About the Libertarian Alliance

The Libertarian Alliance is an organisation working for fundamental and permanent changes in the social, economic and political arrangements of the
human race. We deny the moral legitimacy of the present order of things. We regard the State as both unnecessary for any good purpose, and as the
foremost violator of life, liberty and property. For us, freedom is part of a natural order based on voluntary exchange that emerges spontaneously
whenever the State withdraws. To quote ourselves from 1979, "what we want is a government so small, that it doesn't matter where it is, what it does,
who's in it, or how they got there".

As a conspiracy of radical intellectuals, we are both well-organised and well-known. The Libertarian Alliance is the largest and most active libertarian
organisation outside North America. We have published more than 800 pamphlets, some of these of book length. We manage over a hundred media
appearances every year, together with a growing number of speeches and debates. We hold two big conferences every year - one in London, the
other somewhere in Europe. We maintain the second largest libertarian web site in the world after the CATO Institute in Washington DC.

We are called "extremists" and "fanatics". We are accused of lurking far beyond the lunatic fringe of British politics. There can be no doubt, however,
that, when it comes to filling a radio studio, we have made ourselves part of the mainstream debate. It was 1995 when one of us was last asked by a
BBC interviewer "Just what is the Libertarian Alliance?" For all they may not like us, the people who matter in this country know exactly who we are.

History and Purpose

Officers of the Libertarian Alliance
Advisory Council of the Libertarian Alliance
They Also Serve
Chris R. Tame RIP

History and Purpose

The Libertarian Alliance was founded in 1977 by Mark Brady, Judy Englander, David Ramsay Steele and Chris Tame, in Mark Brady's flat in Woking.
It was a formalisation and continuation of the Radical Libertarian Alliance, founded by Mark Brady, Pauline Russell and Chris Tame in late 1971,
which itself had links to the Young Libertarians founded by David Myddleton in 1967. This was a breakaway movement from the Society for Individual
Freedom, which was a merger of the Society of Individualists (dating to the 1840s) with the National League for Freedom. Nevertheless, relations
between the Libertarian Alliance and the Society for Individual Freedom have remained good ever since, with an overlap of members and officers.

Though we are held together by a shared hatred of the state, the Libertarian Alliance has no ideological orthodoxy. We are a coalition of conservatives,
classical liberals, free market anarchists and mutualists, among many others. This being said, we are generally agreed on means. We have taken to
ourselves the Marxist-Leninist tool of agitprop. We recognise that the changes we seek are unlikely to be achieved through mass politics or short term
public relations. They are more likely to result from a long term campaign of propaganda aimed at those who shape the thoughts of the masses.

This does not mean that we ignore current politics or momentary issues. We join in those campaigns to which we are independently drawn. But even
as we assist in these campaigns, we also use them to spread libertarian ideas.

What may be regarded as our founding document, Purpose and Strategy of the Libertarian Alliance, declares an intention to

recruit a number (small by necessity) of committed and knowledgeable adherents to libertarian doctrine. The group should not be much concerned
with the direct results of publicity seeking efforts or of campaigning for particular political measures. All of the group's activities should be judged
in the light of long-term propaganda. The group will seek some media attention and will effortlessly receive more, and will agitate and campaign on
particular issues. It will be a welcome bonus if any of these efforts are intrinsically successful, but it will be no great tragedy if they have no effect
on legislation or on mass opinion. Their main value is in recruiting the few potential libertarian propagandists, and in helping to educate those
already recruited.

The recruiting of one committed and knowledgeable libertarian activist is of immensely more value than thousands of pages of publicity in the
national press or thousands of hours of TV exposure. Those pages and hours of media coverage might result in the obtaining of several recruits.
But recruits to what? If it be recruits to an organisation for getting further pages and hours of coverage, it is futile, if not harmful....

The short-range perspective leads propagandists to try to sell libertarian ideas to the public. The long-range perspective leads propagandists to
pursue small-scale but quality recruitment. The short-range perspective leads propagandists to under-play certain essential aspects of libertarian
doctrine, in the fond hope that people can be seduced into a libertarian outlook by gentle nudges. The long range propagandist actually relishes
stating these aspects of libertarianism which will upset most of the general public, knowing that they will appeal to a certain type of intellectual with
a bold and systematic turn of mind....

The long-range propagandist can face the reality that he is one of a small group of people endeavouring to spread, and also refine, a system of
distinctive and not very popular ideas about society and politics. The propagandist is not discouraged at lack of visible progress in the arenas of
politics or mass opinion. He is gratified by the visible progress in building up the small but increasingly effective propaganda group.

The group publishes a range of leaflets. These state the basic libertarian position on many issues, including those which are not very palatable to
the public. (The leaflets will include ones on child labour laws, denationalization of the streets, immigration control, prostitution and gun control.) It
publishes pamphlets, some of which develop the libertarian analysis in greater detail, others arguing positions controversial within the libertarian
movement. It publishes a regular journal which does not simply put the libertarian case, but rather takes that for granted as a background to
debates and comments. The group debates with all and sundry. It holds regular lectures and discussion meetings. It studies other propaganda
groups from the points of view both of their ideas and their techniques of advancing those ideas. Its members turn up at other group's meetings to
ask questions.

Published in 1981, these words describe what we have been doing ever since. For long range propaganda, we have our 800 pamphlets, and our
continuing unwillingness to shut up about issues that outrage the public or alienate some potential allies within the Establishment. For agitation, we have
been busy on a number of fronts. Among these have been:

The Conservative Party During the 1980s, some of us tried hard to take over the governing party of this country. Though in practice, they were
authoritarian corporatists, whose mission was to stabilise not change the existing order of things, the Conservatives justified themselves with a semi-
libertarian rhetoric that allowed true believers to pose as hypocrites and get elected to positions of importance. Before the leadership understood what
was happening, libertarians took over the Federation of Conservative Students and various other Party youth movements. The idea was to make these
into bases from which to capture the central machinery of the Party. The leadership did eventually realise what was happening, and took ruthless
action to stop the takeover. It set the security services on the Libertarian Alliance, and purged or closed down all the Party youth movements.

The takeover itself was a failure. But its legacy was a generation of activists who, inside or outside the Party structures, have been a continuing source
of trouble to the Conservative leadership. And if not with the same confidence and numbers, a new generation of libertarian activists is already at work
within the Conservative Party of David Cameron. Once the next general election is out of the way, another takeover will be attempted.

The Eurosceptic Movement Since about 1990, libertarians have had a profound influence at every level on resistance to European integration. This is
partly because some of us are patriots - hating your government is not incompatible with loving your country - and partly because most of us believe a
European central state is a greater obstacle to libertarianism than even a rather fascistic British state. We have been significant in the Bruges Group, in
the Referendum Party, in the Democracy Movement and in the UK Independence Party. We have provided much intellectual and organisational
stiffening to a movement that would otherwise remain as incoherent and negative as in the 1980s. We have also done much, in true agitprop manner, to
spread libertarian ideas within the Eurosceptic movement.

FOREST In 1988, Chris R. Tame, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, was appointed Director of the largest smokers' rights movement in Europe. Set
up by the tobacco companies as a bargaining counter with the Department of Health, Dr Tame turned the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy
Smoking Tobacco into a libertarian front organisation. He defended the right to smoke superbly well - even though he was himself a non-smoker. He
wore out three Chairmen of the main anti-smoking movement. He issued a continuous stream of news releases and long reports.

Most notably, he is said to have destroyed the career of Alan Amos MP. Mr Amos was campaigning for a ban on tobacco advertising. Before he
could get very far, the newspapers were provided with photographs of him in the act of enjoying male company on Hampstead Heath. Mr Amos was
forced to resign from Parliament, and nothing more was heard of the advertising ban for almost a decade. As for Mr Amos, he defected to the Labour
Party, where his "diverse" lifestyle and politically correct authoritarianism doubtless raised no eyebrows.

Dr Tame always denied any involvement in this act of destruction. But there was something artificial about his denial. No one believed him.

In 1995, the tobacco companies decided that Dr Tame had exceeded his brief to the point of compromising their dealings with the State, and had him
removed as Director. Nevertheless, he had spent seven years and several million pounds on employing his friends and comrades to spread libertarian
ideas.

In 2006, Dr Tame died after a short and unexpected illness. He left the Libertarian Alliance to the joint running of Tim Evans and Sean Gabb. Perhaps
no movement can go on exactly as before after the departure of its charismatic founder. But the Libertarian Alliance has continued along the path laid
down in 1981. The pamphlets grow at about 50 a year. We reach out to any other movement that we can assist and influence. As of 2008, we were
heavily involved in opposing moves to criminalise possession of "violent" pornography. More controversially, we were also having a strong influence on
the leadership of the formerly national socialist British National Party. These people are known to have been studying Libertarian Alliance material for
years. Certainly, they read Sean Gabb's book Cultural Revolution, Culture War, and ever since have copied his strategy of turning the analytical
tools of the new left against the new left British Establishment.

We regret that we have so far managed to have no contact with, and probably no influence on, this country's radical Islamic groups. But this is a
dereliction we shall almost certainly make good over the next few years.

In short, we are conspiring to gain ideological hegemony. We do not avoid controversy. We tolerate the widest diversity of opinion within our
movement. We use the media and any other organisation that will give us a platform to spread libertarian ideas. We are not discouraged by lack of
immediate progress. We expect failure for the foreseeable future. We do not expect our efforts to bear fruit until at least the end of the present
century, if at all. But if there is a winning strategy for libertarianism, ours is probably it.

Officers of the Libertarian Alliance

As of June 2008, the Officers of the Libertarian Alliance are as follows:

President: Dr Tim Evans is a former Chief Executive of the Centre for the New Europe in Brussels (2002-2005), Director
of Public Affairs at the Independent Healthcare Association in London (1993-2002), and Head of the Slovak Prime Minister's
Policy Unit in Bratislava (1991).

Today, he is Managing Director of the predictive public affairs consultancy Farsight SPI and Director of Business
Development for the Stockholm Network. He is also the Senior Fellow for Personal Liberties at the Adam Smith Institute and
a Senior Fellow with the Centre for the New Europe.

He has a PhD from the London School of Economics and has recently been made a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. A
life-long libertarian he now lives in Central London with his wife Helen, daughter Petica and three cats - Basil, Freddie and
Douglas.

He can be contacted via his email at tim@libertarian.co.uk His mobile telephone number is 07956 969523.

Director: Dr Sean Gabb is writer, broadcaster, lecturer, and general publicist for the libertarian movement in
England.

His media work, on both radio and television, involves programmes in Britain, the USA, Canada, Argentina, Sudan and
various world-wide networks. He has managed over 500 appearances on major new programmes, documentaries,
debate programmes and chat shows, including Newsnight, The Midnight Hour, Scottish Question Time, The World
Tonight and The People's Parliament. He is consulted as an expert on civil liberties issues, economic freedom and
the open society.

A prolific writer, his essays and monographs have been published by a wide range of institutions, including the Social
Affairs Unit, the Independent Healthcare Association, the Adam Smith Institute, the Freedom Organisation for the
Right to Enjoy Smoking, and of course the Libertarian Alliance, on such topics as constitutional law, health policy, religious freedom, civil liberties,
history and economics and economic policy. More recently, he has branched into historical fiction. His first novel, The Column of Phocas, has been
republished by Hodder & Stoughton to moderate acclaim.

For more information his personal web site can be found at www.seangabb.co.uk. His books can be ordered via Amazon or directly via The Hampden
Press. Dr Gabb can be emailed at sean@libertarian.co.uk His mobile telephone number is 07956 472199.

Editorial and Membership Director: Nigel Meek graduated in 1996 as a mature student with a B.Sc in Psychology and followed in 1998 with an
MA in Applied Social and Market Research. He has most recently worked in the market research industry and the support side of further education.
Currently studying for a PhD, Nigel oversees maintenance of LA's subscriber lists. He can be contacted at nigel@libertarian.co.uk

Financial Director: David Farrer is Finance Director of the Libertarian Alliance. He has a BA (First Class Honours) in Modern History and
Economics, is a qualified Chartered Secretary and a member of both the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Management. David provides
business services through his company, Midlothian Management Ltd. As well as subscribing to the Institute of Economic Affairs and the David Hume
Society, he is a member of the International Society for Individual Liberty through which he met his wife Pam. David is a Rothbardian natural rights
Libertarian with a particular interest in the politics of his native Scotland in which he lives. In the nineteen-eighties, he was candidate for the
Hampstead constituency for the Campaign to Abolish the Greater London Council. He can be contacted via his email farrer@libertarian.co.uk

Legal Affairs Spokesman: David Carr is a graduate in law from Trent Polytechnic he is today a practicing solicitor. An active
libertarian who has written a number of LA papers over the years he can be contacted via email at carr@libertarian.co.uk or on
his mobile telephone number 07951 777307.

Director of European Affairs: Christian Michel was born and miseducated in Paris. He did odd
jobs in film and advertising before entering real life as a telex operator at an American stock broking
firm. Working his way up the corporate ladder he eventually became finance director of a public
company in Geneva. In 1986, he bought his employer's small financial consultancy. It grew rapidly
offering protection to individuals and multinationals against unfair taxation and bureaucratic
encroachments. Having sold the business to his partners in 2000, Christian moved to London where he
lectures and advises a couple of non-profit organisations. He is president of Libertarian International and a director of ISIL
and the Libertarian Alliance. He can be contacted via email at christian@libertarian.co.uk

Online Administrator: Mario Huet, having a long standing interest in computers he oversees the day to day running of
the LA Forum. He can be contacted at his email mario@libertarian.co.uk

Director of Northern Affairs and LA Blogmaster: David Davis is a founder member of the Libertarian Alliance when it consisted of Chris Tame
and a few friends. In 1973 David graduated from the university of Oxford with a 2:1 in Biochemistry, including Pharmacology and Nuclear Physics
subsids. He worked in advertising agencies and in public relations in the 1970s and 80s, has taught advanced maths and the sciences, and owned his
own retail manufacturing business in London in the 1980s and 90s. Besides commenting on social, historical and economic issues in the North of the
UK, David is interested in particular in the relationships between the development of the following: Judeo-Christian morality, the philosophy of Science,
and the evolving of Anglosphere culture and civilisation.

David is currently acting also as the blogmaster of the libertarian Alliance Blog, which is at:- http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com

He now lives in the North West of England, and can be contacted at david@libertarian.co.uk

Advisory Council of the Libertarian Alliance

Dr Nigel Ashford
Staffordshire University

Dr Peter Breggin
Psychiatrist

Professor John Burton

University of Birmingham

Professor Christie Davies

University of Reading

Dr Stephen Davies
Sheffield Hallam University

Walter Grinder
Institute for Humane Studies

Professor John Hibbs OBE

University of Central England in Birmingham

Professor John Hospers

University of Southern California

Professor Eric Mack

Tulane University

Professor Joachim Maitre

University of Boston

Professor David Myddleton

Cranfield University

Professor Douglas Rasmussen

St John's University

Sudha Shenoy
University of Newcastle
(New South Wales)

Professor Thomas S. Szasz

State University of New York

Dr Bill Thompson
University of Reading

Professor Walter Williams

George Mason University
They Also Serve

We would also like to mention those many supporters who continue to contribute to the Libertarian Alliance's activities by way of financial
contributions, envelope stuffing, computer assistance, HTML conversions and so forth. A very long list, they include:

Rebecca Baty
Toby Baxendale
David Botsford
Tom Burroughs
Antoine Clarke
Helen Evans
Mark Haley
Malcolm Hutty
Alastair James
Hubert Jongen
Simon McIlwaine
Don Riley
Ian and Bunny Smedley
Paul Staines
Martin Summers
Rob Thomas

Chris R. Tame RIP

Dr Chris R. Tame, the Founder and President of the Libertarian Alliance, died at 3:37pm on Monday the 20th March 2006. He died after a long illness.
Here are the newspaper reports and obituaries.

Initial Announcement of Death

Sean Gabb, Obituary in The Independent
Sean Gabb, Longer Obituary in Free Life Commentary
Obituary in Liverpool Daily Post
Peter Clarke, Obituary in The Scotsman
Marc Glendining, Obituary in The Guardian
Harry Phibbs, Obituary in The Daily Telegraph
Danny Kruger, Appreciation in The Daily Telegraph

Read other Tributes all over the Internet

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