The Story of the Journal Progress

Allan Hutchinson

[Reprinted from Progress, June, 1980]

Our paper Progress sprang from the ferment that followed the publication of Progress and Poverty in 1879 by Henry George. There were two short lived Victorian predecessors to ours. The first was "The Beacon" which ran monthly from May 1893 to June 1900. It was followed by "The Arena" which ran for two years. Both of these papers relied on advertisements to continue publication. When these dropped with the continuing hard times following the bursting of the land boom they had to close down. After a brief period of reorganisation our present monthly paper "Progress" was born on May 2nd 1904. It consisted of four pages only and publication costs were now to be met by members subscriptions plus proceeds of sales to the public.

From its inception to the present lime "Progress" has established an editorial record which is unlikely to have been equalled within the Georgist movement anywhere else in the world. That record is 76 years of continuous publication by a succession of editors who have given their services in their own time without payment of any kind. There have been other papers which areas long lived but in which publication was part of the managerial duties for which they were paid.

Initially Progress commenced with Mr F.T. Hodgekiss as editor. Mr P.J. Markham took over the role until December 1923. There was a period of several members taking on the editorship until April 1929 when Mr Modgekiss resumed as editor and continued until June 1943 when he had a serious illness. The new editor appointed then was Mr. A.R. Hutchinson who continued until the mid 1980's. He was the sole editor until April 1968 when he was joined by Mr G.A. Forster., and then in 1976 Mr H.B. Every was appointed as third editor to share the work in rotation.

From its modest beginnings as a four page paper Progress grew to eight pages by the twenties and then in 1967 was increased to 12 pages. This is indicative of the growth of activities and of practical application of our principles achieved in recent years. Implicitly this record is a tribute lo the selfless cause which has found a succession of capable editors willing to give their services in an unpaid capacity to the production of our paper over more than three quarters of a century. It is equally a tribute to the members of our movement over several generations who, through their subscriptions and donations, have met the printing and distribution costs over such a long period in the quest for economic and social justice.