Land&Liberty

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Land&Liberty
Land&liberty logo.svg
FormatQuarterly magazine
Owner(s) Henry George Foundation of Great Britain
Editor Joseph Milne
FoundedJune 1894 (as The Single Tax )
Headquarters212 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9HG
England
ISSN 0023-7574
Website LandandLiberty.net

Land&Liberty is a quarterly magazine of popular political economics: its focus is the relationship between land and natural resource rights and 21st century economic policy. Published in the UK, it covers international affairs and events from a global perspective.

Contents

The magazine contains major features, editorial and comment, news and reports, reviews, interviews, and readers' letters.

Nature and focus of the magazine

Land&Liberty has no political alignment in the conventional sense. However the magazine is not editorially neutral on issues. Land&Liberty's key concern is how the global common wealth should be used, and it aims to demonstrate that this question is key to effective and just public policy—to the sustainable bridging of private life, the public sector, and common resources. [1] Land&Liberty's focus therefore is radical justice in property rights and taxation.

Modern global influence

Land&Liberty forecast the 2008 global crisis and housing crash. In the middle of the economic optimism of 2004, it wrote: "There’s trouble ahead. A housing crash is coming." [2] Its 'Crash' cover story issue was published in the first week of September 2007, just days before the events at Northern Rock that caught the economic establishment unawares. [3]

Since the 1980s Land&Liberty has been an influence on the political opposition within Zimbabwe. [4] In August 2008, the Movement for Democratic Change presented their political programme for the coalition government that they had entered into with the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party. It included a policy for raising public revenue from a tax on land values, as advocated by Land&Liberty: "the MDC will through an Act of Parliament establish a Land Commission whose mandate is to…[i]ntroduce an equitable Land Tax". [5] The party’s Policy Coordinator General, Eddie Cross, wrote in a 2009 article in Land&Liberty that his party’s new policies would help ensure that "secure communities will become free communities with the capacity to confront and control those in charge of the state". [6]

History

Land&Liberty is the world's longest-running periodical advocating the social reform advanced by Henry George [7] —of whom Albert Einstein once said: "one cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form and fervent love of justice". [8]

Land&Liberty was launched in June 1894 under the title The Single Tax , published as "The Organ of the Scottish Land Restoration Union". [9] Perhaps foreseeing George Bernard Shaw’s later remark, in 1928, that "the Single Taxers are not wrong in principle; but they are behind the times", [10] the periodical changed its title in 1902 to Land Values and subsequently in 1919 to Land&Liberty. [11]

Genesis

The periodical was initially the campaigning voice of the Scottish Land Restoration Union. [12] The Union and its antecedents were a contemporary political force in Scotland, launching the career of Keir Hardie, [13] the first socialist elected to the UK Parliament, who went on to become the Labour Party's first leader. Inspired by Henry George, the Union's activism helped deliver—through its publication The Single Tax: "an American impulse behind the Scottish labor movement, which became historic in making the modern Labour party, and in forging the character of twentieth-century Britain." [14] Yet within its first year—recording historic shudders in the evolution of British socialism and the birth of the Labour party—the magazine was writing: "what have the Labour Party to offer us? Anything or everything but the single tax.". [15]

Early contributors

Early contributions to the magazine included original writing by Henry George [16] (including first publishings of private material [17] ), Arthur Withy, [18] Louis F Post [19] and Leo Tolstoy [20] (again including first publishings of private material [21] ).

The magazine published its correspondence from around the world, such as from New Zealand's Patrick O'Regan, [22] and enjoyed secondary publishing rights from writers and thinkers such as Mark Twain [23] and Herbert Spencer. [24]

The twentieth century

Before the magazine's change of name, Land Values, vol. XXI, no. 244, September 1914 reported the outbreak of World War I. Land Values vol21 no244.jpg
Before the magazine's change of name, Land Values, vol. XXI, no. 244, September 1914 reported the outbreak of World War I.

Through the years Land&Liberty has reported on and contributed to the debate on major world events. It has provided analyses of, among other things, the 'Irish Problem', the Scottish crofting movement and the Highland Clearances, the genesis of two World Wars, the creation of the United Nations and the other global institutions, the formulation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Europe's withdrawal from empire’s colonial project, and the middle east conflict.

The paper reported extensively the events surrounding the 1909 UK People's Budget, and the resultant House of Lords reform—contributing a major voice in the contemporary public debate. The paper's reporters recorded a unique archive of speeches by Lloyd George, [25] Churchill, [26] Asquith [27] and Campbell-Bannerman [28] among others, as they toured the country in support of their cause.

Recent writing

Recent contributors to Land&Liberty include former Danish MP and MEP Ib Christensen, [29] Fred Harrison, [30] Mason Gaffney, [31] Michael Hudson, [32] the English High Court Judge Sir Kenneth Jupp, [33] James Robertson [34] and (now former) Friends of the Earth director Charles Secrett. [35] Public figures interviewed in Land&Liberty in recent years include John Bird, [36] Bob Kiley, [37] Alastair McIntosh, [38] George Monbiot [39] and Steve Norris. [40] Land&Liberty's original output is periodically taken up by the publishing mainstream. [41]

Land&Liberty, vol. 115, no. 1223, winter 2008/9 featured policy analysis for newly elected President Barack Obama Land&Liberty vol115 no1223.jpg
Land&Liberty, vol. 115, no. 1223, winter 2008/9 featured policy analysis for newly elected President Barack Obama

Editors

Publishers

Land&Liberty is published by the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, [42] an independent economic and social justice think tank and public education group. The Foundation and its immediate organisational predecessors have been proprietors since 1907, before which the magazine was owned by Scottish land reform groups.

Proprietors

Related Research Articles

A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land without regard to buildings, personal property and other improvements upon it. It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation tax, split rate tax, or a site-value rating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry George</span> American political economist and journalist (1839–1897)

Henry George was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value of land should belong equally to all members of society. George famously argued that a single tax on land values would create a more productive and just society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgism</span> Economic philosophy centred on common ownership of land

Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that people should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society. Developed from the writings of American economist and social reformer Henry George, the Georgist paradigm seeks solutions to social and ecological problems, based on principles of land rights and public finance that attempt to integrate economic efficiency with social justice.

In the United Kingdom, the word liberalism can have any of several meanings. Scholars primarily use the term to refer to classical liberalism. The term can also mean economic liberalism, social liberalism or political liberalism. It can simply refer to the politics of the Liberal Democrats, a UK party formed from the merger of two centrist parties in 1988. Liberalism can occasionally have the imported American meaning; however, the derogatory connotation is much weaker in the UK than in the US, and social liberals from both the left and right wing continue to use liberal and illiberal to describe themselves and their opponents, respectively.

A single tax is a system of taxation based mainly or exclusively on one tax, typically chosen for its special properties, often being a tax on land value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Commons</span> American economist and historian (1862–1945)

John Rogers Commons was an American institutional economist, Georgist, progressive and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood</span> British politician

Colonel Josiah Clement Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood,, sometimes referred to as Josiah Wedgwood IV, was a British Liberal and Labour politician who served in government under Ramsay MacDonald. He was a prominent single-tax activist following the political-economic reformer Henry George. He was the great-great-grandson of the famous potter Josiah Wedgwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Craigie</span> Australian politician

Edward John Craigie was a Single Tax League member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Flinders from 1930 to 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladstonian liberalism</span> British Victorian-era political doctrine

Gladstonian liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstonian liberalism consisted of limited government expenditure and low taxation whilst making sure government had balanced budgets and the classical liberal stress on self-help and freedom of choice. Gladstonian liberalism also emphasised free trade, little government intervention in the economy and equality of opportunity through institutional reform. It is referred to as laissez-faire or classical liberalism in the United Kingdom and is often compared to Thatcherism.

The Scottish Land Restoration League was a Georgist political party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal welfare reforms</span> Welfare state

The Liberal welfare reforms (1906–1914) were a series of acts of social legislation passed by the Liberal Party after the 1906 general election. They represent the emergence of the modern welfare state in the United Kingdom. The reforms demonstrate the split that had emerged within liberalism, between emerging social liberalism and classical liberalism, and a change in direction for the Liberal Party from laissez-faire traditional liberalism to a party advocating a larger, more active government protecting the welfare of its citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward McHugh (trade unionist)</span>

Edward McHugh was an Irish Georgist, trade unionist, Labour activist and social reformer. He spent a great deal of his lifetime engaged in the struggle for social reform not only in Great Britain and Ireland, but also further afield, including spells in America and the Antipodes.

Andrew MacLaren was a British politician who represented Burslem as a Member of Parliament for three separate terms during the 20th century. A member of the Labour Party and Independent Labour Party, his passions were economic justice and art. He persistently campaigned for Land Value Taxation, and he was a painter.

Land value taxation has a long history in the United States dating back from Physiocrat influence on Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. It is most famously associated with Henry George and his book Progress and Poverty (1879), which argued that because the supply of land is fixed and its location value is created by communities and public works, the economic rent of land is the most logical source of public revenue. and which had considerable impact on turn-of-the-century reform movements in America and elsewhere.

<i>The Single Tax</i>

The Single Tax was a monthly newspaper launched in June 1894 and published in Glasgow by the Scottish Land Restoration Union. The periodical changed its name in June 1902 to Land Values, which subsequently became, in June 1919, the contemporary magazine Land&Liberty.

Land Values was the monthly newspaper precursor of the contemporary magazine Land&Liberty. The periodical started life in June 1894 as The Single Tax, changing its name to Land Values in June 1902.

The Henry George Foundation is an independent UK economic and social justice think tank and public education group concerned with "the development of sound relationships between the citizen, our communities and our shared natural and common resources". The Henry George Foundation describes itself as "active on three broad fronts: research, education, and advocacy". The Foundation takes its name from Henry George, the 19th Century economist and proponent of the taxation of land values.

The English League for the Taxation of Land Values was a Georgist political group. It was a historic precursor of two present-day reform bodies: the international umbrella organisation the IU and the UK think tank the Henry George Foundation. The object of the League was

the taxation for national and local purposes of the 'unimproved value of the land', ie the value of the land apart from the buildings or other improvements in or upon it. The League actively support[ed] all proposals in Parliament for separate valuation of land, and for making land values the basis of national and local taxation.

The Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Values is an independent national campaigning organisation that advocates radical reform of Scotland's system of taxation. Known as The Scottish League, the organisation advances the programme of the nineteenth-century American social reformer Henry George. The League publishes books and other material, and is a participant in the ongoing public debate over the future of Scotland’s land and tax system.

The 1912 Hanley by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Hanley on 13 July 1912.

References

  1. ↑ Statement of Values, Land&Liberty, vol. 116, no. 1224, summer 2009, p.3
  2. ↑ Land&Liberty, vol. 111, no. 1210, late summer 2004, p. 2
  3. ↑ Land&Liberty, vol. 114, no. 1219, autumn 2007
  4. ↑ Land&Liberty, vol. 115, no. 1222, autumn 2008, p. 5
  5. ↑ "From ready to govern to preparing to govern, Movement for Democratic Change, 8th August 2008". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  6. ↑ Land&Liberty, vol. 116, no. 1224, summer 2009, p. 10-11
  7. ↑ "Land and Liberty is now the longest-lived Georgist project in history, but still it struggles to gain the attention of an unheeding world." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 62, 2003, p. 615
  8. ↑ "letter from Albert Einstein, on Henry George, to George's daughter Anna George DeMille (mother of choreographer Agnes DeMille)—first published in Land and Freedom, New York, Joseph Dana Miller, May-June 1934" . Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  9. ↑ The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 1, June 1894
  10. ↑ Bernard Shaw, George (1928). The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (p.127). London: Constable and Company Ltd. p. 496.
  11. ↑ Land&Liberty, vol. XX, no. 301, London and Glasgow, June 1919, p. 136
  12. ↑ The ‘‘Scottish Land Restoration Union’’ was established in 1890 [‘‘The Single Tax’’, vol. IV, no. 48, May 1898, p. 8. "The eighth annual meeting of the Scottish Land Restoration Union was held on 22 April 1898…. in Glasgow"] out of the complex reorganisation that year of the Scottish Land Restoration League [’The Story of Land Values’ by John Paul, in Land Values , vol. XVII, no. 253, June 1915, p. 10.] The family tree of the Scottish land reform movement in this period is complex, and here, inter alia, the author concedes: "In my experience the Glasgow group of Single Taxers were never much addicted to formalities…." Republished, with further material, on the death of John Paul [Land&Liberty, vol. 40, no. 468-469, May–June 1933, p. 219-220]. The 1890 reorganisation also spawned the Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Values, which later was to take over the magazine.
  13. ↑ Barker, Charles Albro (1955). Henry George (p. 401). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 700.
  14. ↑ Barker, Charles Albro (1955). Henry George (p. 402). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 700.
  15. ↑ "The Labour Party and The Single Tax", The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 5, October 1894, p.4
  16. ↑ "The Right to Work" by Henry George, The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 2, July 1894, p. 1-2
  17. ↑ "Letter to Joseph Legget", The Single Tax, vol. III, no. 27, August 1897
  18. ↑ "Do the Government Mean Business?" by Arthur Withy, The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 8, January 1895
  19. ↑ "Can the tax be shifted?" The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 9, February 1895
  20. ↑ The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 2, June 1894, p. 3
  21. ↑ "Society", The Single Tax, vol. IV, no. 39, August 1897, p. 1
  22. ↑ The Single Tax vol. I, no. 12, p. 3
  23. ↑ "Archimedes" by Mark Twain, The Single Tax, vol. I, no. 9, January 1895
  24. ↑ "Right to the use of the earth" by Herbert Spencer, The Single Tax, vol. III, no. 32, January 1897
  25. ↑ 'Mr Lloyd George at Limehouse' (Limehouse speech, 30 July 1909, Land Values, vol. XVI, no. 184, September 1909, p. 77
  26. ↑ 'Mr Churchill at Edinburgh' (17 July 1909), Land Values, vol. XVI, no. 183, August 1909, p. 57-59
  27. ↑ 'The Prime Minister and the tax on land values' (speech in Sheffield, 21 May 1909), Land Values, vol. XVI, no. 181, June 1909, p. 10
  28. ↑ 'The government and land reform', (Holborn Restaurant speech, 20 April 1907), Land Values, vol. XIII, no. 156, May 1907, p. 225-226
  29. ↑ "Protecting whose Europe?" by Ib Christensen, Land&Liberty, vol. 114, no. 1218, summer 2007, p. 10-11
  30. ↑ e.g. "African states of failure" by Fred Harrison, Land&Liberty, vol. 115, no. 1223, winter 2008/9, p. 18-19
  31. ↑ e.g. "The Four Vampires of Capital" by Mason Gaffney, Land&Liberty, vol. 116, no. 1224, summer 2009, p. 12-17
  32. ↑ "Mr Greenspan’s myth" by Michael Hudson, Land&Liberty, vol. 114, no. 1220, winter 2007/8, p. 21
  33. ↑ "Holiday Shocks" (Personally Speaking), Land&Liberty, vol. 108, no. 1200, autumn 2001, p. 9
  34. ↑ "Eco-taxes, the land value tax and Treasury priorities" by James Robertson, Land&Liberty, vol. 108, no. 1198, spring 2001, p. 4, and "Sustainable development: The role of rent" by James Robertson, Land&Liberty Winter 1998, p. 7–11
  35. ↑ "Eco-taxes, the land value tax and Treasury priorities" by Charles Secrett, Land&Liberty, vol. 108, no. 1198, spring 2001, p. 4
  36. ↑ "Salvation on the streets" by John Bird, Land&Liberty, vol. 108, no. 1200, autumn 2001, p. 3
  37. ↑ "Bob Kiley eyes land tax for his tool box", Land&Liberty, vol. 108, no. 1200 (published erroneously as no. 1200), winter 2001/02, p. 4-5
  38. ↑ "The Politics of Holy Place".
  39. ↑ "Trapped in the downward spiral", Land&Liberty, vol. 109, no. 1203, summer 2002, p. 8-12
  40. ↑ "Livingstone rival links local democracy and land value", Land&Liberty, vol. 109, no. 1203, summer 2002, p. 5
  41. ↑ ‘Ralph Borsodi’s Principles for Homesteaders’ by Mildred Loomis, Land & Liberty, vol. LXXV, no. 1015, December 1978, in Davis, John Emmeus (2010). The Community Land Trust Reader: Roots and Branches of the CLT Movement. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. p. 450.
  42. ↑ "Land&Liberty - since 1894 - putting people at the heart of economics" . Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  43. ↑ Joseph Edwards, ed. (21 July 1909). Land and Real Tariff Reform. The Land Reformers’ Handbook (First Edition of First Issue ed.). London: Joseph Edwards with The Clarion Press, LD and ILP, New Age Press TCP. pp. 73–75.
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