Arthur Preuss

The Fundamental Fallacy of Socialism: an Essay on the Question of Landownership Arthur Preuss

Publisher Marketing: Who owns the land? To this question two answers are given: The land is the common property of all men, or the land of each country belongs to the whole people of that country as their common property. This is the answer of Communists, Socialists and Agrarians. The rest of mankind deny this common landownership and maintain that the land is owned in severalty, either by individuals or by corporations. The best known and most enthusiastic advocate of common landownership is Henry George; the most prominent defender of private ownership in land is Pope Leo XIII. How can private property in land be done away with? Will its abolition not cause a disturbance in all social conditions, which would be worse than the misery of which we now complain. We need not fear: no violent measure is required to bring about the desired change. We will leave every landowner in the quiet" possession" of all he has; but for the privilege of possessing land and of enjoying the blessings of such "possession," we will make hiIn pay the State or the community a "land tax," equal to the profit which accrues from land as such, regardless of labor and improvement ("land rent," "land value''). In this manner we shall really make all land common property. For, the individual "possessor" of a particular piece or tract of land, who pays the State for the use of such land, is in reality llothing more than a tenant of the State or the Community.