Like I mentioned in my last post, I was in a Twitch stream: Socialism for All and asked if I was allowed in since I’m a libertarian socialist. The person who was doing the stream said to me, “As long as you’re not in here, vehemently promoting anarchism.” People get the wrong idea when they hear “anarchism,” and while libertarian socialism basically is anarchism, people get the wrong idea. It’s not people running around, destroying property and causing chaos.
Anarchism is often called libertarian socialism because it aligns with the core principles of socialism — opposing capitalism and advocating for collective ownership — while also emphasizing individual liberty and the rejection of authoritarian structures, including the state. The term distinguishes itself from state socialism like Marxist-Leninism, which relies on centralized authority to manage resources and economic planning.
Historically, the word libertarian was associated with anti-authoritarian leftist movements before right-wing ideologies, particularly in the U.S., co-opted it to mean free market individualism. Anarchists like Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin argued that true socialism must be libertarian, meaning it must be built on voluntary cooperation and free association rather than imposed by the state.
So, in summation, libertarian socialism (or anarchism) envisions a stateless, classless society where people self-organize through mutual aid, direct democracy, and decentralized institutions. It rejects both capitalism and state control, seeing them as oppressive forces that limit human freedom.
Sisyphus Shrugged 