In Pursuit of Liberty
Nicholas A. Bilitch
[Reprinted from Land & Liberty,
July-August, 1969]
AN EXAMINATION of any classified directory will reveal the existence
of hundreds of associations, unions, etc., promoting a diversity of
views, aims and activities. Among them are to be found such durable
political animals as the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the
Communist Party, the National Front, etc., who occupy the fringe of
political life. Also there are such pressure groups as the Bow Group,
the Monday dub, New Orbits, the Fabian Society, each of whom press
their own particular view as to the direction of the party (to which
they are affiliated) should go.
It was a pleasure to be asked to review the manifesto* of a body
calling themselves - rather prosaically - Common Wealth and who
deservedly define their objectives as libertarian. Any group of people
who describe their aspirations in the following terms merit being
taken seriously, and should command both our sympathy and
encouragement:
"The libertarian society
will be rooted in
co-operation and not in coercion, hence it will be classless, making
men equal in the right to status and regard. Its social forms will
be constantly changing, never static, always moving in the direction
of providing a free environment for the maximum development of the
individual human personality. We do not attempt to draw a blueprint
of libertarian society, for the form it will take will be decided
only by itself in the course of the struggle for its realisation.
The authoritarian loves to draw blueprints, to seek authority to
implement them and to end by imposing them. How can we, distracted
by the pressure of today, be certain of what is good for the future
human being? He alone can decide that. In political terms, coercion
may never be completely eliminated but the struggle against it will
be a continuous process. This will always be true; the final perfect
human being will never be born nor, in consequence, will the final
human society. Human society is subject to evolution, and the
concomitant of perfection in evolution is extinction. For us to
assume a state of eventual perfection and to attempt to lay down
rules for it, would be not only foolhardy but arrogant." While
the manifesto enunciates for the most part sound principles and
worthy objectives, Common Wealth has yet to show from its statements
on the pursuit of liberty and human rights that it understands the
full meaning and implications of economic liberty, without which men
will remain victims of entrenched legalised privilege and the
arbitrary actions of government.
For my money John Stuart Mill's essay On Liberty still
remains the finest testament on the real meaning as to what freedom
is all about, of which the following excerpt is an example. "The
sole end for which mankind are warranted (individually or
collectively) in interfering with the liberty of action of any of
their number is self protection."
Above all else, as Mill pointed out, there will be "No great
improvement in the lot of mankind
until a great change takes
place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought."
NOTES
* We Hold These Truths, A
Manifesto for Libertarians. Published by Common Wealth, Scamps Court,
Pilton Street, Barnstaple, Devon.
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