Is Libertarian and Anarchy the same?

[communist72]

ok i mean i see hows there like libertain socialist and and many others and then theres anrcho-communist and stuff like that.

but aren't they practitaly the same?
just anarchy tends to be violent
while libertaitin tend to be peacefull

just if they are pretty much the same then i can prove to my glenn beck loving libertain 9/12 nut job father they are the same

[Raúl Duke]

I think there's some slight confusion.

Libertarian socialist and Libertarian communists are 'older/alternate' terms that referred to both social anarchists and anarcho-communists. Chomsky himself is "bringing back" the libertarian socialist term (maybe it sounds nicer to liberals; whatever). Most anarchists don't use those titles much anymore...

Libertarian, the word itself (in English and particularly in America) alone, these days has nothing to do with anarchists.

[Tablo]

I'm pretty sure the term Libertarian used to generally be synonymous with Anarchist, but it certainly is not that way anymore.

Anarcho-Communism is one of the ideologies encompassed in Libertarian Socialist thought.

[Rjevan]

Let's take this thread to Learning, it will have a better future there. ;)
Moved.

[Crusade]

I think there's some slight confusion.

Libertarian socialist and Libertarian communists are 'older/alternate' terms that referred to both social anarchists and anarcho-communists. Chomsky himself is "bringing back" the libertarian socialist term (maybe it sounds nicer to liberals; whatever). Most anarchists don't use those titles much anymore...

Libertarian, the word itself (in English and particularly in America) alone, these days has nothing to do with anarchists.

I personally prefer the term libertarian socialist to anarchist. I'm not obsessing over terms or slight differences in tendency though. The term Anarchist has been diluted to mean "chaos" and most people I know consider anarchism a RIGHT wing ideology(so basically when people I know hear anarchy, they assume it means anarcho-capitalism). The word Libertarian implies government, but a limited or nonexistent(where I stand) state. Socialism, being an umbrella term, leaves more room for compromises in approach and structure. So you're partly right about it sounding nicer. "Libertarian" and "Socialist" describe my tendency better than "Anarchist" and "Communist".

[Zanthorus]

Libertarian seems to have changed it's meaning over time.

Originally "libertarian" was just a synonym for "anarchism" that anarchists used to get around censorship stuff as well as being used by Dejacque to distuinguish himself from Proudhon who was the only person calling themself an anarchist at the time.

I've also heard "libertarian" used interchangably with "lifestylism"

Nowadays "libertarian" is either used:

a) As a replacement for "liberal" now that liberalism has changed to meaning welfare-statism (In the majority of cases).
b) People who are anarchists (Or sympathetic to anarchism) but not "ultra-leftist" so to speak (Usually only used by people of a leftist/socialist political background). Chomsky for example supported Chavez.

You could argue that anarchism is the logical end of the second kind of libertarianism I guess.

The distinction between "anarchism" and "libertarianism" is definitely not about the use of violence though.

[Red Commissar]

In Europe during the 1800s and through parts of the 1900s, "Libertarian" used to refer to anarchists who held socialist or communist-style views.

At some point in the past 40 years, it got hijacked by groups in America, holding classical liberal views and using "Libertarian" in a way they think transmitted their main message- "liberty".

So currently, because of this misconception, they proceed to use the term "libertarian socialist". I think this is also used to emphasize the socialist currents within real anarchism, not the attempted hijacking of the term anarcho-capitalists are trying to do currently.

A Libertarian Socialist may also be more willing to participate or support political actions, acting as their own or as a tendency within another group.