{{Short description|Canadian-American anarchist (1947–2004)}} {{CS1 config|mode=cs1}} {{Use American English|date=December 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Samuel Edward Konkin III | image = Samuel Edward Konkin III.png | birth_date = {{birth date|1947|7|8}} | birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|2004|2|23|1947|7|8}} | death_place = West Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = SEK3 | spouse = Sheila Wymer | alma_mater = University of Alberta }} {{anarchism US|expanded=people}} '''Samuel Edward Konkin III''' (July 8, 1947 – February 23, 2004), also known as '''SEK3''', was a Canadian-American libertarian writer. As the author of the publication ''New Libertarian Manifesto'', he was a proponent of a political philosophy he named agorism.
== Personal life == Konkin was born on July 8, 1947, in Edmonton, Alberta, to Samuel Edward Konkin II and Helen Konkin. He had one brother named Alan. He married Sheila Wymer in 1990 and had one son named James Eaton-Konkin. The marriage ended soon afterward.<ref name="pulpless.com">{{Cite web|last=Schulman|first=J. Neil|author-link=J. Neil Schulman|date=March 2004|url=https://www.pulpless.com//sek3/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327002916/https://www.pulpless.com//sek3/|archive-date=27 March 2016|title=A Fannish Tribute to Samuel Edward Konkin III|website=Pulpless|access-date=18 December 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref> Konkin was an atheist.<ref name="pulpless.com" /> Konkin was also noted for his style of dress: "To show his anarchist beliefs, he dressed completely in black, a color associated with that movement since the late nineteenth century".<ref name=Gordon>{{cite web|author-link=David Gordon (philosopher)|last=Gordon|first=David|date=2011-04-01|url=http://archive.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon88.1.html|title=Sam Konkin and Libertarian Theory|website=LewRockwell.com|access-date=18 December 2024}}</ref>
On February 23, 2004, Konkin died of natural causes in his apartment in West Los Angeles, California. He was buried alongside his father in Edmonton, Alberta.<ref name="pulpless.com"/>
==Fanzine contributions== Konkin was a lifelong fan of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien<ref name="pulpless.com"/> and an avid fanzine contributor. He was a known figure among science fiction/fantasy fans for his writing on ''Alarums and Excursions'' and the like.<ref name="Trammell">{{Cite book|last=Trammell|first=Aaron|year=2023|chapter=The Alarums & Excursions Community and Belonging|title=The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race, and Geek Culture|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=9781479818402}}</ref>{{rp|124}} In a 1976 issue of ''Alarums and Excursions'', Konkin published a drawing depicting ''Dungeons & Dragons'' writers Gary Gygax, Len Lakofka and Tim Kask being hanged by a group of women. This came in the wake of community backlash after Lakofka had suggested new rules for women that would have rated their "beauty" and made them weaker in combat against male characters.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trammell|first=Aaron|year=2018|chapter=Representation and Discrimination in Role-Playing Games|editor-first1=José P.|editor-last1=Zagal|editor-first2=Sebastian|editor-last2=Deterding|title=Role Playing Games: Transmedia Foundations|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-138-63890-7|page=442}}</ref>
Konkin himself attempted to propose a new character archetype, the damsel, which he depicted as a chaste character in search of love, in the vein of a Disney Princess.<ref name="Trammell"/>{{rp|124}} Konkin's proposal was criticized for upholding gender stereotypes, in which chastity promoted the character to a "consort" while promiscuity demoted them to the role of "courtesan". He was also criticized for victim blaming in scenarios where the damsel is sexually assaulted, as he implied that suicide was a woman's only moral response.<ref name="Trammell"/>{{rp|124-125}} Writer Aaron Trammell described Konkin's proposal as an objectification of women because it defined them by their sexuality.<ref name="Trammell"/>{{rp|125-126}} Other ''D&D'' fans wrote to Konkin in objection to his character proposal, with many describing it as the work of a "male chauvinist pig" while one re-characterized it as satire.<ref name="Trammell"/>{{rp|128-129}} Trammell characterized the letters as an act of restorative justice, where the writers attempted to privately explain to Konkin the problems they had with the character, rather than publicly denouncing him.<ref name="Trammell"/>{{rp|129}}
== Political opinions == {{see also|Counter-economics}} {{individualist anarchism sidebar|expanded=people}} {{anarcho-capitalism sidebar|expanded=people}} Konkin considered libertarianism radical. He was an initiator of the Agorist Institute.
Konkin rejected voting, believing it to be inconsistent with libertarian ethics. He likewise opposed involvement with the Libertarian Party, which he regarded as a statist co-option of libertarianism. He was an opponent of influential minarchist philosopher Robert Nozick, and referred to Nozick's devotees as "Nozis".<ref name=Gordon/>
Konkin presents his strategy for achieving a libertarian society in his manifesto, ''New Libertarian Manifesto''. Since he rejected voting and other means by which people typically attempt social change, he encouraged people to withdraw their consent from the state by devoting their economic activities to black market and grey market sources, which would not be taxed or regulated. Konkin called "transactions on these markets, as well as other activities that bypassed the State, 'counter-economics.' Peaceful transactions take place in a free market, or agora: hence his term 'agorism' for the society he sought to achieve."<ref name=Gordon/>
Konkin was editor and publisher of the irregularly-produced ''New Libertarian Notes'' (1971–1975), the ''New Libertarian Weekly'' (1975–1978), and finally ''New Libertarian'' magazine (1978–1990), the last issue of which was a special science fiction tribute featuring a Robert A. Heinlein cover (issue 187, 1990).
Additionally, Konkin opposed wage labour,<ref name=Gordon/><ref>{{cite journal|date= 1 May 1981|journal= Strategy of the New Libertarian Alliance|number= 1|last= Rothbard|first= Murray|author-link= Murray Rothbard|title= Konkin on Libertarian Strategy|url= http://www.anthonyflood.com/rothbardkonkin.htm|quote= This is Konkin’s astonishing view that working for wages is somehow non-market or anti-libertarian, and would disappear in a free society}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|date= 1 May 1981|journal= Strategy of the New Libertarian Alliance|number= 1|last= Konkin|first= Samuel Edward, III|title= Reply to Rothbard|url= http://www.anthonyflood.com/konkinreplytorothbard.htm|quote= ... a real debate is justified here between Rothbard (and many, many others, to be sure) and myself (and quite a few) on the validity of hiring oneself out.}}</ref> intellectual property,<ref name=Gordon/><ref>{{cite web|last= Konkin|first= Samuel Edward, III|url= http://www.enemigosdelestado.com/copywrongs-by-samuel-edward-konkin-iii|title= Copywrongs|website= EnemigosdelEstado.com|access-date= February 15, 2012|archive-date= December 1, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181201053958/http://www.enemigosdelestado.com/copywrongs-by-samuel-edward-konkin-iii/|url-status= dead}}</ref> imperialism and interventionism.<ref>[http://vho.org/GB/Journals/JHR/3/2/Konkin129-146.html "El Salvador: The War to Come"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044158/http://vho.org/GB/Journals/JHR/3/2/Konkin129-146.html |date=March 6, 2019 }}.</ref>
=== Agorism === Konkin proposed a social political philosophy known as '''agorism''', which advocates for a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, engaging with aspects of nonviolent revolution. Most agorists strictly oppose voting as a strategy for achieving their desired outcomes.
{{blockquote|text=The goal of agorism is the agora ["αγορά" or "market" in Greek]. The society of the open marketplace as near to untainted by theft, assault, and fraud as can be humanly attained is as close to a free society as can be achieved. And a free society is the only one in which each and every one of us can satisfy his or her subjective values without crushing others' values by violence and coercion.|sign=Samuel Edward Konkin III<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311045911/https://www.kopubco.com/pdf/An_Agorist_Primer_by_SEK3.pdf|archive-date=11 March 2022|title=An Agorist Primer|last=Konkin III|first=Samuel Edward}}</ref>}}
=== Accusations of historical revisionism === In her book ''Anarchism: Left, Right, and Green'', political theorist and anarcho-syndicalist Ulrike Heider accused Konkin of endorsing historical negationism in his dealing with the Institute for Historical Review (IHR),<ref name="heider"/> at which he was a member of the board of directors; this included allotting advertisement space to the IHR in ''New Libertarian'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kopubco.com/nl161.html |title=New Libertarian #11 |publisher=KoPubCo |access-date=2017-10-01 }}</ref> and writing a positive review of James J. Martin's book on Raphael Lemkin, which was published by the IHR.<ref name=konkinIHR>{{cite journal |url=http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v05/v05p388_Martin.html |last=Konkin |first=Samuel |title=Thrusting the Stake into Lemkin's Bleeding Heart |date=Winter 1984 | journal=Journal of Historical Review | volume=5 | number=2, 3, 4 | pages=388–395}}</ref> Konkin personally rejected Holocaust denial, but defended the IHR because he believed its freedom of speech was being suppressed.<ref name="heider">{{cite book |last=Heider |first=Ulrike |title=Anarchism |publisher=City Lights Books |location=San Francisco |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-87286-289-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://agorism.eu.org/docs/LastWholeIntroductiontoAgorism.pdf |title=The Last, Whole Introduction to Agorism |publisher=Papers of the Libertarian Left |access-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427030909/https://agorism.eu.org/docs/LastWholeIntroductiontoAgorism.pdf |archive-date=27 April 2022 }}</ref> However, Konkin's appraisal of Martin's book, specifically the second chapter (in which Martin labelled the claims of the mass murder of Jews as "a well coordinated and orchestrated propaganda assault"<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=James J. |title=The Man Who Invented 'Genocide': The Public Career and Consequences of Raphael Lemkin |date=1984 |publisher=Institute for Historical Review |location= Torrence, California |page=40 |isbn=0-939484-14-5}}</ref>) as "a summary of Martin's libertarian-revisionist views of the Second World War" and "the highlight of the book and a valuable booklet on its own" for "the libertarian and the hard-core revisionist",<ref name=konkinIHR/> calls that framing into question.
== See also == * Victor Koman * J. Neil Schulman
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://agorism.eu.org/ Agorism.eu.org] has archived Konkin writings and pamphlets in PDF format ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427030909/https://agorism.eu.org/ |date=27 April 2022 }}) * [https://www.sek3.net/ Collected writings of Samuel Edward Konkin III] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321113347/https://www.sek3.net/ |date=21 March 2022}}) * [https://www.sek3.org/ Fanzines by SEK3] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322225315/https://www.sek3.org/ |date=22 March 2022}}) * [http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/software/konkin-interview.html Interview with Konkin] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418023822/https://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/software/konkin-interview.html |date=18 April 2022 }}) * [https://mises.org/daily/3412 Konkin on Libertarian Strategy], by Murray Rothbard * [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon88.1.html Sam Konkin and Libertarian Theory], by David Gordon * [http://www.kopubco.com/nl.html KoPubCo] back issues of ''New Libertarian'' * [http://www.anthonyflood.com/rothbardkonkin.htm Murray Rothbard, "Konkin on Libertarian Strategy" followed by Samuel E. Konkin, "Reply to Rothbard"] at AnthonyFlood.com * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071118104121/http://www.isil.org/resources/fnn/2004spring/sek-iii-riggenbach.html Obituary for SEK3] by Jeff Riggenbach * [http://www.philosborn.joeuser.com/index.asp?c=1&AID=8979 Obituary for Sam Konkin]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by Phil Osborn
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