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Distributism, also known as distributionism and distributivism, is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Roman Catholic thinkers as G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc to apply the principles of Catholic Social Teaching articulated by the Roman Catholic Church, especially in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum and more expansively explained by Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno According to distributism, the ownership of the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the general populace, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (indirect socialism) or a few large businesses or wealthy private individuals (capitalism). A summary of distributism is found in Chesterton's statement: "Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists." Essentially, distributism distinguishes itself by its distribution of property (not to be confused with redistribution of capital that would be carried out by most socialist ideologies). Distributism holds that, while socialism allows no individuals to own productive property (it all being under state, community, or workers' control), and capitalism allows only a few to own it, distributism itself seeks to ensure that most people will become owners of productive property. As Hilaire Belloc stated, the distributive state (that is, the state which has implemented distributism) contains "an agglomeration of families of varying wealth, but by far the greater number of owners of the means of production." This broader distribution does not extend to all property, but only to productive property; that is, that property which produces wealth, namely, the things needed for man to survive. It includes land, tools, etc. Distributism has often been described as a third way of economic order opposing both socialism and capitalism. Some have seen it more as an aspiration, which has been successfully realised in the short term by commitment to the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity (these being built into financially independent local co-operatives and family owned, small businesses), though proponents also cite such periods as the Middle Ages as examples of the historical long-term viability of distributism. From Wikipedia under the
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 traditioninaction.org 217px x 300px | 36.50kB [source page] In 1974 members of the French JOC sing the International Communist hymn to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Catholic Worker organization  traditioninaction.org 163px x 250px | 23.80kB [source page] Gill was so close a friend to Chesterton that he sculpted the grave of the latter above  traditioninaction.org 383px x 300px | 30.10kB [source page] Above in 1940 Eric Gill poses wearing his eccentric cassock and sandals in a pre hippy style From Yahoo Image Search: "Distributism"  distributism.blogspot.com John Medaille 2009-03-28 22:17:00 When analysing the success of Mondragon co-operatives, one must be very careful before attributing all the merit for their long term success to . distributism. , although it is clear that this Catholic economic/social doctrine played a role ... distributism.blogspot.com Bill Powell 2009-03-12 18:22:00 Why is this good news for . distributists. ? Because Linux is free . Not only "free as in beer," but far more importantly, "free as in speech." You can download Linux and use it as you will. You can try free alternatives for almost any task ...  libdemvoice.org The Voice 2008-05-19 08:21:47 Distributism. flourished under the early leadership of former Liberals Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton, became associated with radical Catholicism and arts and crafts pioneers like Eric Gill, and disintegrated in the 1940s but was ... From Google Blog Search: "Distributism" |
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Distributivism and Catholic Social Teaching