Readers' Forum

There is no basis for the fear that foreign real estate holdings threaten our sovereignty. And given that we have a free market in real estate, the charge that foreign purchases harm us economically also has no basis. We cannot be harmed if we freely exchange one asset for another which we view as having a better risk adjusted rate of return. This simple fact of eco nomics-that deals take place in a free market only when all parties involved believe them to be beneficial-applies to real estate just as it applies to all other assets. 0 Readers' Forum To the Editors: Nick Elliott, in his fascinating article on the Levelers (May 1989), tells us that their fight against the 17th-century Stuart state was an out growth of English individualism, which in turn led to liberalism, which he finds inextricably linked to the-Rerormation. This is the customary account. However, as Lord Acton-the great English liberal historian-pointed out, this view obscures the pre-Reformation growth of liberty in Eng land. Writing in 1859,Acton argued that: "[In England], as elsewhere, the progress of the constitution, which it was the work of the Catholic Ages to build up ... was interrupted by the attraction which the growth of absolutism abroad excited, and by the Reformation's trans ferring the ecclesiastical power to the Crown."

(SelectedWritings,Vol. III, p. 33) Acton further noted in 1861: "The Catholic Church had be stowed on the English the great elements of their politicalprosperity-thecharterof theirliberties, the fusion of the races, and the abolition of villeinage-that is, personal and general free dom, and national unity. Hence the people were so thoroughly impregnated with Catholicism that the Reformation was imposed on them by for eign troops in spite of an armed resistance; and the imported manufacture of Geneva remained so strange and foreign to them, that no English divine of the sixteenth century enriched it with a single original idea." (Ibid.,p. 91) For too long, it has been the received view in England and America that the Reformation equaled liberty. But in Acton's view, by uniting church and state and freeing rulers from painfully constructed Catholic restraints, Protestantism made possible an absolutism that derailed the long progress that liberty made during the Mid dle Ages. As further evidence, consider that the Renaissance-a Catholic Counter-Reformation that Luther and Calvin warned about-restarted the progress that ultimately culminated in liberal ism.

JEFFREY A. TUCKER Fairfax, Virginia NickElliottReplies: The Reformationdid not "equalliberty"-far from it. What it did was provide an ideology,as a flag of convenience for those princes and dukes who wanted to challenge the authority of the Catholic empire. It was an unintended conse quence that this led to religious anarchy and a more general challenge to authority. Without the Reformation, the Netherlands would probably 322 THE FREEMAN • AUGUST 1989 not have fought a war of independence, to be come the most liberal state in Europe. Nor would England have been touched by the radical liberal ideas of groups such as the Levelers. It was no accident that many of the principal English liberals have come from a background of Protestant nonconformism: John Lilburne, John Bright, and Herbert Spencer, to name but three. The radical ideas that were to emerge from the Reformation also implied a political code. As John Bright said of the Quakers, "We have no thirty-seven articles to declare that it is lawful for Christian men, at the command of the civilmagis trate, to wear weapons and serve in wars."

The most important principle, politically, to emerge from the Reformation was that the indi vidual could communicate with God by himself, subjectively interpreting the Bible for himself, and without the need for a church hierarchy. This principle led in England to popular agitation for freedom of worship, and made the Levelers into a movement with mass support. The gains for liberty made before the English Reformation hardly compare to the momentous gains made after the Civil War, as the direct re sult of radical Reformation ideas. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 enshrined religious toleration in law, and established the principle that monar chs must be accountable to parliaments. The Re formation in England led to the rejection of the divine right of kings, by which kings had previ ously justified their excesses. The immediate response of the Catholic Church to the Reformation was the inquisition and index-religious purification by burning, and a clampdown on dangerous books. These were retrograde steps for liberalism and liberty. Any link between the Renaissance and liberalism is far from clear,far less clear than that with the Re formation.

NICK ELLIOTI London, England time in the history of Poland, capitalism now has a political representation. In the June 1989 elec tion, the Union for Realpolitik (of which I am a representative), led by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, promoted free enterprise, privatization, self-re sponsibility,and individual rights. The Union for Realpolitik openly advocates capitalism-unlike any other organization in Poland. Furthermore, industrial societies organized in various cities (the most famous being the Krakow Industrial Society,Warsaw Industrial Society,and Old Polish Industrial Society in Kielce) teach en trepreneurship and organize meetings of busi nessmen and pro-free market intellectuals. I should add that the Krakow Industrial Society,of which I am a member, is not a libertarian organi zation, as Mrs. Sall wrote, but rather a group of classical liberal intellectuals, mostly readers of Ludwig von Mises.It is led by Miroslaw Dzielski, a very important figure in the Polish pro-capital ist movement, who seek contacts with successful Polish entrepreneurs, mostly through banquets and discussions. Recently the Krakow Industrial Society became more politically active, proposing a free enterprise zone in Krakow, and having Mr.

Dzielski participate in a meeting of opposition leaders with Margaret Thatcher during her visit in Poland. As I mentioned, the heavy hand of the state is still present. The Union for Realpolitik is refused a paper quota (distribution of paper is rationed by the Polish government) and is not allowed to campaign on television. Interestingly enough, Polish pro-capitalists are ignored in the West, most notably by Western media, even though the socialistic Solidarity opposition receives wide coverage. But that is a phenomenon which re quires a separate analysis. KRZYSZTOF OSTASZEWSKI University of Louisville To the Editors: I enjoyed Barbara Sall's "Private Enterprise in Poland" in the May 1989Freeman. Let me stress, however, that the situation is not as uncertain and tragic as it might appear from Mrs. Sall's presentation. The heavy hand of the state is present everywhere, but it is losing its weight. Most important, however, for the first We will share with readers the most in teresting and provocative letters we receive regarding Freeman articles and the issues they raise. Address your letters to: To the Editors, The Freeman,The Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hud son, New York 10533.