What is Distributism?
Distributism is an economic philosophy that developed in the early twentieth century, mainly from Catholic social teaching. Its main idea is that productive property, such as land, tools and small businesses, should be owned by as many people as possible. Distributists criticize both large-scale capitalism, where a few own most capital, and state socialism, where the state owns it. They see both as concentrating ownership and leaving most people as wage earners. Their ideal is a society of owners built around families, local communities, small firms and cooperatives. It is often described as a third way between capitalism and socialism.
Core beliefs
- Private property is good, and it should be spread widely rather than concentrated.
- The family is the basic unit of society and the economy.
- Decisions should be made at the most local level possible, a principle called subsidiarity.
- Small farms, small businesses, guilds and cooperatives are preferable to large corporations.
- Economic life should serve moral and religious values, not only profit.
History
Distributism drew on two papal encyclicals. Rerum Novarum, issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, defended private property while supporting workers' rights and urged that more people should become owners. Quadragesimo Anno, issued by Pope Pius XI in 1931, set out the principle of subsidiarity. In England, the writers G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc developed these ideas into a political program. Belloc's The Servile State (1912) argued that capitalism was leading to a society of dependent workers. Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World (1910) and The Outline of Sanity (1926) promoted widespread ownership. The Distributist League was founded in 1926, and the Dominican priest Vincent McNabb promoted a return to the land.
Variants
Early English distributism emphasized small farms and a revival of crafts and guilds. In the United States, distributists worked with the Southern Agrarians in the 1930s. Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement supported distributism as an alternative to both socialism and capitalism. Later writers linked it to cooperative economics and to E. F. Schumacher's ideas about small-scale, human-centered economics. Today some supporters stress employee ownership, credit unions and local business rather than a return to agriculture.
Criticisms
Critics in the free-market tradition argue that distributism would reduce economic efficiency, since large firms often have lower costs and can invest more in innovation. They also question how property could be spread widely without heavy state intervention. Critics on the left argue that distributism is nostalgic, romanticizes rural life and gives too little attention to inequality within families and communities. Secular critics note that its close ties to Catholic teaching may limit its appeal in diverse societies. Others say it lacks a detailed policy program.
In practice
Distributism has not been adopted as a national program, but its ideas have influenced cooperative and credit union movements, small business and family farm policies, and land reform debates. The Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque Country of Spain, founded by a Catholic priest in 1956, are often cited by distributists. Its principle of subsidiarity also shaped Christian democratic parties and appears in the treaties of the European Union.