288 
SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
suppose that the explosions of dynamite which have recently 
occurred in England were the work of Irish-American Revolu 
tionists, who are actuated by a special hatred of England and 
English rule in Ireland, and not by any general anarchic idea 
such as was preached by Bakunin throughout Southern Europe. 
Of Anarchism in England, therefore, I happily have no occasion 
to speak ; but I propose to give an account of the present aims 
and positions of the three socialistic movements to which I have 
made allusion. 
The idea of land nationalization as a remedy for some of the 
evils of modem times is not a new one. According to the late 
Mr. Arnold Toynbee, it originated with James Mill, who was 
led to it by his observations on the systems of land tenure and 
revenue in India ; but there is reason to believe that the idea 
is much older.* As a practical proposal, land nationalization 
in a modified form first attracted attention when put forward, in 
1870, by the Laud Tenure Reform Association, of which John 
Stuart Mill was the moving spirit. The fourth article of the 
programme of this Association was as follows :— 
“ To claim, for the benefit of the State, the interception by taxation of 
the future unearned increase of the rent of land (so far as the same can be 
ascertained), or a great part of that increase, which is continually taking 
place, without any effort or outlay by the proprietors, merely through the 
growth of population and wealth ; reserving to owners the option of 
relinquishing their property to the State at the market value which it may 
have acquired at the time when this principle may be adopted by the 
Legislature. ” 
Mill defended this special taxation of land mainly on the 
ground that land is a natural monopoly ; that in every pros 
perous community, quite apart from any efforts of the owners, 
it tends to rise in value ; and that this rise in value, being due 
to the community, ought to accrue to the community. The 
Association did not, however, propose to disturb landowners in 
their past acquisitions, but only to tax future unearned increases 
* Mr. Hyndman (“Historical Basis of Socialism,” p. 448) mentions a 
pamphlet by Thomas Spence, of Newcastle, published a hundred years ago, 
which formulated a complete scheme of land nationalization by the action of 
parishes and municipalities.