Economic Justice Movement

A Blueprint for Georgist Victory

John Loveless

[1997]

GEORGISM IS CLEARLY THE BEST POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY THEN WHY HAVE GEORGISTS FAILED? WHAT HOPE IS THERE FOR BETTER PROGRESS NOW? WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR US TO SUCCEED? PROGRESS WITHOUT POVERTY A UNIFIED GEORGIST MOVEMENT PRACTICAL PROPOSALS UNIVERSAL PROGRESSIVE UNION: A VISION OF THE EVENTUAL VICTORY

I. GEORGISM IS CLEARLY THE BEST POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Any one who has been a serious Georgist for more than a few years has very soon seen the enormous potential for good of the Georgist philosophy. At the same time they have also perceived the deep indelible flaw of capitalism and the failure of socialists to address themselves properly to the removal of this cancerous flaw while leaving the wholesome part of the body well alone. We Georgists, that have seen the fantastic power of the Georgist message, must first of all seek to help our Georgist colleagues to see that Georgism is not just an esoteric argument about how government should raise taxes, but it is nothing less than the framework for a new and better world order. Then we can start to convince the world.

Georgists are the only people who realise the true nature of the deep indelible flaw in the capitalist philosophy therefore they are the only people who really understand the shortcomings of both capitalism and socialism. Yet these two have been and are still the dominant political philosophies in the minds of virtually every citizen in the world.

II. THEN WHY HAVE GEORGISTS FAILED?

Why with the best political philosophy in the world have Georgists failed? It is proposed that the main causes can be summarised as follows:

1. Georgism lost out to socialism in the 1880's and was totally eclipsed as the main alternative political philosophy to capitalism for the next 100 years.

2. The enemies of Georgism corrupted and confused the study of economics by hiding land in the term capital and corrupting other terms etc.

3. Georgists were so convinced of the rightness of their ideas that they did not see the need for good marketing.

4. Georgists failed to organise themselves properly and efficiently.

Two of these causes were external and two of them are internal. Before Georgists can address the external causes effectively they must remedy the internal causes.

MORE PARTICULARLY THESE FAILURES CAN BE CATALOGUED AS BELOW:

A. We failed to see that the massive vested interests in land could only be opposed successfully by a mass movement. Too much Georgist effort is devoted to trying to influence politicians directly instead of seeking first to get popular support at the grass roots level.

B . Georgists failed to give their political philosophy a name.

C. They failed to set up and maintain political parties except in a very few cases. They have failed to see that without a popular organisation new converts have nowhere to congregate in large numbers and so gain internal encouragement and external recognition.

D. They have failed to market their ideas effectively; they failed to sell the benefits of SVR before trying to explain it.

E. They have tended to be too academic.

F . They failed in the task of extending their ideology out from the principle of common ground and free trade to include other generally agreed principles like sound money. Thus they were marginalised in the political debate.

G. They have failed to organise well and to co-operate more fully to produce common documents, common standards and a common front. Hence there is still poor quality and lack of agreement produced.

H . Georgists have failed to appreciate how serious a problem political corruption is to the advance of their ideas. Corruption is the greatest enemy of Georgism.

III. WHAT HOPE IS THERE FOR BETTER PROGRESS NOW?

There are reasons for Georgists to be optimistic about the future prospects of their philosophy because:

A. Socialism has been found wanting in practice; Capitalism is sinking slowly under the burden of the welfare state. It could well fail spectacularly in the next five years, particularly in Europe.

B . Hence there is the possibility of introducing a 'new' political philosophy.

C . The Internet and e-mail makes it easier for small groups to co-operate in order to grow.

D . Georgists are showing signs of a new willingness to be progressive.

E. The environmental/green movement is sympathetic to our ideas and is growing in strength.

F . Economists and politicians everywhere are in disrepute.

G . Money is more widely distributed now than it was in 1880; more people have a degree of independence.

IV. WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR US TO SUCCEED?

We will succeed as soon as we can create an international mass movement. The idea is brilliant it is the marketing which has failed. An idea only begins to succeed when a significant number of people begin to accept it.

We will do this when we:

1. Find a single marketable word to describe our political philosophy;

2. Broaden our ideas enough to produce a political manifesto;

3. Create or succeed in converting political parties everywhere to this philosophy;

4. Market our ideas properly to the masses.

V. PROGRESS WITHOUT POVERTY

Why on earth have Georgists failed for over 100 years to give their political philosophy a name?

The first step on the road to success for Georgists is for us to settle on a marketable -ism. I have been exploring this for over a year now and after a lot of research I now think (like many of us) that the obvious word for Georgism is PROGRESS.

George showed that capitalism produces progress and poverty so progress without poverty is what would be created by Georgism. Hence we have a ready made word for our mass movement: Progress. QED.

We cannot use Georgism for a mass movement since it not descriptive of what benefit we will bring (i.e. progress without poverty). Also it is not a one man movement. After the success of "Progress and Poverty" George wrote, "I could die now and the work could go on. It is no longer a Henry George Movement -- a one man movement. It is the movement of many men in many lands."

We could have : 1. Progress Party -- 2. Progressive Movement -- 3. Universal Progressive Union.

It is interesting to note that a Georgist caucus has just been formed in the Democratic Party calling itself the Democratic Freedom Caucus, but defining its principles as "progressive libertarian". Those countries where for some reason progress party or progressive movement is not though appropriate could use the words popular party or people's party.

VI. A UNIFIED GEORGIST MOVEMENT

Because Georgists are of different types (like everybody else) we identify different priorities. However, all these various priorities should be allowed, if generally agreed as appropriate, and then people should be grouped in different divisions pursuing these different objectives. This would eliminate the causes of division which have so damaged our movement All would have a place within a unified whole.

• Some say we should educate: let them form Henry George Schools;
• Some say we should research: let them form Henry George Foundations.
• Some say we should form pressure groups: let them join a Progressive Movement.
• Some say we should get into the existing political parties: let them form progressive caucuses;
• progressive democrats, progressive republicans, progressive liberals, progressive socialists, progressive conservatives (?!), progressive anything. Some say we should form political parties: let them form Progress Parties.
• Some say we should form international organizations: let them join IU & CGO

Everybody can be accommodated and everybody can then recognise the validity of the contribution of others who wish to contribute to the work in their own way.

Once these divisions are recognised and clearly identified then the leaders of all the divisions can get together to unify and thus make more effective their respective divisions. I believe we should try to conceive of our organisation as a multi-national corporation with clearly defined divisional responsibilites, clear objectives for each division and a professional leadership for each division.

VII . PRACTICAL PROPOSALS

• Schools -- >>> -- Georgist Economics Textbook: The GET Project
• Researchers -- >>> -- Land Values Monitor: The LVM Project
• Pressure Groupers -- >>> -- Activists Manual: The AGM Project
• Infiltrators -- >>> -- How to woo: HTW a capitalist, a socialist, a liberal
• Party Makers -- >>> -- Progressive Manifesto
• Internationalists -- >>> -- Merger of IU & CGO?: Universal Progressive Union.

VIII. UNIVERSAL PROGRESSIVE UNION: A VISION OF THE EVENTUAL VICTORY

The Georgist or "progressive" political philosophy has universal application , it would create prosperity and it would unify the world like no other political philosophy could. Therefore what we seek as our ultimate aim is Universal Progressive Union. Lets begin then by creating one from a merger of all the Georgist organizations promoting political ACTION. These would include Common Ground, Earthsharing, etc etc. Secondly all Georgist organisations involved in teaching, research and public education (i.e. all essentially charitable activities) could start to unify by means of a merger at the top of the CGO and the IU.

Georgists have failed in the past to unite; now is the time to do this. Quality, efficiency and image will all be improved enormously by a unified structure. The first step is the establishment of unified banners. The second the establishment of a unified corporate structure with a clear centre and recognised branches answerable ultimately to a centre, but largely independent at the national level. We propose a bi-polar organisation, as shown below, because charity status is worth preserving for the think-tanks and schools. Then they can influence all other political ideologies.

POLITICAL DOMAIN	CHARITY DOMAIN
Best vehicle: political party	Best vehicles: 1. Think tank for research; 2. Schools for education
Umbrella organization: Universal Progressive Union	Umbrellas organization: International Georgist Union
CAMPAIGNING	TEACHING AND RESEARCH
Banners:	Banners
PROGRESSIVE PARTY; PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT; Progressive Democrat Caucus	HENRY GEORGE SCHOOL; HENRY GEORGE FOUNDATION

The only question which remains if the above is accepted as a good idea is, "Who is going to do it?" We propose that the leaders of existing Georgist organisations around the world must do it.