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A Neglected Thinker, Part Four
Apr. 5th, 2024 02:43 amAs a reminder, in the previous installment of the PTOS speech I gave on February 28, I summarized Progress and Poverty, finishing, “George proposed a single tax on the value of land, and the abolition of other taxes. This would make land, in effect, common property, without interfering with the ability of landowners to use their land as they thought best, or the security of their improvements.”
Then I proceeded to describe the public reaction:
“Many were inspired, many were infuriated, and many worked, with limited success, to put the idea into practice. John Stuart Mill’s stepdaughter was persuaded, and said that Mill himself would have been had he lived to read Progress and Poverty.
“The Duke of Argyll denounced George not only as a Communist, but as an advocate of, I quote, ‘one of the most extreme forms of Communism.’
“Karl Marx fulminated that George’s proposal would restore capitalism, and set it on a firmer basis than before. Karl, you say that as if it were a bad thing.
“Dr. Sun Yat-sen said that George’s thought would be the basis of land and fiscal reform in China.
“Leo Tolstoy became a Georgist, and wrote a Georgist novel, Resurrection, which deserves to be as well known as Anna Karenina. He also implemented Georgist reform on his estate, Yasnaya Polyana.
“I will not attempt a full history of the single tax movement, its successes, defeats, and gradual fading from public awareness and political relevance. I will content myself with observing that if the Georgists Alexander Kerensky and Sun Yat-sen had ended up in power, instead of the Marxists Lenin and Mao, the twentieth century might have been spared a large part of the Hell it went through.”
To be further continued.
Then I proceeded to describe the public reaction:
“Many were inspired, many were infuriated, and many worked, with limited success, to put the idea into practice. John Stuart Mill’s stepdaughter was persuaded, and said that Mill himself would have been had he lived to read Progress and Poverty.
“The Duke of Argyll denounced George not only as a Communist, but as an advocate of, I quote, ‘one of the most extreme forms of Communism.’
“Karl Marx fulminated that George’s proposal would restore capitalism, and set it on a firmer basis than before. Karl, you say that as if it were a bad thing.
“Dr. Sun Yat-sen said that George’s thought would be the basis of land and fiscal reform in China.
“Leo Tolstoy became a Georgist, and wrote a Georgist novel, Resurrection, which deserves to be as well known as Anna Karenina. He also implemented Georgist reform on his estate, Yasnaya Polyana.
“I will not attempt a full history of the single tax movement, its successes, defeats, and gradual fading from public awareness and political relevance. I will content myself with observing that if the Georgists Alexander Kerensky and Sun Yat-sen had ended up in power, instead of the Marxists Lenin and Mao, the twentieth century might have been spared a large part of the Hell it went through.”
To be further continued.
