Thanks to Wally Conger for keeping his notes from Murray Rothbard’s 1993 talk on libertarian strategy and for posting them on his blog. Here are Rothbard’s main points:

Always hold the freedom principles aloft. Talk about them constantly to help keep your eye on the ultimate target.

Any transitional demands must be radical and consistent with the ultimate goal.

Accept no compromise.

Remember, we’re guerrilla fighters. We’re small and don’t have to worry about our image. We can pick our shots.

Recapture the moral high ground from the Left. Our core principles are correct, moral, and newsworthy.

Sustain the attack. Keep the enemy on the defensive.

Tap the masses directly. Short circuit the dominant media and academic elites.

Rip the mask off the unholy preppie-liberal-media-academic alliance. Our foe is the Elite — full-time professional tyrants. They are not well-meaning. Their motives are evil: expansion of their own power.

Tell the truth.

Expose the fraud.

Demystify the State.

Hammer home the message persistently. Accustom people to our ideas.

I agree with Wally that these are still good guidelines for our movement today. One of the many qualities that made Rothbard unique among great thinkers was the amount of time he spent thinking about strategy. Both For a New Liberty and the Ethics of Liberty have chapters on the strategy libertarians should pursue to advance the free society. There are also many valuable writing on libertarian strategy in the Libertarian Forum and The Irrepressible Rothbard. Anyone looking for guidance on how to advance the cause of freedom should start with Rothbard.

Unfortunately, large chunks of the libertarian movement continue to ignore Rothbard’s strategic insights, particularly the importance of never advocating increases in state power. For whatever short-term gains one may think one is making by watering down the libertarian message or accepting increase in state power A in exchange for reduction in state power B, is more than outweighed by long-term losses from, among other things, confusing the public as to whether or not libertarians really are consistent advocates of liberty.

Early reports that, at its’ convention this past weekend, the Libertarian Party has totally abandoned any remnants of Rothbardian strategy by watering down its opposition to war and militarism, the drug war (!), and the welfare state.