Although Austrian-Libertarian ideas have become more popular in recent years, the production of books, articles and scientific research from Austrian-libertarian perspectives, in all fields is more important than ever.

This is because mainstream academia is overloaded with Marxist thought, which tries to substantiate socialist ideals amongst students. There is a large production of Marxist literature which has led to a huge growth of radical socialist ideas amongst young people and students.

The Marxist occupation of academia is not something new, it has been predicted by the Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, and it has been witnessed in countries, such as those in Latin America, for several decades.

Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks (1948) contain a plan to build a socialist society through a Cultural Revolution, also known as Passive Revolution. It would happen not through a bloody uprising, as Marx defended, but through a gradual and passive transformation of society, using tools like education, language, the media and religion.

Gramsci theorizes about Hegemony. For Gramsci, it is the authority of one group over others that will establish order in society. He defends that the dominant classes use the education system, communication vehicles and religious institutions to control society.

The occupation of spaces is crucial for Gramscianism – it forms the core of its tactics. Marxists aim to occupy spaces in all ways that can be imagined: Arts, economics, writing, religion, politics, philosophy, ethics,  and at the core of his tactics, academia.  The intellectual authority held by teachers and professors over their students allows them to influence the development of their individual worldviews.

Humans have a blind obedience for authority, as social psychologist Stanley Milgram demonstrated through his experiments on obedience – the infamous Milgram Experiment.

Teaching professionals are figures of authority in prime positions to spread  ideologies, and participate in social engineering inside a government regulated education system.

The most important areas to occupy in the educational system are the chairs of higher education; the teachers and professors that will teach – with a Marxist spin – the new generation of teachers and professors. It is a domino effect that will reach all the areas, with goal is to occupy all spaces in academia.

The internet has made it possible for ideas, mainstream or otherwise, to spread, including the ideas of the Austrian School, which go against theories of centralization. The dissemination of Austrian-Libertarian ideas is not interesting to those that yearn for power, nor to those that already detain political power. The reason is: the ideas defended by this school of economy, politics and philosophy preach for private property and the sovereignty of the individuals.

The modus operandi of Antonio Gramsci works fine, but for the purpose of avoiding tyranny and regaining control, we should learn from his methods, in order to be able to free ourselves and to put in practice a countermeasure to Gramscianism.

Praxeology is the study of  human action, which leads the human being to achieve a specific purpose. Praxeology is one of the major theories of Ludwig von Mises, and is the theme of his Magnus Opus, Human Action.

Human beings always act rationally to achieve a purpose, but the purpose will not always be achieved through the action chosen by the individual.

It is a premise that all Austrian-libertarians want to preserve in their private properties, to be sovereign over their bodies. Not everyone in world shares the same view, however, and there is therefore a war of ideologies and of occupation of spaces.

The Austrian-Libertarian movement needs to change its tactics to compete against  the advancement of totalitarian ideologies.

Have we been acting effectively to ensure our own survival as sovereign individuals, who want to preserve private property in a world that becomes more and more Orwellian?

Free individuals needed to learn Gramscians. There is a necessity to occupy the spaces the collectivists have been occupying. Their modus operandi is effective, but it will lead to a pretty bad situation for individuals, who will suffer from the tyranny and economic problems brought about by socialism.

Austrian-Libertarian arguments need  to be everywhere and Austrian-Libertarians need to occupy spaces within the society.

But ideas of liberty need to be developed. Of course, Austrian-Libertarian forefathers have developed the base, but there are many other spaces that can and need more development, especially within the academia.

Libertarian concepts can be applied to psychology, anthropology, economics, law, philosophy, medicine, communication, arts, engineering and many other areas. The consequence? The production of theses, studies, products and services with liberty as a philosophical base.

What can you do for liberty in your area of expertise? What will you produce for your own liberty and the liberty of other individuals? How can you supply the demand for liberty?

Unfortunately, there is much of Orwell and Huxley’s dystopic visions to be seen in our reality, due to the advancements of the Passive Revolution that seeks to destroy all remains of the free man, who acts on his own purposes to create obedience to the conditioning received through educational and cultural indoctrination through generations.

The ideas of liberty must be propagated as the counter-ideology to Marxism. The representatives of those ideas must be on the same level as the Marxists. Hegemony, as Gramsci considers it as a form of supremacy of an individual over another, exists, and will always exist in some ways. There will always be someone in a higher hierarchy, like the professor and the student, an intellectual scientific authority as a researcher and a layman. Therefore, it is needed to use this hegemony system  to further spread the ideas of liberty.

This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions. If you’re a student interested in presenting your perspective on this blog, you can submit your own piece to [email protected].