David Redfearn

Summary

David Redfearn is a British author best known for Tolstoy: Principles for a New World Order (1992, Shepheard-Walwyn). The book was written at the prompting of Fred Harrison, who encouraged Redfearn to explore Tolstoy's engagement with Henry George's ideas (Redfearn 1992, p. 8). Redfearn acknowledges gratitude to Harrison, Shirley-Anne Hardy, and Professor Robert V. Andelson for suggestions (Redfearn 1992, p. 8). The book traces the intellectual connection between Tolstoy's moral philosophy and Henry George's economic analysis, arguing that Tolstoy's Georgism was foundational rather than incidental to his social thought. (A-claim; factual)

Key Ideas/Contributions

• Tolstoy's Georgism as foundational. Redfearn's central thesis is that Tolstoy's advocacy of "common before private rights to land" was a central pillar of his philosophy, not an incidental interest. He argues Tolstoy's Georgism was foundational to his social thought and moral philosophy. (D-claim; interpretive)
• The state vs. government distinction. Redfearn draws a crucial distinction between "the State, to which Tolstoy objected on account of both its violent origins and its continuing exploitative purposes backed by violence, and 'government,' a term whose usage in the sense of a body of people vested with legislative and executive authority has been intentionally avoided" (Redfearn 1992, p. 73). Tolstoy had "no objection" to peasant assemblies (mir and volost) that were "reinvested with powers of self-government" in 1861. (D-claim; interpretive)
• Land deprivation as the new slavery. Redfearn documents Tolstoy's argument that "depriving men of the land they need to work on not only takes away their freedom and reduces their wages just as effectively as does owning their bodies, but also involves fewer responsibilities" (Redfearn 1992, p. 72). Tolstoy saw the abolition of serfdom as followed by worsened conditions because "the total area of land available for their cultivation was approximately halved" (Redfearn 1992, pp. 72–73). (D-claim; interpretive)
• George's moment of illumination. Redfearn traces George's central insight to a conversation with a teamster about land prices near Oakland: "Like a flash it came upon me that there was the reason of advancing poverty with advancing wealth. With the growth of population, land grows in value, and the men who work it must pay more for the privilege" (Redfearn 1992, p. 96). (A-claim; factual)
• The eggshell metaphor. Redfearn presents Tolstoy's comparison of the state to an eggshell: "the time will come when we shall outgrow this dependence, just as the chick outgrows its need for the protection of the eggshell. The State will then inevitably disappear" (Redfearn 1992, p. 72). (D-claim; interpretive)
• Advocacy posture. Redfearn is explicitly an advocate for both Tolstoy and George; the book is a "defence of them against misguided criticism" (Redfearn 1992, p. 8), so it should be read as a Georgist argument rather than a neutral scholarly assessment. (D-claim; interpretive)

Key Works

• Tolstoy: Principles for a New World Order (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 1992) — book page

See Also

• Tolstoy: Principles for a New World Order — book page
• Leo Tolstoy — the subject of Redfearn's work
• Henry George — the intellectual influence Redfearn traces
• Fred Harrison — prompted the book's writing
• Robert V. Andelson — acknowledged for suggestions
• Single Tax — the policy both Tolstoy and George advocated

Sources

1. David Redfearn, Tolstoy: Principles for a New World Order (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 1992). — used for all claims about Tolstoy's Georgism, the state/government distinction, and Tolstoy's land reform advocacy (A/D-claims). book page
2. Henry George, Progress and Poverty (1879) — the work that influenced Tolstoy, discussed in Ch. 10 of Redfearn (A-claim).
3. Tolstoy's letters to Tsar Nicholas II and Grand Duke Nikolay Mikhaylovich — reproduced as appendices (from R.F. Christian, ed., Tolstoy's Letters, 1978, Athlone Press) (A-claim).