanction of the State 
3519for the agora to have come about. Very well, run- 
3520ning the film of this in-between period backward, 
3521
3522
3523
3524
352590 
3526
3527
3528
3529Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3530
3531it should appear that some "mental plague" is 
3532infecting contented agorists to persuade them, 
3533one by one, to give up their freedom and submit to 
3534control by some embryonic government (a criminal 
3535gang with a good line of buncombe). 
3536
3537At first the State would be able to tax and mo- 
3538bilize only its followers. It would be a voluntary 
3539organization — sadomasochistic, to be sure, but 
3540still tolerated by the unaffected agorists. Every time 
3541the State tried to prey on insured agorists, it would 
3542be brought to arbitration and restitution enforced. 
3543
3544Still, against all reason, the infection grows 
3545and the State is too powerful now for restitution 
3546to be enforced. Some privileged people are able to 
3547live successfully off plunder and be protected by 
3548the mindless subjects of the new State who will 
3549sacrifice their own property, and even their lives, 
3550so that some may live off others. (Remember, this 
3551is the opposite of how people think sanely because 
3552we are deliberately going backwards. It should be 
3553a comfort to know that this route is highly unlikely 
3554in a forward direction.) 
3555
3556The State now has its power elite, ruling class, 
3557conspiracy, or whatever term you like best. They 
3558can distribute some of this unearned wealth to 
3559bribe agorists who have little conviction (and a 
3560weak will) to join the infected masses. Now the 
3561State reaches a level that permits it not only to 
3562stave off the protection companies, but actually 
3563to attack them. At this point, the companies go 
3564"underground" or Counter-Economic, still enforc- 
3565ing contracts among the remaining agorists and 
3566
3567
3568
356991 
3570
3571
3572
3573Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3574
3575those who are not being very well defended by the 
3576inefficient State apparatus, as well as those who 
3577are not in favor with the Statists' top-level elite. 
3578Otherwise, people look out for Statist enforcers as 
3579much as possible and develop evasive techniques in 
3580order to keep their manufacture, trade and services 
3581from detection and capture. They develop Counter- 
3582Economic techniques. And they keep on going. 
3583
3584Finally, the State compels its new citizens to 
3585give up their gold for worthless paper; and then 
3586the State divides into several States and mobilizes 
3587the citizens to get to see which ruling class will 
3588get the biggest share of the tax plunder. Sound 
3589like we've gone a little crazy in imagining anyone 
3590permitting this? True enough, but unfortunately, 
3591this craziest picture of all describes nothing less 
3592than the reality we live in right now. 
3593
3594The path from here to agora now becomes blind- 
3595ingly obvious. As more people reject the State's 
3596mystifications — nationalism, pseudo-Economics, 
3597false threats, and betrayed political promises — 
3598the Counter- Economy grows both vertically and 
3599horizontally. Horizontally, it involves more and 
3600more people who turn more and more of their ac- 
3601tivities toward the counter-economic; vertically, it 
3602means new structures (businesses and services) 
3603grow specifically to serve the Counter- Economy 
3604(safe communication links, arbitrators, insurance 
3605for specifically "illegal" activities, early forms of 
3606protection technology, and even guards and protec- 
3607tors). Eventually, the "underground" breaks into 
3608the overground where most people are agorists, 
3609
3610
3611
361292 
3613
3614
3615
3616Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3617
3618few are statists, and the nearest State enforcement 
3619cannot effectively crush them. 
3620
3621These agorist condensations are highly vulnera- 
3622ble when first exposed but will probably evaporate 
3623back into the anonymous masses when seriously 
3624threatened. Finally, one grows large enough to de- 
3625fend itself against the nearest State (see Chapter 
3626Seven regarding the many ways that it can defend 
3627itself). Others rally to it and those agorists stay- 
3628ing "home" under States' rule become ever-richer 
3629trading ports with the first agora condensations. 
3630
3631The rapid collapse of State taxation ability at 
3632this point will push the State to rely even more 
3633on inflation to support itself. The Counter- Econ- 
3634omists abandon fiat money ever-faster and use 
3635gold and trusted agorist gold warehouse receipts 
3636("hard- money cheques"). The runaway inflation 
3637approaches what Ludwig Von Mises termed "the 
3638Crack-Up Boom," paper money is completely aban- 
3639doned, like 1923 German reichsmarks and 1781 
3640U.S. Continentals and 1787 French assignats. (See 
3641the aforementioned novel Alongside Night for a 
3642thrilling presentation of this scenario.) 
3643
3644At the critical point when the protection compa- 
3645nies can protect anyone who asks for a policy and is 
3646willing to pay for it, the State loses its monopoly of 
3647legitimized coercion. Once the power elite realizes 
3648that "it has come to this," they will throw all the 
3649force they have left at the agora. The protection 
3650companies will defend the agorists, the taxpayers 
3651will flee the State to the free market, the military 
3652will desert as the State runs out of (acceptable) 
3653
3654
3655
365693 
3657
3658
3659
3660Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3661
3662pay and supplies for them, and the State will 
3663collapse. (The last sentence describes the Agorist 
3664Revolution, accept no substitute behavior involv- 
3665ing agorist "attacks" on the State. We are strictly 
3666defensive. Some people with grudges against the 
3667State, incited because of State-murdered loved 
3668ones, may undertake some spectacular commando 
3669raids and such, but that would not be the norm.) 
3670
3671Having spelled all this out, we still have one 
3672big question left unanswered: why has this not 
3673happened already? 
3674
3675The False Dichotomy 
3676
3677Divide and conquer has been a statist motto 
3678and tactic since Julius Caesar. The division of 
3679libertarianism from Counter- Economics has many 
3680causes but several can be attributed to Statist 
3681encouragement of illogic, irrationality, and sheer 
3682mysticism. Nowhere is this more evident than 
3683in the very field of thought confronting us: moral 
3684philosophy and economics. (It is noteworthy here 
3685to remember that the first economist, Adam Smith, 
3686was a professor of Moral Philosophy.) 
3687
3688Morally, the State and its clerical toadies have 
3689separated the moral from the practical. Several 
3690strains of religious thought, Kantian altruism, 
3691down to Hegel's explicit worship of the State, 
3692have told people to try to live morally, but always 
3693fail; then the people were to let the State (with 
3694the blessings of the Established Church of Statist 
3695ideology) punish them. 
3696
3697
3698
369994 
3700
3701
3702
3703Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3704
3705Economically, the Court Economists have dis- 
3706torted and changed the laws of economics to suit 
3707the ruling group. Mercantilism, economic nation- 
3708alism, Fabianism, fascism, Keynsianism, mon- 
3709etarism, supply-side Economics, socialism, social 
3710democracy, progressivism, New Deal, Fair Deal, 
3711Square Deal, New Frontier, Just Society, Great 
3712Society, war communism, unspecified Hope and 
3713Change, and middle-of-the-road-ism are political 
3714frauds and economic nonsense. In most cases, the 
3715priests, intellectuals, and rulers knew what they 
3716were doing and continued doing it until the snake 
3717oil no longer sold. Then they simply slapped a new 
3718label on the same noxious brew. 
3719
3720Most people are ignorant of economics today and 
3721remain frightened by the subject. Most people think 
3722morality is either impossible, irrelevant, or some- 
3723thing they can do nothing about but which will catch 
3724up with them eventually, either while they are alive 
3725or after their death. As many sages have repeated, 
3726the truth will set you free. Even the cases where the 
3727truth was dimly seen "as through a glass darkly," 
3728the liberating effects have been visible. Rebellious 
3729religious sects often morphed into authoritarian 
3730cults, but some achieved incredible freedom, such 
3731as the Rhode Island Baptists, the Pennsylvanian 
3732Quakers, and the American Deists, who advanced 
3733the American Revolutionary ideology. Adam Smith 
3734and his immediate followers in Europe created such 
3735an impact in the early 19th Century trade policies 
3736that a wave of economic prosperity swept the world 
3737with just a lowering of trade barriers toward freedom. 
3738
3739
3740
374195 
3742
3743
3744
3745Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3746
3747Then came World War I and the heyday of so- 
3748cialism, justified largely by the "failure" of free 
3749enterprise. (It did not fail, it was stifled by internal 
3750"progressive" regulation and external war "emer- 
3751gencies.") With the collapse of socialism and its 
3752various offspring such as Soviet Communism and 
3753American Liberalism, a vacuum has opened for 
3754an ideology to inspire and guide thinking people. 
3755Though the States of the world give lip-service to 
3756various socialist ideals, they are aware (or their 
3757Higher Circles are aware) that socialist ideals are 
3758losing their ability to beguile. Perhaps something 
3759called Libertarianism, having given up its remain- 
3760ing ties to Liberty while promising to provide it 
3761through Statism, will be the next bottle of snake 
3762oil the confidence men of the State will offer to 
3763maintain our sanctions. 
3764
3765The State in the Mind 
3766
3767The State has guns and men to use them. As 
3768we have seen, however, it not only can fail to 
3769coerce a rebellious majority, it cannot even stop 
3770an enterprising minority of black marketeers 
3771and other Counter-Economists. The State must 
3772be defeated in each person's mind. Once you per- 
3773sonally reject its hold over you, you are as free as 
3774your intelligence, your will to take risks, and the 
3775aid of your allies can keep you. New converts to 
3776Christianity describe a similar process, which they 
3777call being "born again." Even in darkest Russia 
3778or China, entrepreneurs thrive and — for a high 
3779
3780
3781
378296 
3783
3784
3785
3786Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3787
3788price — buy their well-being and additional free- 
3789dom. Of course, any North American, Australian, 
3790or European reading this should have a relatively 
3791easier time and a higher payoff. 
3792
3793What may be needed — in addition to spread- 
3794ing the word and living it — is some form of 
3795agorist psychology. Perhaps we can use the ex- 
3796amples of therapy for childhood mistreatment or 
3797consciousness-raising groups for feminists, gays, 
3798and other obviously oppressed groups. We can all 
3799get together in small affinity groups of trusted 
3800friends and allies to dig our contradictions out of 
3801our unconscious. We can flush out the State from 
3802our heads by ourselves or together or both ways. 
3803
3804Every law that you obey must be reexamined 
3805with the thought, how does it protect life and prop- 
3806erty 1 ? If, as almost every law in our system does, it 
3807actually constricts the market or steals outright, it 
3808should not be obeyed save when force is reported 
3809nearby and menacing you directly. 
3810
3811Once you have successfully arranged your life to 
3812live in the free- market anarchy to the extent that 
3813you can accept the risks — the higher the risks, 
3814the bigger the payoff, including freedom — you can 
3815and will quite naturally add to your ranks. Risks 
3816are lowered by trustworthy marketeers working 
3817together. Soon everyone will know agorists are the 
3818most trustworthy of all. Come runaway inflation 
3819and depressions, the unemployed and bankrupt 
3820in the State's Economy will see unlimited jobs and 
3821entrepreneurial opportunities, not to mention the 
3822preserved wealth for capital, that the Counter- 
3823
3824
3825
382697 
3827
3828
3829
3830Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3831
3832Economy offers and join it if only to keep from 
3833starving, losing their homes, their family support, 
3834and their remaining self-respect. 
3835
3836Remember, an agorist is one who lives counter- 
3837economically without guilt for his or her heroic, 
3838day-to-day actions, with the old libertarian mo- 
3839rality of never violating another's person or prop- 
3840erty. There is no "membership card" to fool you; 
3841an agorist is one who lives agorism. Accept no 
3842counterfeits. 
3843
3844There are agorists "trying to live up to it." There 
3845are, of course, liars who will claim to be anything. 
3846As Yoda said so succinctly, "Do. Or do not. There 
3847is no try." 
3848
3849That's Agorism. 
3850
3851
3852
385398 
3854
3855
3856
3857Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3858
3859
3860
3861Afterword 
3862
3863
3864
3865Beyond Basic Agorism 
3866
3867A few words may be appropriate here for 
3868the reader who enjoyed the primer but 
3869wishes to go on to the hard stuff. There 
3870are two ways to go. 
3871
3872Horizontally, one can delve deeply into eco- 
3873nomics, Counter-Economics, Revisionist History, 
3874and some areas not really covered here, such as 
3875libertarian philosophy, psychology, and literature. 
3876There are plenty of sources for those who wish to 
3877check out some of our claims here or specialize in 
3878an area of personal excitement. 
3879
3880Vertically, one has fewer choices because few 
3881publications have emerged so far from this brand- 
3882new movement. This author has published New 
3883Libertarian Manifesto — available from KoPubCo 
3884— for those who wish to go beyond mere simple 
3885agorism to become activists, advance protection 
3886agents defending the Counter- Economy by public 
3887relations, education... and other means. 
3888
3889Websites, such as agorism. info and agorist. 
3890com, have sprung up, created by agorists eager to 
3891extend theory into practical action. 
3892
3893
3894
389599 
3896
3897
3898
3899Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3900
3901
3902
3903A full-sized book — Counter -Economics — is 
3904awaiting publication at KoPubCo, [though it lay 
3905unfinished at the time of SEK3's death. — VK\. It 
3906will emphasize examples and practice, the theory 
3907being as much as already covered here. 
3908
3909
3910
3911
3912Samuel Edward Konkin III — An Agorist Primer 
3913
3914
3915
3916This First Edition of An Agorist Primer is set in 
3917Century Schoolbook type, a very pleasant and 
3918readable font, at 12 points on 14 point leading. 
3919Titles are in Academy Engraved and Baskerville 
3920Old Face. Typesetting, layout, and cover design 
3921was performed by Black Dawn Graphics, which 
3922has provided services to KoPubCo since 1983. 
3923
3924
3925
3926101 
3927
3928
3929
3930About the Author 
3931
3932
3933
3934Samuel Edward Konkin III was a vanguard move- 
3935ment theorist and hard-core activist since the 
3936historic split between libertarians and conserva- 
3937tives at the YAF convention in St. Louis, 1969. In the 
3938subsequent three and a half decades, he served as edi- 
3939tor and publisher of the longest-lived libertarian publi- 
3940cation, beginning as Laissez-Faire! (1970), then as New 
3941Libertarian Notes (1971-75), New Libertarian Weekly 
3942(1975-77, the longest-running libertarian weekly), and 
3943New Libertarian (1978-1990). He wrote the seminal 
3944work on agorism, New Libertarian Manifesto, in 1980. 
3945
3946He has coined the following terms and concepts, 
3947many of which have turned up in all libertarian pub- 
3948lications: Counter-Economics, agorism, minarchy, 
3949partyarchy, anti-principles, Left Libertarianism, anar- 
3950chozionism, "Browne-out," red market, Kochtopus, and 
3951more. He has influenced the works of authors such as 
3952J. Neil Schulman (Alongside Night) and Victor Koman 
3953(Solomon's Knife), who both had their first professional 
3954fiction sales in the pages of his publications. 
3955
3956Mr. Konkin served as Executive Director of the 
3957Agorist Institute, an outreach organization promulgat- 
3958ing the principles of agorism and counter-economics. 
3959He was guest of honor at science-fiction conventions 
3960and libertarian gatherings and was a seasoned world 
3961traveller. His unfinished magnum opus, Counter- 
3962Economics, will see publication in the near future. 
3963Mr. Konkin died February 23, 2004. 
3964
3965
3966
3967Now that you've read it in electronic form, you might 
3968want to order the keepsake KoPubCo hardcover first 
3969edition of Samuel Edward Konkin Ill's masterpiece. 
3970
3971
3972
3973
3974Counter-Economics, 
3975Total Freedom, 
3976and You 
3977
3978Samuel Edward Konkin III 
3979
3980
3981
3982kopubco.com/aap_hb.html 
3983ISBN 978-0-9777649-4-5 
3984
3985
3986
3987
3988KoPubCo is the publishing division of 
3989The Triplanetary Corporation 
3990
3991
3992
3993mm 
3994
3995
3996
3997
3998The classic of libertarian theory and practice is 
3999back in print in a newly re-typeset, pocket-sized 
4000edition! One of the most influential works in the 
4001| field, New Libertarian Manifesto is more timely 
4002than ever. Includes critiques by Murray N. 
4003Rothbard, Robert LeFevre, and Erwin S. 
4004| "Filthy Pierre" Strauss, and responses by 
4005Samuel Edward Konkin III. 
4006
4007
4008
4009Konkin's writings are to be welcomed. 
4010Because we need a lot more poly- 
4011centrism in the movement. Because 
4012| he shakes up Partyarchs who tend 
4013to fall into unthinking compla- 
4014cency. And especially because 
4015he cares deeply about liberty and can 
4016read and write, qualities which seem to be 
4017going out of style in the libertarian movement." 
4018
4019—Murray N. Rothbard, Ph.D. 
4020
4021
4022
4023kopubco.com/nlm_trade.html 
4024ISBN 978-0-9777649-2-1 
4025
4026
4027
4028
4029KoPubCo is the publishing division of 
4030The Triplanetary Corporation 
4031
4032
4033
4034mm 
4035
4036From 1970 to 1990, New Libertarian — in all its myriad forms 
4037— published many of the luminaries of the movement and 
4038served as a springboard for new and upcoming counter-econ- 
4039mic stars. Nearly all back issues are available from KoPubCo 
4040in either their original form or as quality photocopies. 
4041
4042
4043
4044
4045Laissez Faire! (1970) 
4046
4047New Libertarian Notes (1971 to 1975) 
4048
4049New Libertarian Weekly (1975 to 1977) 
4050
4051New Libertarian (1978 to 1990) 
4052
4053New Libertarian Manifesto (1980-2006) 
4054
4055Strategy of the New Libertarian Alliance (1981 to 1983) 
4056
4057New Libertarian Notes & Calendar (1985 to 1987) 
4058
4059New Libertarian: The Newsletter (1988 to 1990) 
4060
4061Robert Anton Wilson in New Libertarian Publications 
4062
4063TheAgorist Quarterly 
4064
4065Writers Appearing in New Libertarian Publications 
4066
4067
4068
4069The New Christmas Ctasle! 
4070
4071i — — i 
4072
4073
4074
4075of 
4076
4077
4078
4079
4080Th£ <§>£er£t §torg 
4081of Santa's 'RjzM §on 
4082
4083Samuel Edward Konkin III 
4084
4085and Victor Koman 
4086
4087
4088kopubco.com/tloac_pb.html 
4089ISBN 978-0-9777649-5-2 
4090
4091
4092
4093
4094KoPubCo is the publishing division of 
4095The Triplanetary Corporation