Distributism Defined

A blog called Bill Powell is Alive posts a succinct definition of Distributism penned by G.K. Chesterton in his G.K.'s Weekly paper.

Here's the juicy bit;

THE LEAGUE stands

For the Liberty of the Individual and the Family Against interference by busybodies, monopolies, or the State.

Personal Liberty will be restored mainly by the better Distribution of Property (i.e. ownership of land, houses, workshops, gardens, means of production, etc.).

The Better Distribution of Property will be achieved by protecting and facilitating the ownership of individual enterprises in land, shops, and factories.

Thus THE LEAGUE fights for:

Small Shops and Shopkeepers against multiple shops and trusts.

Individual Craftmanship and Cooperation in industrial enterprises. (Every worker should own a share in the Assets and Control of the business in which he works).

The Small Holder and the Yeoman Farmer against monopolists of large inadequately farmed estates.

And the Maximum, instead of the minimum initiative on the part of the citizen.

 

There is also a handy reading list. More shameless distributist propaganda to follow in the coming weeks!

Tip of the battered, shapeless fedora to The Distributist Review on Facebook.

Comments

[The Pachyderminator]

He's back! The League is back!

(You'd think you had a family to support or something...)

[pcNielsen]

Nice. Thanks for posting that for novices like me. Been thinking about farming myself the past week or two. Not sure precisely what brought it on, though there's a very good chance it has something to do with umpteen hours in front of a screen every day of the week (and *very* little of that is recreational, i.e. reading blogs, blogging, Facebook).

[S_Cobbler]

"And the Maximum, instead of the minimum initiative on the part of the citizen."
Heh! Sounds like a pet peeve of mine: there's a false dichotomy between elitism (believing in excellence such that those who fail to achieve it for whatever reason, their fault or their lack of capability, do not deserve it) and lowest-common-denominator... whatever that opposite is (thinking that we should include everyone and who cares about any sort of excellence). Chesterton was very good at asking what great goods readily belong to all people; and that, frankly, is the excellence we should be pursuing.

Hey, remind me to talk about walking, social structures of the logistical sense, college, and related sundry matters. I have a personal take on the entire endeavor that I'd like to put out -- when I have time. I do not currently; I am fighting a bout of something like mild depression as I try to keep on top of a double load of college and an internship in order to graduate this year, and there are... personal matters that don't want to work themselves out, and that I have wasted a lot of personal effort trying to find a way to work out, even going so far as to do the impossible -- but somehow they're beyond impossible... Yeah, if I tried to explain now, I'd be rambly _and_ run out of time to finish homework. Oh well, in a month it'll be a lot better (notably fewer classes, hopefully the personal matters will either be clearly settled or will at least have a clearly defined path for the future).

Please keep me in your prayers. (I'm asking almost everybody that, nowadays...)

[Beadgirl]

This is kind of awesome. Earlier today I was thinking to myself that I had no idea what distributism was, and I should look it up. Two minutes ago I think "Hey! I should visit that League of Catholics website, I haven't checked it out in a while!"

[Tim J.]

That is *all kinds* of awesome! Trying to get the rusty cogs moving here, again. Glad to be of some small service!

[Jeff Hendrix]

A couple of us Mass'keteers have thought/felt long and hard about the malaise of the next generation of our family in terms of economics and "small is beautiful"; i. e., our fallen culture's presentation of its values and the way our children fall hook, line, and sinker for those values rather than Christendom's ancient (and Faithful) values so cast aside and discarded. Alas.