288

SOCIALISM  IN  ENGLAND.

suppose  that  the  explosions  of  dynamite  which  have  recently
occurred  in  England  were  the  work  of  Irish-American  Revolutionists, ­
  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  prosperous ­
  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.