A New Constitution for a New Country

1968 Oliver, M[ichael] (b. 1928). A New Constitution for a New Country. Reno, NV: Published by arrangement with Fine Arts Press. Rev. ed. Reno, NV: Published by arrangement with Fine Arts Press, 1968. The first edition was published in February with the second in May. MiU

Detailed capitalist eutopia containing a complete constitution (49-128). A review of the book by Robert L. Meiers, M.D. was published in The Capitalist Country Newsletter in 1.2 (August 1968): [1-3], a journal edited by Oliver. The book was meant to outline the reasons for and constitution of a new country that he called Minerva that the author hoped to establish and for which he minted a coinage. He found a reef near Tonga, and in 1971 built it up with dredged sand, built a concrete platform, planted a flag, and declared the Republic of Minerva. In 1972 the King of Tonga emptied its one prison and took the prisoners to the reef, where they destroyed the platform. See Raymond Craib, “The Brief Life and Watery Death of a 70’s Libertarian Micronation.” Slate (May 21, 2022). https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/michael-oliver-republic-of-minerva-history-libertarian-micronations-tonga.html. A longer treatment by Craib can be found in Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2022. The author was born as Moses Olitzky in Kaunas, Lithuania and survived the Holocaust (his parents and four siblings did not). He emigrated to the United States in 1947, changed his name, joined the U.S. Air Force, worked in the electronics industry, and became a land developer.