Hilaire Belloc

This short work is a program for property distribution as an alternative to how it is planned by socialist states or naturally happens in capitalist societies. It is a landmark of European social thought, attempting to rectify the wrongs in both of the major economic theories by approaching the problem from an entirely new angle. The essay is thus an anticapitalist and antisocialist work of Christian and Catholic social thought in which basic truths about society and human nature are applied to socioeconomics. It is a manifesto and a program for the Distributist League, of which Belloc and G. K. Chesterton were the primary figures. It marks a key point in the history of economic thought, and it is a fundamental text illustrating the influence of religion and philosophy on social thought and their practical application to societal questions.