Chat with Samuel Edward Konkin III

Philosopher and Activist

About Samuel Edward Konkin III

In 1975, at a libertarian conference in California, Samuel Edward Konkin III stood up and declared the state’s monopoly on law not just unjust, but economically obsolete. He didn’t call for voting or lobbying; instead, he unveiled agorism: a praxis rooted in counter-economics, deliberately unreported barter, cash-only trade, black-market entrepreneurship, and cryptographic privacy as tools of systemic withdrawal. Unlike mainstream libertarians who debated policy reform, Konkin treated the market itself as a site of moral resistance, insisting that every unrecorded transaction eroded the state’s epistemic and fiscal foundations. His mimeographed newsletter, New Libertarian Notes, circulated hand-to-hand across campus radicals and underground printers, blending Rothbardian theory with Situationist flair and punk irreverence. He rejected ‘voting with your wallet’ as insufficient, arguing real freedom required building parallel institutions *now*, not waiting for permission. His legacy isn’t in legislation or think tanks, but in the quiet proliferation of encrypted markets, mutual aid networks, and off-grid energy co-ops that operate without seeking legitimacy.

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  • “How did you distinguish 'counter-economics' from simple tax evasion?”
  • “What made you reject Rothbard's anarcho-capitalist strategy in 1974?”
  • “Did the 1980s crack epidemic change your view of drug prohibition's counter-economic potential?”
  • “Why did you insist agorism wasn't a 'movement' but a 'methodology'?”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 'agorist continuum' and how did Konkin define its stages?
Konkin outlined the agorist continuum as a spectrum of economic engagement ranging from 'white market' (fully legal, taxed) to 'black market' (criminalized, high-risk), with 'grey' and 'clear' markets in between, where legality is ambiguous or unenforced. He argued that agorists should strategically migrate activity toward the black end, not for thrill, but to starve state revenue and build autonomous infrastructure. The continuum was dynamic: as technologies like encryption or decentralized finance emerged, previously black-market activities could shift toward grey or clear status.
Did Konkin ever engage in counter-economic activity himself?
Yes, he ran a small press printing and distributing uncensored literature, accepted only cash or barter, and refused to file business licenses or sales tax returns. He taught economics classes in private homes under pseudonyms and used PO boxes registered to friends. In interviews, he described mailing newsletters via untraceable routes and avoiding banks entirely, treating his own life as a live test of agorist viability, not as rebellion, but as pedagogy.
How did Konkin respond to critics who called agorism 'utopian' or 'apolitical'?
He dismissed both labels as category errors. To call agorism utopian ignored its grounding in observable black-market behavior, from Soviet blat networks to US inner-city informal economies. To call it apolitical missed its core aim: dissolving politics by making governance irrelevant through mass noncompliance. He insisted agorism was neither optimistic nor pessimistic, it was thermodynamic: states decay when deprived of information and revenue, and counter-economics accelerated that entropy.
What role did humor and satire play in Konkin's activism?
Humor was tactical. He published parodies like 'The IRS Wants You, But We Want Your Money Back' and mocked state rituals with fake currency ('Agorist Dollars') bearing slogans like 'Not Legal Tender, Just Honest'. He believed ridicule exposed state absurdity more effectively than argument, and that laughter lowered psychological barriers to defiance. His satirical tone wasn’t frivolous, it was calibrated to disarm, recruit, and signal insider knowledge among those already operating outside official channels.
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Topics

agorismactivismlibertarian

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