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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 social justice articulated by the Roman Catholic Church, especially in Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum[1] and more expansively explained by Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno[2] and Pope John Paul II's encyclical Centesimus Annus.[3] 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 a few state bureaucrats (some forms of socialism) 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."[4] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1400x933, 185 KB) Photo of farm in the Kitchener area of Ontario, taken September 2002 by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Distributism User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Places ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1400x933, 185 KB) Photo of farm in the Kitchener area of Ontario, taken September 2002 by User:Stan Shebs File links The following pages link to this file: Distributism User:Stan Shebs/Gallery/Places ...
Third way can refer to: The Third Way, an economic and political idea that positions itself between democratic socialism and laissez-faire capitalism, combining the ordoliberal social market with neo-liberalism. ...
This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874–June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. ...
Photograph of Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (July 27, 1870–July 16, 1953) was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box: The Roman Catholic Church...
Pope Leo XIII (March 2, 1810 – July 20, 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having succeeded Pope Pius IX (1846–78) on February 20, 1878 and reigning until his death in 1903. ...
An encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Christian church. ...
Rerum Novarum (Translation: Of New Things) is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. ...
Pope Pius XI (Latin: ) (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ...
Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Rerum Novarum (thus the name, Latin for the fortieth year). Written as a response to the Great Depression, it calls for the establishment of a social order based on the principle of subsidiarity. ...
Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: , Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born [] (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as...
Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...
Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are all or mostly privately[1][2] owned and operated for profit, and in which investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a free market. ...
Essentially, distributism distinguishes itself by its distribution of property. 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 owners of the means of production."[5] 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.[6] Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ...
Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are all or mostly privately[1][2] owned and operated for profit, and in which investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a free market. ...
Photograph of Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (July 27, 1870–July 16, 1953) was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. ...
In the study of human settlements, an agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place (usually a municipality) and any suburbs or adjacent satellite towns. ...
Distributism has often been described as a third way of economic order besides socialism and capitalism. However, 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). Third way can refer to: The Third Way, an economic and political idea that positions itself between democratic socialism and laissez-faire capitalism, combining the ordoliberal social market with neo-liberalism. ...
Subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the smallest (or, the lowest) competent authority. ...
Solidarity (Polish: ; full name: Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity — Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the then Lenin Shipyards, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ...
A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ...
History
The articulation of Distributist ideas was based on 19th and 20th century Papal teachings, beginning with Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. In 1930s America, distributism was treated in numerous essays by Chesterton, Belloc and others in The American Review, published and edited by Seward Collins. Pivotal among Chesterton's and Belloc's other works regarding distributism include The Servile State[7] and Outline of Sanity[8] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box: The Pope (from Latin...
Pope Leo XIII (March 2, 1810 – July 20, 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having succeeded Pope Pius IX (1846–78) on February 20, 1878 and reigning until his death in 1903. ...
Rerum Novarum (Translation: Of New Things) is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. ...
Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ...
Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic - President George Walker Bush (R) - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...
The American Review has been the name of more than one publication. ...
Seward Bishop Collins (April 22, 1899 – December 8, 1952) graduated from Princeton University and entered New Yorks literary life in 1926 as a bon vivant. ...
Distributist thought was later adopted by the Catholic Worker Movement, conjoining it with the thought of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin concerning localized and independent communities. It also influenced the thought behind the Antigonish Movement, which implemented co-operatives and other measures to aid the poor in the Canadian Maritimes. Its practical implementation in the form of local co-operatives has recently been documented by Race Mathews in Jobs of Our Own. The Catholic Worker Movement is a Catholic organisation founded by Servant of God Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. ...
Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897– November 29, 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Catholic Church. ...
Peter Maurin (May 9, 1877 - May 15, 1949 born in Oultet, France) was a Catholic activist who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement with Dorothy Day in 1933. ...
The Maritime provinces. ...
Race Mathews (27 March, 1935 - )[1] is a Co-operative economist, and former member of Victorias State Parliament and Australias Federal Parliament for the Australian Labor Party. ...
Economic theory
Private property Under such a system, most people would be able to earn a living without having to rely on the use of the property of others to do so. Examples of people earning a living in this way would be farmers who own their own land and related machinery, plumbers who own their own tools, software developers who own their own computer, etc. The "co-operative" approach advances beyond this perspective to recognise that such property and equipment may be "co-owned" by local communities larger than a family, e.g. partners in a business. Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ...
For a colloquial American use, see White House Plumbers; in London, see Worshipful Company of Plumbers A plumber is a tradesman who specialises in installing and maintaining systems used for plumbing, heating, drainage, potable (drinking) water or industrial process plant piping. ...
A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ...
Guild system The kind of economic order envisioned by the early distributist thinkers would involve the return to some sort of guild system. The present existence of labor unions does not constitute a realization of this facet of distributist economic order, as labour unions are organized along class lines to promote class interests, whereas Guilds are mixed class syndicates composed of both employers and employees cooperating for mutual benefit. A guild is an association of craftspeople in a particular trade. ...
A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers...
Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ...
Banks Distributism favors the elimination of the current private bank system, or in any case, its profit-making basis. This does not necessarily entail nationalization, but would probably require government involvement of some sort. Private banks are banks which are not incorporated, and hence the entirety of their assets is available to meet the liabilities of the bank. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Nationalization or nationalisation is the act of transferring assets into public ownership. ...
Social theory
The human family Distributism sees the trinitarian human family of one male, one female, and their children as the central and primary social unit of human ordering and the principal unit of a functioning distributist society and civilization. This unit is also the basis of a multi-generational extended family, which is embedded in socially as well as genetically inter-related communities, nations, etc., and ultimately in the whole human family past, present and future. The economic system of a society should therefore be focussed primarily on the flourishing of the family unit, but not in isolation: at the appropriate level of family context, as is intended in the principle of subsidiarity. Distributism reflects this doctrine most evidently by promoting the family, rather than the individual, as the basic type of owner; that is, distributism seeks to ensure that most families, rather than most individuals, will be owners of productive property. The family is, then, vitally important to the very core of distributist thought. A family in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family consists of a domestic group of people (or a number of domestic groups), typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by analogous or comparable relationships — including domestic partnership, cohabitation, adoption, surname and (in some cases) ownership (as occurred in the...
The shield and spear of the Roman god Mars, which is also the alchemical symbol for iron, represents the male sex. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ...
Subsidiarity Distributism puts great emphasis on the principle of subsidiarity. This principle holds that no larger unit (whether social, economic, or political) should perform a function which can be performed by a smaller unit. Pope Pius XI, in Quadragesimo Anno, provided the classical statement of the principle: "[J]ust as it is wrong to withdraw from the individual and commit to the community at large what private enterprise and industry can accomplish, so, too, it is an injustice, a grave evil and a disturbance of right order for a larger and higher organization to arrogate to itself functions which can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies."[9] Thus, any activity of production (which distributism holds to be the most important part of any economy) ought to be performed by the smallest possible unit. This helps support distributism's argument that smaller units, families if possible, ought to be in control of the means of production, rather than the large units typical of modern economies. Pope Pius XI (Latin: ) (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ...
Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Rerum Novarum (thus the name, Latin for the fortieth year). Written as a response to the Great Depression, it calls for the establishment of a social order based on the principle of subsidiarity. ...
Pope Pius XI further stated, again in Quadragesimo Anno, "every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them."[10] To prevent large private organizations from thus dominating the body politic, distributism applies this principle of subsidiarity to economic as well as to social and political action. Pope Pius XI (Latin: ) (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ...
Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Rerum Novarum (thus the name, Latin for the fortieth year). Written as a response to the Great Depression, it calls for the establishment of a social order based on the principle of subsidiarity. ...
Society of artisans Distributism promotes a society of artisans and culture. This is influenced by an emphasis on small business, promotion of local culture, and favoring of small production over capitalistic mass production. A society of artisans promotes the distributist ideal of the unification of capital, ownership, and production rather than what distributism sees as an alienation of man from work. An artisan is a skilled manual worker. ...
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardised products on production lines. ...
Social security Distributism favors the elimination of social security on the basis that it further alienates man by making him more dependent on the Servile State. Distributists such as Dorothy Day did not favor social security when it was introduced by the United States government. This rejection of this new program was due to the direct influence of the ideas of Hilaire Belloc over American distributists. Social security primarily refers to a field of social welfare service concerned with social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment, families with children and others. ...
Geopolitical theory
Political order Distributism does not favor one set of political order over another, from democracy to monarchism. Distributism does not necessarily support anarchism, but some distributists, such as Dorothy Day, were also anarchists (though most Catholic Distributists look down on this). Distributism does not support political orders that go towards extremes of individualism or statism. Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. ...
“Anarchist†redirects here. ...
Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897– November 29, 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Catholic Church. ...
Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. ...
Statism (or Etatism) is a term that is used to describe: Specific instances of state intervention in personal, social or economic matters. ...
Political parties Distributism does not attach itself to one national political party or another in any part of the world. There are some modern political parties in the UK which espouse distributist views. Political parties Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box: A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ...
War Distributists usually use Just War Theory in determining whether a war should be fought or not. Historical positions of distributist thinkers provides insight into a distributist position on war. Both Belloc and Chesterton opposed British imperialism in general, as well as specifically opposing the Second Boer War, but supported British involvement in World War I. Just War theory is the attempt to distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable uses of organized armed forces. ...
Combatants British Empire Orange Free State South African Republic Commanders Sir Redvers Buller Lord Kitchener Lord Roberts Paul Kruger Louis Botha Koos de la Rey Martinus Steyn Christiaan de Wet Casualties 20,000 6,500 Civilians killed [mainly Boers]: 24,000+ The Second Boer War (Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Tweede...
“The Great War †redirects here. ...
Influence
E.F. Schumacher Distributism is known to have had an influence on the economist E.F. Schumacher, a convert to Catholicism. Ernst Friedrich Fritz Schumacher (1911-1977) was an economist with a professional background as a statistician and economist in Britain. ...
Mondragón Cooperative Corporation The Mondragón Cooperative Corporation based out of the Basque Country in the region of Spain and France, was founded by a Catholic priest, Father José María Arizmendiarrieta, who seems to have been influenced by the same Catholic social and economic teachings that inspired Belloc, Chesterton, McNabb and the other founders of distributism. The Mondragón cooperative, however, may be considered "distributist" in the sense of valuing the ideal of the worker owning the means of production as much as possible, while some of its more international and capitalistic leanings seem to veer away from a true distributism. Mondragón Cooperative Corporation (MCC) is a group of manufacturing and retail companies based in the Basque Country and extended over the rest of Spain and abroad. ...
The Ikurriña, Basque flag Location of Territory of the Basque Country The Basque Country divided in seven provinces. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic Distributist ideas were put into practice by The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, a group of artists and craftsmen who establish a community in Ditchling, Sussex, England in 1920, with the motto 'Men rich in virtue studying beautifulness living in peace in their houses'. The Guild sought to recreate an idealised medieval lifestyle in the manner of the Arts and Crafts Movement; it survived until 1989. The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic was an art colony and experiment in communal life in early 20th century England. ...
Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. ...
Artichoke wallpaper, by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. ...
Controversy
Ultranationalist groups Controversy in the Distributist community has occurred because of associations of distributism with some ultranationalist groups. This would include groups such as the British National Party which claims to hold some distributist views. [11] The advocacy of distributism by certain ultranationalist groups is more pronounced in continental Europe where distributism is seen as reflecting the values of an "old order" and a return to the "nationalistic roots" of a country.[citation needed] Supporters of national anarchism also advocate distributist economic models, with Troy Southgate indicating his own commitment to the idea. [1] It should also be noted that since most Distributists are Catholic, they believe in the Church's rejection of Anarchism. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right political party in Great Britain. ...
World map showing the location of Europe. ...
See Nationalist anarchism for more general article. ...
Troy Southgate is a leading National-Anarchist activist based in the United Kingdom - indeed the concept of National-Anarchism seems to be largely his invention. ...
Many ultranationalists trace their ancestry back to Fascist movements, and may see Distributism as a version of Corporativism. [12] There are some similarities between the two systems, notable parallels between the Corporativists' Corporations and the Distributists' Guilds. But there are fundamental differences between the two philosophies, notably the secular Corporativists' permissiveness towards big business and big government, and the ignoring of the priciple of subsidiarity. Although the non-secular Catholic Corporatists fit better into the Distributist mindset, they are largely overlooked by the critics of corporatism who accuse it of being a primarily fascist component.[citation needed] It should also be noted that most Distributists are Catholic and follow the Church's rejection of secular nationalism. Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ...
The term corporatism has different meanings in different contexts. ...
A corporation (usually known in the United Kingdom and Ireland as a company) is a legal entity (distinct from a natural person) that often has similar rights in law to those of a Civil law systems may refer to corporations as moral persons; they may also go by the name...
Key texts
Thinkers Photograph of Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (July 27, 1870–July 16, 1953) was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. ...
Cecil Edward Chesterton (1879 – 1918) was an English journalist, known particularly for his role as editor of The New Witness from 1912 to 1916, and in relation to its coverage of the Marconi scandal, and British anti-Semitism. ...
For the town of Chesterton in Cambridgeshire, see Chesterton (Cambridge). ...
Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897– November 29, 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Catholic Church. ...
Fr. ...
Arthur Joseph Penty (1875 –1937) was a British architect, and writer on Guild socialism and distributism. ...
Peter Maurin (May 9, 1877 - May 15, 1949 born in Oultet, France) was a Catholic activist who co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement with Dorothy Day in 1933. ...
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria (14 August 1915 - 25 February 1998), (known in public as B.A. Santamaria and in private as Bob), Australian political activist and journalist, was one of the most influential political figures in recent Australian history, but never held public office or joined a political party. ...
See also Agrarianism is a social and political philosophy. ...
Historically, corporatism or corporativism (Italian: corporativismo) refers to a political or economic system in which power is given to civic assemblies that represent economic, industrial, agrarian, and professional groups. ...
In biology, mutualism is an interaction between two or more species, where both species derive benefit. ...
Personalism is the school of thought that consists of three main principles: Only persons are real (in the ontological sense), Only persons have value, and Only persons have free will. ...
Social Credit is an economic ideology and a social movement which started in the early 1920s. ...
References - ^ Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891.
- ^ Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931.
- ^ Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991.
- ^ G. K. Chesterton, "The Uses of Diversity", 1921.
- ^ Hilaire Belloc, The Servile State, 1913).
- ^ Id.
- ^ Hilaire Belloc, The Servile State, The Liberty Fund, originally published 1913.
- ^ G. K. Chesterton, The Outline of Sanity, IHS Press, 2002, originally published 1927.
- ^ Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 1931.
- ^ Id.
- ^ N. Griffin, 'Moving Forward for Good', Identity, No. 21, June 2002, p. 7
- ^ David Baker, "The political economy of fascism: Myth or reality, or myth and reality?" New Political Economy, Volume 11, Issue 2 June 2006 , pages 227 – 250.
This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ...
External links
Links favorable to distributism
Links unfavorable to distributism
Links neutral to distributism
Further reading - Distributism by Anthony Cooney. ISBN 0-9535077-2-6.
- Distributism by S Sagar. ISBN 0-905109-20-1
- Shaw V. Chesterton: a Debate between George Bernard Shaw and G.K. Chesterton. ISBN 0-9679707-7-6.
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