Land and liberty (slogan)
Encyclopedia
Land and Liberty is an anarchist political slogan. It was originally used as a name of the Russian revolutionary organization Zemlya i Volya
in 1878, then by the revolutionary leaders of the Mexican Revolution
; the revolution was fought over land rights, and the leaders such as Emiliano Zapata
and Pancho Villa
were fighting to give the land back to the natives from whom it was expropriated either by force or by some dubious manner. Without land, the peasants were at the mercy of landowners for subsistence.
Similarly, during the Russian Revolution
, the main concern of the peasants was to free themselves from subservience to landowners, to get a plot of land if they had none, or to expand on their land holdings. Consequently, the Russian peasants welcomed the Russian Revolution under the banner "Zemlya i Volya": "Land and Liberty".
The slogan of "Tierra y Libertad
" was also used during the Spanish Revolution
(1936–1939). In 1995, a film covering the Spanish Civil War
was released with the title Land and Freedom
.
In a broader sense, the slogan can be interpreted to mean that the necessary (though not the sufficient) condition of liberty is something like possession or access to subsistence land. If possession or access to land is a necessary condition of liberty, then its deprivation results in some form of slavery: tenancy, sharecropping
, wage-slavery. Access to land is only a necessary condition because even with access, the government may impose taxes to such an extent that one is not free. For example, in the Soviet Union
in 1932–1933, the government was removing from the peasants their agricultural products to the extant that it produced an artificial famine which directly or indirectly killed roughly 2.582 million people only in Ukraine
. (See Soviet famine of 1932–1933). So, the possession of or access to subsistence land is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for liberty.
In the following passage, F. A. Lange points out the relation of the possession of land to liberty:
"In former times the marauding minority of mankind, by means of physical violence, compelled the working majority to render feudal services, or reduced them to a state of slavery or serfdom, or at least made them pay a tribute. Nowadays the dependence of the working classes is secured in a less direct but equally efficacious manner, viz. by means of the superior power of capital; the labourer being forced, in order to get his subsistence, to place his labour power entirely at the disposal of the capitalist. So there is a semblance of liberty; but in reality the labourer is exploited and subjected, because, all the land having been appropriated, he cannot procure his subsistence directly from nature, and, goods being produced for the market and not for the producer's own use, he cannot subsist without capital. Wages will rise above what is wanted for the necessaries of life, where the labourer is able to earn his subsistence on free land, which has not yet become private property. But wherever, in an old and totally occupied country, a body of labouring poor is employed in manufactures, the same law, which we see at work in the struggle for life throughout the organized world, will keep wages at the absolute minimum" F. A. Lange, Die Arbeiterfrage. Ihre Bedeutung fur Gegenwart und Zukunft. Vierte Auflage. 1861, pp. 12, 13. Quoted by H. J. Nieboer, Slavery: As an Industrial System (Ethnological Researches), 2nd edition, 1909, p. 421.
Land and Liberty (Russia)
Land and Liberty was a Russian clandestine revolutionary organization of Narodniki in the 1870s...
in 1878, then by the revolutionary leaders of the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
; the revolution was fought over land rights, and the leaders such as Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution...
and Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
were fighting to give the land back to the natives from whom it was expropriated either by force or by some dubious manner. Without land, the peasants were at the mercy of landowners for subsistence.
Similarly, during the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, the main concern of the peasants was to free themselves from subservience to landowners, to get a plot of land if they had none, or to expand on their land holdings. Consequently, the Russian peasants welcomed the Russian Revolution under the banner "Zemlya i Volya": "Land and Liberty".
The slogan of "Tierra y Libertad
Tierra y Libertad
Tierra y Libertad may refer to:*¡Tierra y Libertad!, slogan from the Mexican Revolution.*Frente Popular Tierra y Libertad, Mexican organization....
" was also used during the Spanish Revolution
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
(1936–1939). In 1995, a film covering the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
was released with the title Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom
Land and Freedom is a 1995 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen. The film narrates the story of David Carr, an unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who decides to fight for the republican side in the Spanish Civil War...
.
Meaning
In a narrow sense, the possession of land meant freedom from the landowner. And this may have been the main concern of both the Mexican and Russian peasants.In a broader sense, the slogan can be interpreted to mean that the necessary (though not the sufficient) condition of liberty is something like possession or access to subsistence land. If possession or access to land is a necessary condition of liberty, then its deprivation results in some form of slavery: tenancy, sharecropping
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
, wage-slavery. Access to land is only a necessary condition because even with access, the government may impose taxes to such an extent that one is not free. For example, in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1932–1933, the government was removing from the peasants their agricultural products to the extant that it produced an artificial famine which directly or indirectly killed roughly 2.582 million people only in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. (See Soviet famine of 1932–1933). So, the possession of or access to subsistence land is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for liberty.
In the following passage, F. A. Lange points out the relation of the possession of land to liberty:
"In former times the marauding minority of mankind, by means of physical violence, compelled the working majority to render feudal services, or reduced them to a state of slavery or serfdom, or at least made them pay a tribute. Nowadays the dependence of the working classes is secured in a less direct but equally efficacious manner, viz. by means of the superior power of capital; the labourer being forced, in order to get his subsistence, to place his labour power entirely at the disposal of the capitalist. So there is a semblance of liberty; but in reality the labourer is exploited and subjected, because, all the land having been appropriated, he cannot procure his subsistence directly from nature, and, goods being produced for the market and not for the producer's own use, he cannot subsist without capital. Wages will rise above what is wanted for the necessaries of life, where the labourer is able to earn his subsistence on free land, which has not yet become private property. But wherever, in an old and totally occupied country, a body of labouring poor is employed in manufactures, the same law, which we see at work in the struggle for life throughout the organized world, will keep wages at the absolute minimum" F. A. Lange, Die Arbeiterfrage. Ihre Bedeutung fur Gegenwart und Zukunft. Vierte Auflage. 1861, pp. 12, 13. Quoted by H. J. Nieboer, Slavery: As an Industrial System (Ethnological Researches), 2nd edition, 1909, p. 421.