> Distributism (also known as distributionism or distributivism) is an economic ideology that developed in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century based upon the principles of Catholic social teaching, especially the teachings of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum novarum and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno.
> According to distributists, property ownership is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (state capitalism), a few individuals (plutocracy), or corporations (corporatocracy). Distributism, therefore, advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.
> Distributism has often been described in opposition to both socialism and capitalism, which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitative. Thomas Storck argues: "both socialism and capitalism are products of the European Enlightenment and are thus modernizing and anti-traditional forces.
So not to be snarky, but how is this anything more than simple "Marxism, minus the parts that don't work with Catholic religion, plus Catholic religion"?
Properly understood, Distributism is capitalism limited by an understanding of the purpose of capital. Just as there is no mathematical system that can prove all of its first principles, so there is no system of capital that can within itself articulate a just distribution of that capital.
The assertions of Distributism are that:
* Everyone has a right to private property (ad contra of Marxism)
* That right to private property is not absolute (ad contra of laissez faire capitalism)
* Laws should aim for the maximum distribution of the means of production, rather than the optimal throughput of productivity possible with those means (ad contra of if-it-is-not-100%-it-is-not-a-monopoly capitalism)
This is inspired by Catholic principles and promoted by Catholic thinkers, but it is certainly something one can come to without being Catholic.
>Laws should aim for the maximum distribution of the means of production, rather than the optimal throughput of productivity possible with those means
Won't you just get run out by others who are focused on productivity and can beat you in trade and undercut your prices while delivering higher quality?
By a lot of accounts nomadic life was much better than early farm life. Didn't help the nomads in the end though.
Well, achieving the Marxist utopia involves forcing the genuine owners of capital goods ("the means of production") to surrender those to the state, in practice usually requiring imprisonment, execution, and initially a certain amount of genocide to avoid revolt.
Clumsily named, the aspects of "distributism" being lauded here only seem to involve convincing people to partly own instutitions rather than simply transacting with them as a third party. Seems to me that this reading of "distributism" is just capitalism plus a social norm of a bias toward involvement and ownership, rather than just employment and consumption.
> Well, achieving the Marxist utopia involves forcing the genuine owners of capital goods ("the means of production") to surrender those to the state, in practice usually requiring imprisonment, execution, and initially a certain amount of genocide to avoid revolt.
No, it's the Marxist part that makes it not work, doesn't matter which inspired party adds their flavour. If you want Marx's society (not saying his analysis, especially of his surroundings, was wholely incorrect), it can only be had by force.
I challenge you to convince me to willingly join in your Marxian ideal, until then I will fight it when it comes to my door, like so many in the USSR understandably didn't,
comfortably boiled frogs as the record shows them.
> I challenge you to convince me to willingly join in your Marxian ideal, until then I will fight it when it comes to my door, like so many in the USSR understandably didn't, comfortably boiled frogs as the record shows them.
a) I don't have a Marxist ideal, don't put yourself in a defensive position against an antagonist that is not there. I just don't mix up Marxist economic theory with Communism and Leninism.
b) Your view of history is perverse, and insulting to the many people that resisted and were killed off by Lenin & Co when they took power.
> the many people that resisted and were killed off by Lenin & Co when they took power.
Show me the scores of people taking a stand while being placed under arbitrary arrest. Yeah, sure some people resisted, a whole lot more memorable than the millions who walked with their captors straight to the grave. It's not like they didn't resist because they were bad people or something, they just had no tools to deal with any of this, who on earth did?
For the most part, you're taken by night or in transit, and they show up to dig up your trash to find your cherished letters or the wrong souvenir, you're still wondering if all the other people who were arrested did what they were accused of. What does resisting that even look like?
This was all to prove some fantasy of a man with a weak spirit and infinite capacity to look outside himself for fault; and for Lenin and Stalin it was just their ticket into town.
> a) I don't have a Marxist ideal, don't put yourself in a defensive position against an antagonist that is not there. I just don't mix up Marxist economic theory with Communism and Leninism.
I didn't say you had one, really, I said that if one were to be instituted, it seems it could only happen by force. Marx's conclusions are the fundamental source of the most inhumane behaviours of the USSR, the specifics are just gory decoration. It doesn't matter if the dissidents happen to be suppressed by genocide, imprisonment, or exile; only by suppressing the dissidents can you institute the envisioned solution. There is a considerable proportion of society which will simply not agree to have their life's work taken from them. Tell me what the important difference is between a solution which passively requires genocide, and a realized implementation of that solution.
Granted I'm underslept right now, so say whatever, I'll see it when I'm back on earth.
> According to distributists, property ownership is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (state capitalism), a few individuals (plutocracy), or corporations (corporatocracy). Distributism, therefore, advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.
> Distributism has often been described in opposition to both socialism and capitalism, which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitative. Thomas Storck argues: "both socialism and capitalism are products of the European Enlightenment and are thus modernizing and anti-traditional forces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism
So not to be snarky, but how is this anything more than simple "Marxism, minus the parts that don't work with Catholic religion, plus Catholic religion"?