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Reclaiming the Levellers from Socialism (Stephen Davies) - The Turney Collection

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Stephen Davies is currently education director at the Institute of Economic Affairs and a program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies. Previously he was a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.
In this lecture from the second World Convention of the Libertarian International in 1984, Davies shares the history of the Levellers, a political movement during the English Civil War that espoused radical individualism, equality before the law, and religious tolerance. He also takes questions from the audience.
Download the .mp3 version of this lecture here: bit.ly/16T8hai
The Turney Collection: Never-Before-Seen Archive Tapes
Related podcast episodes and articles are available here: www.libertarianism.org/media/...

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6 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 27

@rodneyabrett 10 лет назад

Brilliantly insightful. It's interesting to see how certain Libertarian movements of the past have been historically buried or dismissed. Thanks for the upload

@jamesholland4329 8 лет назад

Someone needs to write a libertarian history book. I think Lord Acton wrote one, but I'd like a modern author to do so to update historic knowledge to our current understanding. I know there are alot of Libertarian history buffs! If there is such a book please let me know by FB messaging me or something.

@Gorboduc 9 месяцев назад

It's noteworthy they use the word "equality" so much, but always in regard to contracts, and then at 22:50 they put a ban on laws which "level men's estates... or make all things common". So much for "equality" in the socialist sense.

@gen21617 6 лет назад

Essentially, the argument of the Levellers was that they had fought for freedom from royal decree (dictatorship) but many who had fought were left no better off than before the rebellion. Their argument was that it was an affront to natural law that there was so much land and yet many people still could not feed themselves. They believed the reason they could not feed themselves was that land was still the property of the few, whilst the many had not the means to sustain themselves due to their lack of sufficient land.

@IridescentEye 6 лет назад

Sounds like you're talking about communal diggers to me

@1voluntaryist 2 года назад

The Leveller argument against aggression, i.e., for non-violent social/economic interactions, would lead to the rejection of land claims based on decrees. Their arguments were muted by deadly force, but they lived on underground. People could not feed themselves because they accepted authority as legit, moral, superior. They suffered from ignorance, just as the majority suffer today.

@grandeoliba 10 лет назад

Very good stuff, thanks for posting!

@walterdennisclark 10 лет назад

Does anyone know the name of the smart chap in the audience. (He is seen adjusting the microphone in the beginning.) Where is he now? Stephen is very visible at LearnLiberty. Is there any other British libertarians with a presence on the youTube?

@gen21617 6 лет назад

What a stunning piece of sophistry. No doubt an attempt to usurp the term 'leveler' in the same way these sorts have done with the idea 'liberal' and 'liberty'.

@IridescentEye 6 лет назад

The term Leveller was placed upon them by their detractors in the same way Cavalier was placed on Royalist forces by their detractors ..... to subvert and besmudge.

@rodneyabrett 10 лет назад

Dr. Steven Davies has been doing a lot of recent lectures over at LearnLiberty's youTube channel. I recommend them!

@TruthRevoltNews 10 лет назад

I second that :)

@grumpyoldman8661 7 лет назад

The standard of English in the twentieth century? Listen to it now in the 21st! Even the simple letter 'H' is frequently pronounced with an aspirant, by people who should have been taught better. There are many other examples. (UK)

@stephenhardy312 3 года назад

This talk has behind it the neo-liberal message that decried 'the big state', redistributive measures - in fact, any civilising influence in the affairs of the society. This twisting of the Levellers' mission towards neo liberal ideologies is - and has been for the past 40 years shows the capricious nature of these right wing ideologues.

@MUSTASCH1O 3 года назад

Perhaps you missed it when he quoted the levellers as wanting a minimal state that does not enforce collectivisation around 22:30. In any case, advocating individualism in politics doesn't mean collectivism on a voluntary basis is seen as bad; it is actually good in many respects. This is also a libertarian view, which isn't as specific as neo-liberalism. Some libertarians are also anti-capitalist for example. The point of libertarianism is to keep government to a necessary minimum, and allow people to redistribute their wealth through charitable activities. Practical libertarians might even agree with certain minimum state welfare to ensure no one is missed.

@HopeIsFleeting 3 года назад

@@MUSTASCH1O Perhaps you've misunderstood the meaning of the word socialism. Socialism is NOT synonymous with the state. In fact, the eventual conclusion of a socialist ideology (full communism) is defined explicitly as a stateless society.

@MUSTASCH1O 3 года назад

@@HopeIsFleeting No, that's why I tried to avoid using the word socialism by using the broader term collectivism.

@HopeIsFleeting 3 года назад

@@MUSTASCH1O Collectivism isn't either. Which is why anarcho-collectivism exists.

@MUSTASCH1O 3 года назад

@@HopeIsFleeting This is just semantics now and is up to some interpretation. Collectivism can and has been enforced through totalitarian means. This is besides my original point that was referring specifically to the kind of big state collectivisation that the levellers opposed, and which is what the speaker was referring to. In other words, anyone can "claim" the levellers if they are for individual freedom; it doesn't matter so much if they decide collectivism or individualism is the way to greater liberty.

@donstacy7012 10 лет назад

I imagine the State will try to ban private 3D printers like it tried to ban private printing presses.

@markgrice8088 7 лет назад

in mho power was with the Levellers Regiments in the New Model Army, until Cromwell chose to break it, Rainsborough, Lilburne et al... Cromwell chose corruption and a new crown over freedom, and he betrayed the English Revolution.

@TruthRevoltNews 10 лет назад

They keep on finding lil nuggets of gold don't they :)

@HopeIsFleeting 3 года назад

Classic misinterpretation of socialism. Libertarianism in and of itself has its origins in socialism as the very term only came about when the word 'anarchism' was banned in public discourse in 1800s France. Those who labelled themselves as such like Joseph Déjacque and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon being unapologetically socialist.