Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching principles, especially Pope Leo XIII's teachings in his encyclical '' Rerum novarum'' (1891) and Pope Pius XI in '' Quadragesimo anno'' (1931). It has influenced Anglo Christian Democratic movements, and has been recognized as one of many influences on the

social market economy The social market economy (SOME; german: soziale Marktwirtschaft), also called Rhine capitalism, Rhine-Alpine capitalism, the Rhenish model, and social capitalism, is a socioeconomic model combining a free-market capitalist economic system alon ...

. Distributism views ''

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

and

state socialism State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...

as equally flawed and exploitative, favouring instead small independent craftsmen and producers, or if that is not possible, economic mechanisms such as

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

s and member-owned mutual organisations as well as

small to medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

and large-scale competition law reform such as antitrust regulations. Christian democratic political parties such as the American Solidarity Party have advocated distributism alongside

in their economic policies and party platform.

Overview

According to distributists, the right to property is a fundamental right,Shiach, Morag (2004). ''Modernism, Labour and Selfhood in British Literature and Culture, 1890–1930''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

. p. 224. and the

means of production The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...

should be spread as widely as possible rather than being centralised under the control of the state (

statocracy In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production. While in use since ...

), a few individuals (

plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any establishe ...

), or corporations (

corporatocracy Corporatocracy (, from corporate and el, -κρατία, translit=-kratía, lit=domination by; short form corpocracy) is an economic, political and judicial system controlled by corporations or corporate interests. The concept has been used ...

). Therefore, distributism advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.Zwick, Mark and Louise (2004). ''The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins ''.

Paulist Press The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle ( la, Societas Sacerdotum Missionariorum a Sancto Paulo Apostolo), abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded ...

. p. 156.

Cooperative economist Cooperative (or co-operative) economics is a field of economics that incorporates cooperative studies and political economy toward the study and management of cooperatives. History Cooperative economics developed as both a theory and a concret ...

Race Mathews argues that such a system is key to creating a just social order. Distributism has often been described in opposition to both ''

and

which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitative.Prentiss, Craig R. (2008). ''Debating God's Economy: Social Justice in America on the Eve of Vatican II''. Penn State University Press. p. 77. Furthermore, some distributists argue that state capitalism and state socialism are the logical conclusion of

as capitalism's concentrated powers eventually capture the state. Thomas Storck argues: "Both socialism and capitalism are products of the European 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." A few distributists were influenced by the economic ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and his mutualist economic theory. Therefore the lesser-known anarchist branch of distributism of

Dorothy Day Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...

and the

Catholic Worker Movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus ...

could be considered a form of free-market libertarian socialism due to their opposition to state capitalism and state socialism. Some have seen it more as an aspiration, successfully realised in the short term by the commitment to the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity (built into financially independent local

s and small

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

es). However, proponents also cite such periods as the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

as examples of the long-term historical viability of distributism. Particularly influential in the development of distributist theory were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

authors G. K. Chesterton and

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

, the ''Chesterbelloc'', two of distributism's earliest and strongest proponents.Riff, Michael A. (1990). ''Dictionary of Modern Political Ideologies''. Manchester University Press. p. 35. In the early 21st century,

Arthur W. Hunt III Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

in '' The American Conservative'' and Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry in '' First Things'' speculated on

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

's position on distributism after he denounced unfettered capitalism in his apostolic exhortation '' Evangelii gaudium'', in which he stated: "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. ..A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which has taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits."

Background

The mid-to-late 19th century witnessed an increase in the popularity of

political Catholicism The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state und ...

across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. According to historian Michael A. Riff, a common feature of these movements was opposition to secularism, capitalism, and socialism. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII promulgated '' Rerum 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". Affirmed in the encyclical was the right of all men to own property, the necessity of a system that allowed "as many as possible of the people to become owners",Leo XIII, ''Rerum novarum'', 46. the duty of employers to provide safe working conditions and sufficient wages, and the right of workers to unionise.Leo XIII, ''Rerum novarum'', 49. Common and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

property ownership was expressly dismissed as a means of helping the poor. Around the start of the 20th century, G. K. Chesterton and

drew together the disparate experiences of the various cooperatives and

friendly societies A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual org ...

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 in '' The American Review'', published and edited by Seward Collins. Pivotal among Belloc's and Chesterton's other works regarding distributism are '' The Servile State'' and ''Outline of Sanity''. Although a majority of distributism's later supporters were not Catholics and many were, in fact, former radical socialists who had become disillusioned with socialism, distributist thought was adopted by the

, conjoining it with the thought of

and

Peter Maurin Peter Maurin (; May 9, 1877 – May 15, 1949) was a French Catholic social activist, theologian, and De La Salle Brother who founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 with Dorothy Day. Maurin expressed his philosophy through short pieces of ...

concerning localized and independent communities. It also influenced the thought behind the

Antigonish Movement The Antigonish Movement blended adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based communities around Canada's Maritimes to improve their economic and social circumstances. A group of pr ...

, which implemented cooperatives and other measures to aid the poor in the Canadian Maritimes. Race Mathews has documented its practical implementation in the form of local cooperatives in his 1999 book ''Jobs of Our Own: Building a Stakeholder Society''.

Political spectrum

The position of distributists, when compared to other political philosophies, is somewhat paradoxical and complicated (see triangulation). Firmly entrenched in an organic but very English Catholicism, advocating culturally traditionalist and agrarian values, directly challenging the precepts of Whig 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". This

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

is different from most modern forms, taking influence from William Cobbett and John Ruskin, who combined elements of radicalism, challenging the establishment position, but from a perspective of renovation, not revolution; seeing themselves as trying to restore the traditional liberties of England and her people which had been taken away from them, amongst other things, since the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. While converging with some aspects of traditional Toryism, especially an appreciation of the

and organic society, there were several points of significant contention. While many Tories were strongly opposed to reform, the distributists, in some instances, saw this not as conserving a legitimate traditional concept of England but, in many cases, entrenching harmful errors and innovations. Belloc was quite explicit in his opposition to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

as a concept and schism from the Catholic Church in general, considering the division of Christendom in the 16th century as one of the most harmful events in European history. On the other hand, elements of Toryism were quite intransigent when it came to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

as the established church, some even spurning their original

legitimist The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They ...

ultra-royalist principles in regards to James II to uphold it. Much of Dorothy L. Sayers' writings on social and economic matters have an affinity with distributism. She may have been influenced by them or have come to similar conclusions on her own. As an Anglican, her reasonings are rooted in the theologies of Creation and Incarnation and slightly differ from the Catholic Chesterton and Belloc.

Economic theory

Private property

Under such a system, most people would be able to earn a living without having to rely on the use of the

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

of others to do so. Examples of people earning a living in this way would be farmers who own their land and related machinery, carpenters and plumbers who own their tools, among others. The cooperative approach advances beyond this perspective to recognise that such property and equipment may be co-owned by local communities larger than a family, e.g. partners in a business. In ''Rerum 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". He also states that owning property is beneficial for a person and their family and is, in fact, a right due to God having "given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race". 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." Chesterton summed up his distributist views in the phrase " Three acres and a cow". 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. 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.

Guild system

The economic order envisaged by the early distributist thinkers would involve the return to some

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

system. The existence of labour unions does not constitute a realization of this facet of distributist economic order, as labour unions are organized along class lines to promote class interests and frequently class struggle. In contrast, guilds are mixed-class syndicates composed of employers and employees cooperating for mutual benefit, promoting

class collaboration Class collaboration is a principle of social organization based upon the belief that the division of society into a hierarchy of social classes is a positive and essential aspect of civilization. Fascist support Class collaboration is one of th ...

. This does not suggest that distributists are against trade unions, however.

Banking and insurance system

Distributism favours the dissolution of the

private banking Private banking is banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks and financial institutions primarily serving high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs)—defined as those with very high levels of income or sizable assets. A bank that ...

and insurance system in favour of financial cooperatives and mutuals such as credit unions,

building societies A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...

, mutual banks and

. Distributists disagree with the profit-making basis in charging interest.

, for example, suggested abolishing legal enforcement of interest-rate contracts (

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is c ...

) issued by private banks. It would not entail nationalization but could involve government involvement of some sort.

Antitrust legislation

Distributism appears to have one of its most significant influences in

antitrust legislation In the United States, antitrust law is a collection of mostly federal laws that regulate the conduct and organization of businesses to promote competition and prevent unjustified monopolies. The three main U.S. antitrust statutes are the Sherm ...

in America and Europe, designed to break up monopolies and excessive concentration of market power in one or only a few companies, trusts, interests, or

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

s. Embodying the philosophy explained by Chesterton above, that too much capitalism means too few capitalists, not too many, America's extensive antitrust legislation seeks to prevent the concentration of market power in a given industry into too few hands. Requiring that no company gain too great a share of any market is an example of how distributism has found its way into government policy. This legislation assumes that decentralized economic activity among many different industry participants is better for the economy than having one or a few prominent players in an industry. Note that antitrust regulation does take into account cases when only large companies are viable because of the nature of an industry, as in the case of natural monopolies like electricity distribution. It also accepts that mergers and acquisitions may improve consumer welfare; however, it prefers more economic agents to fewer, which generally improves

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ...

Social credit

Social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

is an interdisciplinary distributive philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas (1879–1952), a British engineer who wrote a book by that name in 1924. It encompasses the fields of economics, political science, history, accounting, and physics. Its policies are designed, according to Douglas, to disperse economic and political power to individuals.

Redistribution of wealth and productive assets

Distributism requires either direct or indirect distribution of the

(productive assets)⁠—in some ideological circles including the redistribution 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 of

) or the hands of the state (as seen in its criticism of certain varieties of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

). More capitalist-oriented supporters support distributism-influenced social capitalism (also known as a social market economy), while more socialist-oriented supporters support distributism-influenced libertarian socialism. Examples of methods of distributism include direct productive property redistribution, taxation of excessive property ownership, and small-business subsidization.

Social theory

Human family

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 their 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. Many proponents of distributism favour enabling the flourishing of family-owned businesses as a central aim of promoting the family unit.

Subsidiarity

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. In '' Quadragesimo 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".Pope Pius XI,
Quadragesimo anno
', 1931. Thus, any activity of production (which distributism holds to be the most critical part of any economy) ought to be performed by the smallest possible unit. This helps support distributism's argument that smaller units, families, if possible, ought to be in control of the means of production rather than the large units typical of modern economies. In ''Quadragesimo anno'', Pope Pius XI further stated that "every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them". To prevent large private organizations from thus dominating the body politic, distributism applies this principle of subsidiarity to economic as well as social and political action.

Social security

Distributists believe in a society that is as self-reliant as possible. Some may advocate that families and charitable organisations ought to provide an alternative to social security as a means of advancing the principles of subsidiary. However, many distributists reject the idea of eliminating social security. Distributists like

did not favour social security when the United States government introduced it. This rejection of the new program was due to the direct influence of the ideas of

over American distributists. The Democratic Labour Party of Australia espouses distributism and does not hold the view of favouring the elimination of social security who, for instance, wish to " ise the level of student income support payments to the Henderson poverty line". The American 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".

Society of artisans

Distributism promotes a society of

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s and culture. This is influenced by an emphasis on small business, promoting local culture, and favouring small production over capitalistic or socialist mass production. A society of artisans promotes the distributist ideal of the unification of capital, ownership, and production rather than what distributism sees as the alienation of man from work. Distributism favours a technological 'progression' in which the technological advances of our day are such that the craftsman and artisan can access them from their home or place of business. Examples of this are 3d printers or digital printing of books or small artisan woodshops. In other cases distributism favors 'regression' to a pre-

lifestyle since it explicitly favours the craftsman over factories and other industrial centres. Products such as food and clothing would preferably be returned to local producers and artisans instead of being mass-produced nationally or overseas. This 'regression' can either take the form of returning to old ways of production or advances in technology which reduce the physical size of industrial operations so that individuals may produce better results.

Geopolitical theory

Political order

Distributism does not favour one political order over another (political accidentalism). While some distributists such as Dorothy Day have been

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

, 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.

Political parties

In the United States, the American Solidarity Party generally adheres to Distributist principles as its economic model. The Brazilian political party, Humanist Party of Solidarity, is a distributist party, alongside the National Distributist Party in England, and the Democratic Labour Party in Australia.

Ross Douthat Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...

and

Reihan Salam Reihan Morshed Salam (; born 29 December 1979) is a conservative American political commentator, columnist and author who since 2019 has been president of the Manhattan Institute. He was previously executive editor of ''National Review'', a column ...

view their ''Grand New Party'', a roadmap for revising the

Republican Party in the United States The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act ...

, as "a book written in the distributist tradition". The Pirate Party of Romania is also considered to be a distributist party.

War

Distributists usually use just war theory in determining whether a war should be fought or not. Historical positions of distributist thinkers provide insight into a distributist position on war. Belloc and Chesterton opposed British imperialism in general and explicitly opposed the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, but they supported British involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On the other hand, prominent distributists such as Dorothy Day and those involved in the Catholic Worker Movement were/are strict pacifists, even condemning involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

at much personal cost.

Influence

E. F. Schumacher

Distributism is known to have influenced the economist E. F. Schumacher, a convert to Catholicism.

Mondragon Corporation

The Mondragon Corporation, based in the Basque Country in a region of Spain and France, was founded by a Catholic priest, Father José María Arizmendiarrieta, who seems to have been influenced by the same Catholic social and economic teachings that inspired Belloc, Chesterton, Father Vincent McNabb, and the other founders of distributism.

Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic

Distributist ideas were put into practice by

The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic was a Roman Catholic community of artists and craftspeople founded in 1920 in Ditchling, East Sussex, England. It was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy led to the creation of Ditchling ...

, a group of artists and craftsmen who established a community in Ditchling, 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 the Arts and Crafts Movement. It survived for almost 70 years until 1989.

Big Society

The Big Society was the flagship policy idea of the 2010 UK 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.A Potential Step in the Right Direction
21 July 2010 It purportedly formed a part of the legislative programme of the

Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

.Cameron and Clegg set out 'big society' policy ideas

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...