| Henry George began with the ethical premise that all people have an equal right to the use of the earth. From that he concluded that exclusive private ownership of land (natural resources) creates unwarranted special privileges. Furthermore, he observed that holding land out of production drives down real wages and the returns to capital equipment. This process is further exacerbated by taxes on production and income that 1) increase unemployment, 2) discourage productive investment, and 3) encourage unproductive land speculation and rent-seeking. To counteract this self-destructive system, George advocated shifting taxes from labor and capital onto the value of land and natural resources. more | |
| Progress and Poverty (1879) Available from the online bookstore | This classic bestseller in political economy launched a worldwide movement for the abolition of privilege and poverty—by eliminating the root cause, land monopoly. Ever since the publication of Progress and Poverty, advocates of liberty and justice have responded to its clarion call: “To abolish all taxation save that upon land values. Today, as policy-makers around the world consider ways to fairly and efficiently allocate access to Earth’s precious resources, Progress and Poverty takes on new and increasing relevance. German translation |
| Progress and Poverty (2006) Abridged and Edited by Bob Drake Available from the online bookstore | Why There Are Recessions And Poverty Amid Plenty—And What To Do About It!One of the world’s best-selling books on political economy edited and abridged for modern readers.Many economists and politicians foster the illusion that great fortunes and poverty stem from the presence or absence of individual skill and risk-taking. Henry George, by contrast, showed that the wealth gap occurs because a few people are allowed to monopolize natural opportunities and deny them to others. George did not advocate equality of income, the forcible redistribution of wealth, or government management of the economy. He simply believed that in a society not burdened by the demands of a privileged elite, a full and satisfying life would be attainable by everyone. RTF |
| Progress and Poverty Study Guide | Henry George’s Progress And Poverty Notes By Mason Gaffney |
| Protection or Free Trade |
An Examination of the Tariff Question, with especial Regard to the Interests of Free Trade [1886]
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| The Science of Political Economy (original, unabridged version) | A Reconstruction of Its Principles in Clear and Systematic Form Henry George believed that “(o)f all the sciences, political economy is that which to civilized men of today is of most practical importance.” In his last work, published in 1898, George presents economic principles in a logical, encyclopedic system, encompassing concepts of wealth, ownership, value, money and semantics. |
| The Science of Political Economy (edited, abridged version) | A highly accessible abridged edition of The Science of Political Economy by Henry George. With an introduction by Harry Pollard and an afterword by Lindy Davies. |
| Social Problems (1883) | “The progress of civilization requires that more and more intelligence be devoted to social affairs, and this not the intelligence of the few, but that of the many. We cannot safely leave politics to politicians, or political economy to college professsors. The people themselves must think, because the people alone can act.” (Social Problems, Chapter I, “The Increasing Importance of Social Questions”.) Many readers consider this collection of twenty-two essays to be the best introduction to the ideas of Henry George. |
| The Land Question | Property in Land the Condition of Labor First published in 1881 as “The Irish Land Question” |
| Property in Land Part I Part II |
Published as section 2 of the The Land Question A Passage-at-Arms between the Duke of Argyll and Henry George I. The Prophet of San Francisco by the Duke of Argyll II. The “Reduction to Iniquity” by Henry George New York Times 2-8-1883 PDF Part I and II |
| Condition-of-Labor | |
| A Perplexed Philosopher | |
| The Standard as web pages in html also text PDF. | The Standard was the weekly paper highlighting news and viewpoints from Henry George’s Single Tax movement. |
| The Standard First Edition Scanned image (Scan of the news paper, looks like old xerox) file note big files19 MB pdf The Standard Volume 1 No.13 |
The Standard on two DVDs |
Online Speeches and Shorter
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| Causes of Business Depression | Henry George’s contribution to the New York periodical, Once a Week, March 6, 1894 |
| Crime of Poverty | An address delivered in the Opera House, Burlington, Iowa, April 1, 1885, under the auspices of Burlington Assembly, No. 3135, Knights of Labour, which afterwards distributed fifty thousand copies in tract form. |
| Justice The Object— Taxation The Means |
Address in Metropolitan Hall, San Francisco, February 4, 1890 on way to Australia |
| Land and Taxation | A conversation between David Dudley Field and Henry George, first published in the “North American Review”, July, 1885. |
| The Land for the People | An address delivered on July 11, 1889, in Toomebridge, County Derry, Ireland |
| Moses | There is in modern thought a tendency to look upon the prominent characters of history as resultants rather than as initiatory forces. |
| Ode to Liberty | Henry George’s celebrated Fourth of July Oration delivered in San Francisco, 1877. |
| Peace | “Reprinted from the ‘Financial Reformer’ (Liverpool), October, 1898. |
| Progress and Poverty (condensed) |
Key passages from George’s classic that present the essentials of his thesis. Selected and edited by James L. Busey (1968). |
| Scotland and Scotsmen | An Address Delivered on February 18, 1884 in the City Hall, Glasgow, Scotland. “There is no natural reason for poverty.” |
| The Single Tax: What It Is and Why We Urge It |
An article published in The Christian Advocatein 1890 and thereafter reprinted in various magazines in the United Stated and England. |
| The Study of Political Economy | Of the importance of the questions with which political economy deals it is hardly necessary to speak. |
| Thou Shalt Not Steal | Great social transformations, said Mazzini, never have been and never will be other than the application of great religious movements. |
| Utility and Futility of Labor Strikes |
I have neglected no opportunity of telling workingmen that what they have to fight, in order to accomplish anything real and lasting, is not their immediate employers, but the false and wrongful system which, by depriving the masses of men of natural opportunities for the employment of their labor, compels them to struggle with one another for a chance to work. |
| “Thy Kingdom Come” | A sermon delivered on Sunday, April 28, 1889, in the City Hall, Glasgow, Scotland. |
| Why The Landowner Cannot Shift The Tax on Land Values | A very common objection to the proposition to concentrate all taxes on Land Values is that the landowner would add the increased tax on the value of his land to the rent that must be paid by his tenants. |
