The 1970s are, from what I can tell, when the US Libertarian party definitely wrested and "won" the term from the anti-authoritarian left. I'm jst familiar with too much anok literature up to the 70s that uses the term "libertarian" not to connote Megan McArdle/Tyler Cowen hogwash, but stuff along the lines of Spain '36 CNT-FAI anarcho-socialism.
The term isn't worth fighting for. But, like I said, the magazine Libertarian Labor Review, founded by Russo-American anarchist Sam Dolgoff, changed its name and younger folks, when confronted with something like Isaac Puente's 1930s _Libertarian Communism_ reflexively reply, "Libertarian *communism*!? What an oxymoron! LOLOLOL"
The 1979 documentary _Anarchism in America_ features anarcho-socialist Murray Bookchin speaking before a local Libertarian Party meeting, and he says he feels more at home there than in many anarchist groups. Of course, that is the 1970s. And that is the decade I think free market fanatics wrested and "won" the term from the anti-authoritarian left.
-B.
John Gulick wrote:
"Uh, no. I do believe that the dominant meaning of libertarianism in the US has long been bound to Randroids, Harry Browne, strict constructionism, right-wing tax resisters, etc."
Doug Henwood:
"Yup. I was one in 1971. We barely knew from anarchists."