 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Part ofa series on |
| Catholic social teaching |
|---|
 |
| Overview |
 Catholic Church portal |
| Part of thePolitics series | ||||||||
| Basic forms ofgovernment | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List of forms ·List of countries | ||||||||
Source of power | ||||||||
Power ideology
| ||||||||
 Politics portal | ||||||||
Distributism is aneconomic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated.[1] Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based uponCatholic social teaching principles, especially those ofPope Leo XIII in hisencyclicalRerum novarum (1891) andPope Pius XI inQuadragesimo anno (1931).[2][3][4] It has influenced AngloChristian Democratic movements,[5][6] and has been recognized as one of many influences on thesocial market economy.[7][8]
Distributism viewslaissez-fairecapitalism andstate socialism as equally flawed and exploitative, due to their extreme concentration of ownership. Instead, it favours small independent craftsmen and producers; or, if that is not possible, economic mechanisms such ascooperatives and member-ownedmutual organisations, as well assmall to medium enterprises and vigorousanti-trust laws to restrain or eliminate overweening economic power.Christian democratic political parties such as theAmerican Solidarity Party have advocated distributism alongsidesocial market economy in their economic policies and party platform.[5]
According to distributists, theright to property is a fundamental right,[9] and themeans of production should be spread as widely as possible rather than being centralised under the control of the state (statocracy), a few individuals (plutocracy), or corporations (corporatocracy). Therefore, distributism advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.[1]Cooperative economistRace Mathews argues that such a system is key to creating a justsocial order.[10]
Distributism has often been described in opposition to bothlaissez-fairecapitalism andstate socialism[11][12] which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitative.[13] Furthermore, some distributists argue that state capitalism and state socialism are the logical conclusion ofcapitalism as capitalism's concentrated powers eventually capture the state.[14][15] Thomas Storck argues: "Both socialism and capitalism are products of theEuropean Enlightenment and are thus modernising 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."[16] A few distributists, includingDorothy Day,[17] were influenced by the economic ideas ofPierre-Joseph Proudhon and hismutualist economic theory.[18] The lesser-knownanarchist branch of distributism of Day and theCatholic Worker Movement can be considered a form of free-marketlibertarian socialism due to their opposition to state capitalism and state socialism.[19]
Some have seen it more as an aspiration, successfully realised in the short term by the commitment to the principles ofsubsidiarity andsolidarity (built into financially independent localcooperatives and smallfamily businesses). However, proponents also cite such periods as theMiddle Ages as examples of the long-term historical viability of distributism.[20] Particularly influential in the development of distributist theory wereCatholic authorsG. K. Chesterton andHilaire Belloc,[13] two of distributism's earliest and strongest proponents.[21][22][23]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(February 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The mid-to-late 19th century witnessed an increase in the popularity ofpolitical Catholicism acrossEurope.[24] According to historian Michael A. Riff, a common feature of these movements was opposition tosecularism, capitalism, and socialism.[22] In 1891Pope Leo XIII promulgatedRerum 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 very rich men" had been able to "lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself".[25] Affirmed in the encyclical was the right of all men to own property,[26] the necessity of a system that allowed "as many as possible of the people to become owners",[27] the duty of employers to provide safeworking conditions[28] and sufficient wages,[29] and the right of workers tounionise.[30]Common andgovernment property ownership was expressly dismissed as a means of helping the poor.[31][32]
Around the start of the 20th century,G. K. Chesterton andHilaire Belloc drew together the disparate experiences of the various cooperatives andfriendly societies in Northern England, Ireland, and Northern Europe into a coherent political theory which specifically advocated widespread private ownership of housing and control of industry through owner-operated small businesses and worker-controlled cooperatives. In the United States in the 1930s, distributism was treated in numerous essays by Chesterton, Belloc and others inThe American Review, published and edited bySeward Collins. Pivotal among Belloc's and Chesterton's other works regarding distributism areThe Servile State[33] andOutline of Sanity.[34]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(February 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Part ofa series on |
| Economic systems |
|---|
Major types |
By regional model |
InRerum novarum, Leo XIII states that people are likely to work harder and with greater commitment if they possess the land on which they labour, which in turn will benefit them and their families as workers will be able to provide for themselves and their household. He puts forward the idea that when men have the opportunity to possess property and work on it, they will "learn to love the very soil which yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of the good things for themselves and those that are dear to them".[35] He also states that owning property is beneficial for a person and his family and is, in fact, a right due to God having "given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race".[36]
G. K. Chesterton presents similar views in his 1910 book,What's Wrong with the World. Chesterton believes that whilst God has limitless capabilities, man has limited abilities in terms of creation. Therefore, man is entitled to own property and treat it as he sees fit, stating: "Property is merely the art of the democracy. It means that every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; properly with limits that are strict and even small."[37]
According to Belloc, the distributive state (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, and so on.[38] Distributism allows society to have public goods such as parks and transit systems. Distributists accept that wage labour will remain a small part of the economy, with small business owners hiring employees, usually young, inexperienced people.[39][40]
Distributism requires either direct or indirect distribution of themeans of production (productive assets)—in some ideological circles including theredistribution of wealth—to a wide portion of society instead of concentrating it in the hands of a minority of wealthy elites (as seen in its criticism of certain varieties ofcapitalism) or the hands of the state (as seen in its criticism of certain varieties ofcommunism andsocialism).[1][9] More capitalist-oriented supporters support distributism-influencedsocial capitalism (also known as a social market economy),[41][42][43] while more socialist-oriented supporters support distributism-influencedlibertarian socialism.[44] Examples of methods of distributism include direct productive property redistribution, taxation of excessive property ownership, and small-business subsidization.[45]
Distributists advocate in favour 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 matters such as workplace training standards.[46]
Distributism favours cooperative and mutual banking institutions such as credit unions, building societies and mutual banks. This is considered to be the preferred alternative toprivate banks.[47]
G. K. Chesterton considered one's home and family the centrepiece of society. He recognized the family unit and home as centrepieces of living and believed that every man should have his property and home to enable him to raise and support his family. Distributists recognize that strengthening and protecting the family requires that society be nurturing.[48]
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 that a smaller unit can perform. InQuadragesimo anno,Pope Pius XI provided the classical statement of 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".[49]
TheDemocratic Labour Party of Australia espouses distributism and does not hold the view of favouring the elimination of social security who, for instance, wish to "[r]aise the level of student income support payments to the Henderson poverty line".[50]
TheAmerican Solidarity Party has a platform of favouring an adequate social security system, stating: "We advocate for social safety nets that adequately provide for the material needs of the most vulnerable in society".[51]
The position of distributists, when compared to other political philosophies, is somewhat paradoxical and complicated (seetriangulation). Firmly entrenched in anorganic but veryEnglish Catholicism, advocating culturally traditional andagrarian values, directly challenging the precepts ofWhig history—Belloc was nonetheless an MP for the Liberal Party, and Chesterton once stated, "As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals".[52]
Distributism does not favour one political order over another (political accidentalism). While some distributists such asDorothy Day have beenanarchists, it should be remembered that most Chestertonian distributists are opposed to the mere concept of anarchism. Chesterton thought that distributism would benefit from the discipline that theoretical analysis imposes and that distributism is best seen as a widely encompassing concept inside of which any number of interpretations and perspectives can fit. This concept should fit a political system broadly characterized by widespread ownership of productive property.[53]
In the United States, theAmerican Solidarity Party generally adheres to Distributist principles as its economic model.Ross Douthat andReihan Salam view theirGrand New Party, a roadmap for revising theRepublican Party in the United States, as "a book written in the distributist tradition".[54]
The Brazilian political party,Humanist Party of Solidarity, was a distributist party, alongside theNational Distributist Party in England,[55] and theDemocratic Labour Party in Australia.
In the first round of the2024 Romanian presidential election, candidateCălin Georgescu, a independent candidate who advocates for a system based on distributism andsovereigntism received 23% of votes and qualified for the second round.[56]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(February 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Part of aseries on |
| Toryism |
|---|
 |
Distributism is known to have influenced the economistE. F. Schumacher,[57] a convert to Catholicism.[58]
TheMondragon Corporation, based in theBasque Country in a region of Spain and France, was founded by a Catholic priest, FatherJosé María Arizmendiarrieta, who seems to have been influenced by the sameCatholic social and economic teachings that inspired Belloc, Chesterton, FatherVincent McNabb, and the other founders of distributism.[59]
Distributist ideas were put into practice byThe Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, a group of artists and craftsmen who established a community inDitchling, 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 theArts and Crafts Movement. It survived for almost 70 years until 1989.
TheBig Society was the flagship policy idea of the 2010UK Conservative Party general election manifesto. Some distributists claim that the rhetorical marketing of this policy was influenced by aphorisms of the distributist ideology and promotes distributism.[60] It purportedly formed a part of the legislative programme of theConservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement.[61]
The American Solidarity Party believes that political economy (economics) is a branch of political ethics, and therefore rejects models of economic behavior that undermine human dignity with greed and naked self-interest. We advocate for an economic system which focuses on creating a society of wide-spread ownership (sometimes referred to as 'distributism') rather than having the effect of degrading the human person as a cog in the machine.
We believe in the economic concept of distributism as taught by GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc.
