Was he really a libertarian socialist?
Yes, he was (therefore being an anarchist). As can be seen by his writings such as 'Natural Law' and 'Poverty: It's Illegal Causes and Legal Cure' He was very anti-state and anti-capitalist. He, like other individualist anarchists, was against interest, rent, and state enforced land property. Most notably he was anti-capitalist because of his opposition to wage work. For those who do not know, capitalist wage work (or profit) is the social relationship where an employer (one who owns the places and means of production) receives more money then employees for equal time worked within a company. Rather than both the employer and employee being paid equally for equal time worked (which would then be non-capitalist and therefore non-exploitive employer and employee relationships which could exist within an Individualist Anarchy as stated by Benjamin Tucker), the employers unfairly pay themselves more money than employees for equal time worked resulting in the robbing of the employee's part of their income. This robbing by the employer of the employee's equal share of income is the social relationship and the basis of capitalism, and explains why society is divided into two classes: the capitalists ( ie. the class that hires people for wage work and pay themselves more money from the sale of products their workers made while doing the same or less amount of work then the workers they hired) and the workers (or the working class) Such robbing of employees income by the employer is also a major reason why poverty exists. Without wage work based on profit, capitalism could not exist because capitalists (ie. employers who pay themselves more money than their employees for doing the same or less amount of work than the employees) would not exist- only workers who would own the means of production themselves. Lysander Spooner envisioned such a classless society where market competition between firms and businesses would still exist but such businesses and firms would be run by single individuals or as business partnerships (where business partners divided their income from the sale of their products equally amongst themselves) Therefore such a classless society where workers own and manage their own means of production is a form of socialism. Socialism does not mean a society where any form of economic competition does not exist, similarly capitalism does not mean an economic system based solely on competition, it is the social relationship of capitalist wage work, that determines if a society is capitalist (a class society of people making an income from the work of others without working themselves and workers) or socialist (a classless society of workers who own the means of production organizing the economy however they wish, including through free market competition) His vision of an anarchist society is one of a true laissez- faire free market competition where workers would own their own businesses and make their income from the sale of their products and services without the state and the exploitation and monopolies capitalism needs to exist.
ISSUE 1
New: On Non-Exploitive Wage Labor Ought to Be Paid! 'Should Labor Be Paid or Not?' By Benjamin Tucker-Also the non-exploitive Employer and Employee relationships in an Individualist Anarchy
www.lysanderspooner.org
Amazing site about Lysander Spooner
Anarchist FAQ
This is an excellent site. It is mainly from a social (rather than an individualist) anarchist viewpoint. Also with an excellent article on Lysander Spooner on the subject of how he was anti-capitalist. The specific link is at:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/secG7.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/secG5.html
A good site on various anarchists
A site about the individualist anarchist and his views on market anarchy.
Excellent site on mutualism and individualist anarchy.
Contemporary Individualist Anarchist publications
Individualist leaning anarchist journal