Distributism

References

• Distributism Wikipedia Article

Related

• Catholic Social Teaching
• • An area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization. social justice, and wealth distribution. CST's foundations are considered to have been laid by Pope Leo III's 1891 encyclical, Rerum novarum, which advocated distributism. Its roots can be traced to Catholic theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. CST is also derived from the Bible and the cultures of the ancient near east.
• Social Market Economy
• • A socioeconomic model combining free-market capitalist economic system alongside social policies and enough regulation to establish both fair competition within the market and generally a welfare state.
• State Socialism
• • Political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. State socialism was first theorized by Ferdinand Lassalle. It advocates a planned economy by the state in which all industries and natural resources are state-owned.
• Statocracy
• • Form of government headed by military chiefs. The branches of government are administered by military forces, the government s legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and is usually carried out by military workers.
• Plutocracy
• • Society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631.
• Corporatocracy
• • Economic, political, and judicial system controlled by the business corporations or corporate interests.
• Mutualism
• • Anarchist school of thought and anti-capitalist market socialist economic theory that advocates for workers' control of the means of production, a market economy made up of individual artisans and workers' cooperatives, and occupation and use of property rights.
• The Means of Production
• • In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. It is widely agreed to include the classical factors of production (land, labor, and capital) as well as the general infrastructure and capital goods necessary to reproduce stable levels of productivity.
• Subsidiarity
• • Principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level.
  • The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, neuropsychology, cybernetics, management, and in military command.
  • It has its roots in the natural law philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.

Notes

Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching principles, especially those of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Ereum novarum and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno. It has influenced Anglo Christian Democratic movements and has been recognized as one of the many influences on social market economy.

• This economic theory views laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism as equally flawed and exploitative, due to their extreme concentration of ownership. It favors small independent craftsmen and producers; or if that is not possible, economic mechanisms such as cooperatives and member-owned mutual organizations, as well as small to medium enterprises and vigorous anti-trust laws to restrain or eliminate overweening economic power.
• Christian democratic parties such as the American Solidarity party have advocated distributism alongside social market economy in their economic policies and party platform.

Overview

• According to Distributists, the ight to property is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible rather than being under the control of the state (Statocracy), a few individuals (plutocracy), or corporations (corporatocracy).
• It advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.
• Thomas Stock argues:

Both socialism and capitalism are products of the European Enlightenment and are thus modernizing and anti=traditional forces. In contrast, distributism seeks to subordinate economic activity to human life as a whole, to our spiritual life, our intellectual life, our family life.

• Some Distributists were influenced by the mutualistic economic theory.
• The lesser known anarchist branch of distributism of Day and the Catholic Worker Movement can be considered a form of free-market libertarian socialism due to their opposition to state capitalism and state socialism.
• Proponents of Distributism cite such periods as the Middle Ages as examples of the long-term historical validity of distributism.

Background

• The mid-to-late 19th century witnessed an increase in the popularity of political Catholicism across Europe.
• A common feature of these movements was opposition to secularism, capitalism, and socialism.
• In 1891, Pope Leo XIII promulgated Rerum novarum, in which he addressed the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class and spoke of how a small number of rich men had been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.
• He affirmed the right of men to own property, the necessity of a system that allowed as many as possible to become owners, the duty of employers to provide safe working conditions and sufficient wages, and the right of workers to unionize.

Economic Theory

Private Property

• Leo XIII advocated the right to own property. He recognizes that men work harder when they can own. He said they will learn to love the very soil which yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to t, but an abundance of the good things for themselves and those who are dear to them.
• He believed owning property to be a right due to God having given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race.
• According to Belloc, the distributive state contains an agglomeration of families of varying wealth, but by far the greater number of owners of the means of production.
• Distributism allows society to have public goods such as parks and transit systems. Distributists accept that wage labor will remain as a small part of the economy, with small business owners hiring employees, usually young, inexperienced people.

Redistribution of Wealth and Productive Assets

Distributism requires with direct or indirect of the means of production - in some ideological circle including the redistribution of wealth - to a wide portion of society instead of concentrating it in the hands of a minority of wealthy elites or the hands of the state.

Guild System

• Distributists advocate in favor of the return of a guild system to help regulate industries to promote moral standards of professional conduct and economic equality among members of a guild. Such moral standards of professional conduct would typically focus on business conduct, working conditions, and other issues in relation to industry specific standards.

Banks

• Distributism favors cooperative and mutual banking institutions such as credit unions, building societies, and mutual banks. This is considered to be the preferred alternative to private banks.

Social Theory

Human Family

• Distributists recognize the family as the centerpiece of society.
• They recognize that protecting and strengthening the family require that society be nurturing.

Subsidiarity

• Distributism puts great emphasis on the principle of subsidiarity. The principle holds that no larger unit should perform a function that a smaller unit can perform.
• In Quadragesimo anno, Pope Pius XI describes the principle:

Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do.

Politics

• The politics of Distributists, when compared to other political philosophies, is somewhat paradoxical and complicated.
• It does not favor one political order over another.

Current Distributist Parties

• Australia
• • Democratic Labour Party
• Romania
• • Private Party Romania
• United Kingdom
• • National Distributist Party, British National Party, National Front
• United States
• • American Solidarity Party
• Mexico
• • Nationalist Front of Mexico