Distributism: An idea whose time has come? (Part 2)
IN EARLY MARCH we published the first of a two part article – http://nationalliberal.org/distributism-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-part-1 – which both looked at Distributism and provided a brief history of the wider Distributist movement in Britain.
Written by Glasgow-based Andrew Hunter, this second and concluding article charts British Distributism from the foundation of the Distributist League in 1926 through to its adoption by the Nationalist movement.
In the near future we hope to feature another ‘stand alone’ article which will look at Distributism through the eyes of the National Liberal Party – NLP – which was founded after the publication of the seminal work A Declaration and Philosophy of Progressive Nationalism in 2005
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Distributism: An idea whose time has come? (Part 2)
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GK Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc (top left and right respectively) were the founders of British Distributism. Arthur Joseph Penty (bottom left) was influential in promoting Guild socialism via his 1906 book, Restoration of the Gild System. After WWI he became interested in – and helped develop – the Distributist ideas of Belloc and Chesterton. In 1937 Penty’s 24 page essay Distributism: A Manifesto was published.
Distributism is effectively a holistic socioeconomic system. It a nutshell, however, it provides a way of opposing both the tyranny of the marketplace (capitalism) and the tyranny of the state (communism/socialism) by promoting a society of owners. Both capitalism and communism/socialism are seen as ‘evil twins’. Capitalism allows the concentration of ownership in the hands of a few. Both Communism and Socialism tries to deny any form of private ownership. Distributism aims to create a community of free men and women.
In 1926 the Distributist League was formed, the aims of which Richard Howard sums up in his paper on Distributism as: “In Britain in the 1920s and 30s, the distributists sought the restoration of family and individual liberty by a revival of smallholder agriculture and small business and an end to grasping landlords, by attacking monopolies and trusts and denouncing what they saw as anonymous and usurious control of finance.
Date: April 4, 2017
Categories: Articles