The Servile State

The Servile State is a 1912 book authored by Hilaire Belloc. The book is primarily a history of capitalism in Europe, and a repudiation of the convergence of big business with the state. Belloc lays out two alternatives: distributionism and collectivism.This book lays out, in very broad outline, Belloc's version of European economic history, starting with ancient pagan states, in which slavery was critical to the economy, through the medieval Christendom process which transformed an economy based on serf labour in a state in which the property was well distributed, to 19th and 20th century capitalism.[citation needed] Belloc argues that the 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 industrialisation. English capitalism then spread across the world.Belloc then makes his case for the natural instability of pure capitalism and discusses how he believes that attempts to reform capitalism will lead almost inexorably to an economy in which state regulation has removed the freedom of capitalism and thereby replaced capitalism with the Servile State, which shares with ancient slavery the fact that positive law (as opposed to custom or economic necessity by themselves) dictates that certain people will work for others, who likewise must take care of them.[citation needed]In the ninth section of the book, titled 'The Servile State Has Begun,' Belloc explores various ways the servile state has started to creep its way back into modern life. Among these he includes minimum wage laws, employers liability laws, the Insurance Act, and compulsory arbitration.[1]Belloc used his Catholicism and his experience of living alongside the small-scale peasant farmers of the Sussex Weald to advocate his thesis of having a property-owning democracy based on peasant smallholdings that would bring together the different social classes.[2]PublisherThis is a reproduction of the original artefact. In this series we are bringing a treasure throve of old books back into print using our own state-of-the-art techniques. Generally, these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since we are working with old material, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

Publisher - HardPress Limited

Language - English

Perfect Bound

Contributors

By author

Belloc, Hilaire, 1870-1953

Published Date - 2013-01-28

ISBN - 9781313044479

Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm

Page Count - 226