The Servile State
by Hilaire Belloc
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The Servile State is a book written by Hilaire Belloc in 1912 about economics. Although it mentions Distributism, for which he and his friend G.K. Chesterton are famous, it avoids explicit advocation for that economic system. This book lays out, in very broad outline, Belloc's version of European economic history: starting with ancient states, where slavery was critical to the economy, through the medieval economies based on serf and peasant labor, to capitalism. Belloc argues that the show more development of capitalism was not a natural consequence of the Industrial Revolution, but a consequence of the earlier dissolution of the monasteries in England, which then shaped the course of English industrialization. show lessTags
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Hilaire Belloc argues that hyper-capitalism is unstable and tends towards what he calls the 'Servile State' where most of the population don't own property or the 'means of production' and are required by law to work for those who do. He suggests that state-owned production systems will tend the same way, an observation which turned out to be prescient for the later Communist (= "collectivist") governments in Europe and Asia. Belloc (a Christian) points to the Church-dominated Middle Ages as an ideal time for a balance of freedom and "distributive" ownership, where the means of production were more evenly spread among the populace.
The work is clearly argued and has much relevance today, since we are experiencing the late stages of the show more 19th century capitalist system Belloc decried. show less
The work is clearly argued and has much relevance today, since we are experiencing the late stages of the show more 19th century capitalist system Belloc decried. show less
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Nov 30, 2020Catalan
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253+ Works 9,013 Members
Hilaire Belloc, 1870 - 1953 Hilaire Belloc was born in France in 1870, educated at Oxford, and naturalized as a British subject in 1902. Although he began as a writer of humorous verse for children, his works include satire, poetry, history, biography, fiction, and many volumes of essays. With his close friend and fellow Catholic, G. K. show more Chesterton, Belloc founded the New Witness, a weekly newspaper opposing capitalism and free thought and supporting a philosophy known as distributism. The pair was so close in thought and association that George Bernard Shaw nicknamed them Chesterbelloc. During his life, Belloc published over 150 books. Today, however, he is best remembered for only a few works, most notably his light verse, such as Cautionary Tales (1907) and A Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896). Belloc died in 1953 from burns caused when his dressing gown caught fire from the hearth. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1912
Classifications
- Genres
- Economics, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government, Philosophy, History, Religion & Spirituality
- DDC/MDS
- 330.9 — Society, government, & culture Economics Jobs & Careers Economic geography and history
- LCC
- HC55 .B5 — Social sciences Economic history and conditions Economic history and conditions
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 348
- Popularity
- 90,423
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.76)
- Languages
- English, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 24
- ASINs
- 19
