# Benjamin Tucker’s Four Monopolies: An Agorist Critique of State-Backed Privilege and the Path to a Free Market

Benjamin Tucker, a 19th-century individualist anarchist, identified **four major monopolies** that he argued were central to capitalist oppression. From an agorist perspective—which advocates for counter-economic activity and voluntary exchanges free from state interference—Tucker's four monopolies reveal how state-backed privileges enable elite control and inhibit truly free markets. These monopolies are:

1. **Money Monopoly**

Tucker criticized the state's exclusive control over legal tender and banking, which restricts access to flexible forms of currency and credit. This monopoly forces laborers to rely on banks licensed by the state, subjecting them to artificially high interest rates deemed as usury. Agorists argue that this monopoly distorts voluntary trade and enables wealth extraction through enforced dependence on state-backed currency systems and centralized banking.

2. **Land Monopoly**

The state grants exclusive property rights over land, restricting individuals' natural ability to homestead or use unoccupied land freely. This leads to rent extraction by landlords, which Tucker viewed as exploitation, since it prevents open access to natural resources. Agorist thought supports free access to land and opposes state-granted property norms that keep control concentrated and suppress non-state methods of land acquisition and use.

3. **Tariff Monopoly**

Tariffs and protectionist trade barriers imposed and upheld by the state protect favored industrialists from foreign competition. This reduces market freedom, raises prices, and harms consumers and workers who pay inflated costs for goods. Agorists emphasize free trade without state interference, which would remove artificial barriers and promote competition, benefiting laborers and entrepreneurs alike.

4. **Patent Monopoly (Intellectual Property)**

Tucker saw patents and copyrights as state-backed monopolies that grant exclusive rights to ideas and inventions, artificially inflating prices and granting privilege to inventors, promoters, or publishers. This restricts competition and access to knowledge. From an agorist view, intellectual property laws distort the natural flow and sharing of ideas, and abolishing this monopoly would foster innovation and equal opportunity in the marketplace.

**From the agorist standpoint,** the abolition of these four monopolies is essential to achieving a truly free market, where individuals engage in voluntary, non-coercive exchanges unrestricted by state-imposed privileges. Agorism envisions **counter-economic activities**—black and grey market transactions—that bypass these state-enforced monopolies, ultimately undermining them. For example:

- Using alternative currencies or barter to escape the money monopoly

- Obtaining or using land outside state-sanctioned titles

- Engaging in trade that avoids tariff barriers

- Sharing or creating knowledge and inventions without patent restrictions

Thus, Tucker’s analysis of the four monopolies aligns closely with agorist advocacy for dismantling state privileges and fostering a decentralized, voluntary economy free from coercion and privilege. They highlight how capitalism’s institutional framework depends significantly on state-sanctioned monopolies, and their removal would pave the way for equality and liberty in economic interactions.

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