A Note on This Online Edition
of Konkin’s New Libertarian Manifesto
Alexander S. Peak
It became painfully obvious to me, upon purchasing a copy of New Libertarian
Manifesto (Samuel E. Konkin III’s manifesto for an agorist revolution), that the
other online editions of this book are woefully inadequate.
The copy I purchased was the fourth edition, published in August of 2006 by
KoPubCo. This edition cleaned up a lot of the errors and typos made in previous
editions, and is ultimately easier to read than any other edition online.
There is no website currently (21 November 2008) available, other than this one,
with the correct text.
Take for example this .pdf (http://www.agorism.info/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf)
available on agorism.info. Ignoring the æsthetically unpleasing format of the
text, this edition makes huge errors that are sure to confuse the reader. Take
for instance the third paragraph of chapter one, as seen on the .pdf:
Diffuse coercion is optimally handled by local, immediate self-
defense. Though the market may develop larger-scale businesses for
protection and restoration, random threats of violence can only be
dealt with roots of mysticism and delusions planted deep in the
victims' thinking, requires a grand strategy and a cataclysmic point
of historical singularity: Revolution.
The first sentence makes enough sense, but what of the second? Can anyone make
heads or tails of it?
If you think you can makes heads or tails of it, you’re deceiving yourself. In
actuality, this is supposed to be two separate paragraphs, which read as
follows:
Diffuse coercion is optimally handled by local, immediate self-
defense. Though the market may develop larger-scale businesses for
protection and restoration, random threats of violence can only be
dealt with on the spot ad hoc.
Organized coercion requires organized opposition. (An excellent
case has been made many times by many thinkers that such organization
should remain skeletal at best, fleshing out only for actual
confrontation, in order to prevent perversion of the defenders into an
agency of aggression.) Institutional coercion, developed over the
millennia with roots of mysticism and delusion planted deep in the
victims’ thinking, requires a grand strategy and a cataclysmic point
of historical singularity: Revolution.
Unfortunately, this error is everywhere on the Internet. Agorism.info is not
the only one to blame.
Other Flawed Versions
• http://www.agorism.info/NewLibertarianManifesto.pdf
• http://books.google.com/books?id=_iJxvWGpaOcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+libertarian+manifesto
• http://www.anarchism.net/newlibertarianmanifesto.htm
• http://www.blackcrayon.com/library/mll/nlm/
• http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/nlm/
• http://www.scribd.com/doc/10439/The-New-Libertarian-Manifesto
• http://www.eepsites.com/Content/Search/ViewCached.aspx?CachedURL=fproxy.tino.i2p%2FSSK%4090nkN5zrRC~9nBM4MM5mpP00~nMPAgM%2CbR~mK5h7HL2aMQzsJ5ug3g%2FNLM%2F%2F%3Fdate%3D20060611
To reiterate, this is the only site where you can currently (21 November 2008)
read the correct edition.