“In the final stage of statism – domestic fascism and international imperialism –
the prospect of nuclear war looms like some Wagnerian gesture of finality”
-Libertarian Vanguard 1979
Libertarian Vanguard was the voice of the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus (RC) from 1979 to 1984. The Radical Caucus was formed in reaction to the perceived unprincipled actions of the national Libertarian Party, which in the late 1970s was dominated by the then San Francisco-based Cato Institute. The Cato Institute, the nexus of much libertarian political activity and funding, relocated to Washington DC in 1981, a move seen, by the RC, as joining the establishment. (“Opportunists Move Rightward” was Vanguard‘s headline.)
Strident but eerily oracular, in its inaugural 1979 issue, Libertarian Vanguard proclaimed, we “must raise the class consciousness of the public. The great masses of people are the victims, not beneficiaries of State power….In the final stage of statism – domestic fascism and international imperialism – the prospect of nuclear war looms like some Wagnerian gesture of finality.”
And what the “Corporate State oligarchy” most greatly fears is the “revolutionary potential of blacks, Chicanos, women, and gays who have been betrayed by decades of social welfare programs which have led to nothing but misery, exploitation, and crushing inflation.”
Many articles dealt with US foreign policy, attacking US involvement in other nation’s affairs and military expansion. Others dealt with governmental encroachment on individual rights, including freedom of speech, self-defense, and with overzealous prosecution of victimless crimes.
International in scope, its investigative journalism raised such issues as the likelihood that the 1980 Operation Eagle Claw operation (the calamitous US military op to rescue Iranian hostages) was too big to be just a hostage rescue operation but rather an attempt to topple the Iranian government.
The Editor of Libertarian Vanguard was Justin Raimondo; on occasion Scott Olmsted took the helm. The Editorial Board was usually the RC central committee (Bob Costello, Bill Evers, Eric Garris, Colin Hunter, Greg Kaza, Scott Olmstead, Diane Pilcher, Justin Raimondo, and Murray Rothbard). The publication proved a fertile bed for writers including Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Roy Childs, Sheldon Richman, and more.
The Radical Caucus eventually broke up in 1984 after a split within the Central Committee over the 1980 LP presidential campaign strategy. The members of the Central Committee remained close allies and participated together in many projects.
Justin Raimondo and Eric Garris went on to found, in 1996, Antiwar.com, a news/analysis site focused on US intervention around the world – and its repercussions domestically.
The sentiments, ideas, and words of Libertarian Vanguard are well worth considering nowadays. They evince an American energy, idealism, and commitment to the rights of individuals and those who are alienated from these rights.
Today, in 2022, libertarianism is more-or-less seen as either entirely capitalist at all costs or pro free-drugs-for-all. Thus it comes to be identified with monopolistic and state-embedded institutions (such as those deemed in 2008 “too big to fail”), and even with the opioid epidemic sweeping the abandoned American heartland.
Reading the stirring, invigorating words of the Radical Caucus paints an altogether more human and inspiring take on libertarianism. It would be ridiculous to defend every jot and tittle of Libertarian Vanguard. It was largely the effort of a group of radicals in their 20’s who didn’t actually know everything. But as is often true of young revolutionary writers, their voices ring true at heart and are clear of the cynicism of those embedded in the State system. Libertarian Vanguard should appeal to younger readers as an alternative to more conservative-sounding and -appearing Libertarian publications.
The issues are grouped by year and are searchable .pdfs. Note: .pdfs are very big files and take some time to load.