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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 71

Manifesto

Manifesto.

Whereas the English people have been gradually deprived of their rights in the soil of their native land:

And whereas the appropriation to the few of the land on which and from which the people of England must live is an efficient cause of dulness of trade, lowness of wages, the idleness of men who should be at work, the forcing of women and children to unnatural toil, the depopulation of agricultural districts, the crowding of city slums, the sapping of national strength by forced emigration, the physical and mental deterioration due to unwholesome employment and lodgings, and of the vice and crime that spring from poverty:

It is therefore the duty of all Englishmen to secure the restoration of England to its true owners, the people of England.

With this aim we ask the co-operation of all who agree to the following statement of principle and purpose:—

Land being the dwelling place, storehouse, and workshop of men—the natural element necessary to labour and life—it cannot be treated as the private property of individuals without enabling the idle to live upon the industrious, and giving to individuals undue control of the industry, happiness, and lives of their fellows.

The equal right of every citizen to life involves an equal right to the use and enjoyment of the land of his country. This right begins with birth, and terminates with death, attaching to each human being while he lives, and no longer: so that no number of individuals can justly grant away the equal right of other individuals to land, and no generation can grant away the rights of future generations.

While the land of every country, by indefeasible title, thus belongs in common to the living people of that country, unfettered by any grants, bargains, or sales made by preceding generations, it is equally manifest that the produce of labour rightfully belongs, by similar indefeasible title, to those whose industry and skill produce it. To secure this right of property in the produce of labour—a right which is necessary to the improvement and use of land—the user or improver of land must be guaranteed its secure possession, subject to the acknowledgment of the proprietary right of the whole people to the land itself, and to payment to the community of a fair equivalent for those advantages which attach to its use by reason of the growth and progress of the community. Therefore, the value of land as distinguished from the value of the improvements made upon it by the user—a value created not by the particular user or improver, but by the growth of the whole community—belongs rightfully to the community, and should be taken for public uses, leaving the producer the full recompense of his industry.

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To secure the equal rights of all to their native land, while at the same time securing the full right of private property, it is therefore necessary to reassert the ancient English principle that land is not, and cannot become, the property of individuals, but belongs inalienably to the whole people, of whom all holders of land are tenants. In accordance with this principle, all rent for the use of land is due to the people, constituting a common fund, to the benefits of which all are equally entitled, and which may he used for the defrayal of common expenses, or for such purposes as the people, by such governments as they choose to create, may deem best.

As the easiest and best method of reasserting these ancient English principles, and restoring England to the ownership of the English people, we propose to reverse the process by which the landowning and law-making class have gradually escaped from the payment to the State of the rents and dues originally annexed to grants of land, and have thrown upon industry the burden of taxation.

We propose to abolish all the taxation which now bears upon labour, improvement and thrift, which increases the cost of commodities and enjoyments, and titles men for adding to the common wealth.

We propose to increase taxation on land until the whole annual value is taken for the public benefit; and, finally, to make the English people themselves the landlords of England.

As a first step to this end, we shall demand of our representatives in Parliament a re-imposition of the tax of four shillings in the pound on the current value of land, irrespective of whether it is rented, used, or kept idle by the holder. And we shall also demand, at the same time, a measure giving all local governments the power to collect rates from an assessment upon the value of land, exclusive of buildings or improvements, and irrespective of use.

We propose to achieve our end—the complete restoration of English land to the English people—as rapidly as may be. Yet such is the strength of the opposition to be overcome, that our progress must be gradual, during which ample warning will be given, and all interests be afforded opportunity to adjust themselves to the new order of things. The question of compensation is therefore a purely theoretical one. But since it has been raised, we prefer to meet it by declaring that we cannot tolerate the idea that the people of England shall be compelled to buy back the land which is theirs by natural right, or to compensate those who now appropriate their earnings for the loss of power to appropriate those earnings in the future. Whatever plan the classes who have profited by, and are responsible for, the existing injustice may choose to adopt to equalise among themselves any losses they may suffer in the restoration of the soil of England to the English people, we insist that those who have suffered, and are now suffering, from this injustice shall not be called upon to bear part in it.

The English Land Restoration League asks the co-operation of all who accept the principle thus set forth.