Political Memes

Long before most of us were alive yes.

Yep, in fact the first known person to describe themselves as libertarian was anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque^[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism#Libertarian_socialism_(1857%E2%80%931980s))]. It was only around the 1940s in the US where it turned into a term meaning liberal.

As a trivia note, there's a socialist caucus in the US Libertarian Party, at least when I checked a few years ago. Quote from Vermin Supreme in 2020, who takes influence from Peter Kropotkin and Situationism among others:

[The US Libertarian Party] has a spectrum. It has a left and right spectrum going on there. I’m talking to older lefties. It’s like, “You do know they have a Libertarian Socialist Caucus. Did you know that?”. Add they’re like, “Really?”. That simple fact that the Libertarian Party has a Libertarian Socialist Caucus, just that alone tends to make people really have to reconsider what they think that the Libertarian Party is. My own campaign is causing people to take a second look at it. I’ve got a fair amount of political goodwill and capital, and certainly I’ve taken some hits for my involvement with the Libertarian Party, but I have found so many beautiful people and they are quite receptive to the concept of mutual aid.

I do not endorse or justify that party as a whole, again, this is a trivia note.

I think this citation on Wikipedia pinpoints the turning point. Yet another thing ruined by conservative McCarthyism?

Russell, Dean (1955). "Who is a libertarian?". Foundation for Economic Education. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.

Many of us call ourselves 'liberals.' And it is true that the word 'liberal' once described persons who respected the individual and feared the use of mass compulsions. But the leftists have now corrupted that once-proud term to identify themselves and their program of more government ownership of property and more controls over persons. As a result, those of us who believe in freedom must explain that when we call ourselves liberals, we mean liberals in the uncorrupted classical sense. At best, this is awkward and subject to misunderstanding. Here is a suggestion: Let those of us who love liberty trade-mark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word 'libertarian'.