Little Shops and Socialist Capitalism

On the edge of Dartmoor, in England, the ancient town of Newton Abbot is threatened by “progress.” The urban council which governs the place is considering a wholesale demolition of the heart of Newton Abbot, and the replacement of the handsome old butter market, many independent and long-established shops, the town hall, and other buildings by a vast “development” of offices and chain stores financed by London speculators. Everyone in Newton Abbot who feels affection for the charm of the old town and its environs is up in arms against the scheme. But the Labor members of the council, especially, are enthusiastic about the destruction of the old and the erection of “project” buildings costing more than a million pounds. As in American “urban renewal” projects, the public authority would condemn the buildings at present situated on the redevelopment sites, and hand over the land to London finance companies.

Thus the established small businesses of Newton Abbot would be liquidated by compulsion, and their place taken by “multiple shops,” chain stores, whose profits would be drained off to the metropolis. Local initiative and benefaction would wither gradually. And the beauty of the town center, unaltered since 1843, would yield to a standardized mass commercialism.

RK

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Russell Kirk

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On the edge of Dartmoor, in England, the ancient town of Newton Abbot is threatened by “progress.” The urban council which governs the place is considering a wholesale demolition of the heart of Newton Abbot, and the replacement of the handsome old butter market, many independent and long-established shops, the town hall, and other buildings by a vast “development” of offices and chain stores financed by London speculators. Everyone in Newton Abbot who feels affection for the charm of the old town and its environs is up in arms against the scheme. But the Labor members of the council, especially, are enthusiastic about the destruction of the old and the erection of “project” buildings costing more than a million pounds. As in American “urban renewal” projects, the public authority would condemn the buildings at present situated on the redevelopment sites, and hand over the land to London finance companies.

Thus the established small businesses of Newton Abbot would be liquidated by compulsion, and their place taken by “multiple shops,” chain stores, whose profits would be drained off to the metropolis. Local initiative and benefaction would wither gradually. And the beauty of the town center, unaltered since 1843, would yield to a standardized mass commercialism.