Voluntary Socialism is a work of nonfiction by the American mutualist

Mutualism (economic theory)

Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought that originates in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market...

 Francis Dashwood Tandy. First published in 1896, it has been favorably cited by many individualist anarchists, including Clarence Lee Swartz

Clarence Lee Swartz

Clarence Lee Swartz was an American individualist anarchist.Clarence Lee Swartz' most famous writing is a book entitled What is Mutualism? published in 1927 where he explains the economic system of mutualism. He edited an anarchist journal called Voice of the People and was an assistant editor for...

, minarchist Robert Nozick

Robert Nozick

Robert Nozick was an American political philosopher, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia , a right-libertarian answer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice...

 and left-libertarian Roderick T. Long who has noted that "many of the standard moves in market anarchist theory today are already in evidence in Tandy."

Tandy was a member of the "Denver Circle," a group of men who associated with Benjamin Tucker

Benjamin Tucker

Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...

 and contributed to the periodical Liberty. In the preface to Voluntary Socialism, he declares his intent to "give a complete outline of [Voluntaryism] in its most important bearings." To that end, chapters one through four outline the foundation for Tandy's anarchism, drawing heavily from Max Stirner

Max Stirner

Johann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...

 and Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....

. Chapters five through fourteen cover specific areas of interest, including private defense agencies

Private defense agency

A private defense agency is a conceptualized agency that provides personal protection and military defense services voluntarily through the free market. A PDA is not a private contractor of the state and is not subsidised in any way through taxation or immunities, nor does it rely on conscription...

, the labor theory of value

Labor theory of value

The labor theories of value are heterodox economic theories of value which argue that the value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity. The concept is most often associated with Marxian economics...

, mutual banking, transportation and political strategy

Criticisms of electoralism

Although highly controversial at various points in history, representative democracy has become the modern civics global-standard. Nevertheless, criticisms of electoral politics continue to come from both within the Western world and the developing world...

.

The book is dedicated to Benjamin Tucker "whose lucid writings and scathing criticisms have done so much to dispel the clouds of economic superstition."