You would have been proud of the team that represented your cause in Moscow! On May 21, at the Parliamentary Centre, ten Georgists spoke with one voice as they exposed the Yeltsin laws that seek to privatise the rent of land.

It was a symbolically important date: for on the following day, May 22, the Duma was scheduled to give a third reading to the Land Code. This Code privatises the rent of land to first-comers and the monopolists who would begin to hoard the choice sites. The Code did indeed receive its third reading, but our inside knowledge left us in no doubt that this was just another round in the fight for the land of Russia. For neither the socialists nor the pro-IMF/Yelt.sin deputies were happy with the Code: both sides have been playing politics with it, trying to neutralise each other's influence - and, in the process, sacrificing the interests of the people of Russia. But as you will see from the report in The Moscowf Times, no-one believes that the Code will be ratified by the upper house, the Federation Council. And even if the Council were to pass it, the ban on the buying and selling of farmland means that Yeltsin - if he is re-elected on June 16 - would refuse to sign it.

So the Land Code is now before the Federation CounciL This is the territory favoured by our co-worker, Dr. Vyachyslav Zvolinski who is the deputy chairman of the Duma's Natural Resources Committee. Zvolinsky worked for two years in the Council. He will arrange for me to give evidence to the Councll which is composed of representatives from all of the republics. That is not likely to happen before June 24. I will go armed with the testimony of our May 21 speakers. In addition, Zvolinsky will issue, on behalf of the congress, a 5-page "appeal" to the President, Parliament and the People of Russia. This summarises the three altemative strategies that are now before the Duma: the socialist solution, the "liberal" (i.e., Yeltsin) land-grab - and ours. Our statement of the Georgist proposal appears in full in the appeal document, which will be circulated among all the politicians. (That statement will be printed in the forthcoming issue of Land & Liberty along with a fu1l report.)

• The congress received excellent media exposure. TV coverage, including a 5-minute segment that was broadcast nationwide, gave me the chance to state our case in an interview without relying on the interpretation of a reporter.
• The Federal Government's Land Committee has offered to pay for the publication of the proceedings, which will include expanded papers from our team: that ought to be out in the autumn.
• Representatives of city and regional governments from as far afield as Siberia were present: they heard our distinguished team enhancing the credibility of our proposals.

Several Moscow newspapers have offered us their pages for our platform: Tanya Roskoshnaya cannot translate our material fast enough to meet the demand! On Friday the Moscow Times wiii publish an article that I have penned which attempts to provoke the `IMF into recognising that we are a serious threat: I want them to fight us on own turf.

The future? As I see it, the "philosophical" phase of our work in Russia is now practically over. I speak on behalf of the whole team - which includes many others from Australia, South Africa, Denmark and South Korea, who have joined us in Russia over the past three years - in sending my heartfelt thanks for the financial and moral support that we have received. Two things now follow.

• Work in Russia must continue on a professional basis, whatever the outcome of the fight for the federal law. Many city govemments - backed by a federal govemment ministry - have issued open invitations to us to help them to reform their tax structure (the present law permits a measure of change in the direction that we favour) . But from now on that work must be on a contract-guaranteed basis. We have no intention of letting ourselves in for another betrayal of the kird that we suffered in the city of Novgorod.
• Russia is the epicentre of a worldwide renewal of effective Georgist action. We can now build on the credibility that we have accumulated, and hamess the lessons that we have leamt, to advance our cause elsewhere. Our next major target is the Blair-led govemment of Britain which will be elected in 1997. I know that the Land Policy Council can count on Georgists woridwide for the help that we need. Meanwhile....Tanya is back in Moscow this week, identifying the key politicians who are likely to be involved in the horse-trading once the Land Code is rjected. We need to know who they are, so that we can lobby them. I will keep you informed.

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