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DISTRIBUTISM - THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE
ERA favours neither capitalism or socialism as both of these political philosophy's have failed. You only have to look at the extent of the recent collapse in the finance sector or even the Thatcherite Tory regime of the 1980's to see how capitalism works and how it creates a dog eat dog society. You only have to look at the former Soviet Union or even the constituencies of Labour MP's and socialist councils in England to see how socialism fails to deliver and rather than freeing people from deprivation actually keeps them in it.
Instead ERA supports a third option, Distributism, a philosophy that would deliver fairness, equality and economic stability.
DISTRIBUTISM EXPLAINED
To help describe the concept of distributism, there’s an old saying, which says:
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; (dole)
Teach a man to fish, and he feeds himself for life. (work)
Distributism is the science of giving ordinary people the means to support themselves, their families and their communities – “teaching them to fish”, if you like, and giving them a net as well - and slowly replacing our dependency on big business, who may shut your workplace and relocate abroad, if they can get their widgets made cheaper there.
Capitalists fear Distributism, because the money, (presently controlled by them), will eventually be controlled by the general population, who can then cut them “out of the loop” and use it to start and run their own businesses.
Socialists fear Distributism, because a general population not working for large exploitive employers, but becoming their own employer will have no reason to turn to them for support: it will cut them out of the loop!
There are already thousands of small businesses, very often sole traders or partnerships, or in larger instances, co-operatives, so Distributism is an achievable system.
In fact, one of the largest businesses in Spain is the Mondragon co-operative, employing thousands in various enterprises, even having their own Bank and University!
Also, let’s think for a moment where all the new jobs that England needs, are going to come from: will Toyota or IBM be coming over to build new factories when workers in the far east are so much cheaper to hire and fire - or will it be our own people, individually ploughing their savings or redundancy money into a new business venture?
For Distributism to thrive, it means giving small business people a level playing field against big business: for instance, how many shops have closed in towns when a big supermarket opens nearby? Who sticks up for the local baker trying to compete with these giants, who will sell their bread at a loss, to drive him out of business?
It means protecting English jobs by imposing tariffs and even limits on the products threatening our vital industries. Remember when we used to have a fishing fleet and car manufacturers? The British government allows massive European factory ships to plunder our fish stocks, and MG Rover to collapse with the loss of thousands of jobs.
Future generations have lost these, and other, industries, because we did not defend them.
You might ask “Where will ordinary working class people get the capital to start their own businesses?” The answer is quite simply: ourselves. We, as consumers, already power the economy, by buying things which sadly, are now often made abroad.
A capitalist’s wealth was once our disposable income, so what is to stop us investing our future disposable income in our own communities? If every English county or region had its own Bank – the Bank of Cheshire, the Bank of Yorkshire, the Bank of Wessex – not owned by shareholders, but by the county or region itself – it would not be some untouchable, remote entity that took stupid risks to make extra profit for fat cats, but an accountable, local institution, lending money to local businesses, with all profits made being reinvested within the county or region.
Capitalism, while we were at the top of the manufacturing food chain, was great for a handful of capitalists and provided work for most of us, but as the capital ebbs away from England to cheaper manufacturing bases abroad, we face two choices:
Accept massive unemployment, with fewer and fewer workers to prop up the benefit system – eventually leading to lower benefits, deprivation and civil unrest, or:
Use our own capital, while we still have some, and start creating our own employment.
The English Radicals believe that old style Capitalism and its well meaning sibling, Socialism, are not the answers to England’s problems, but rather the problem itself.
Distributism, as outlined above, is really the only alternative to the difficulties we face. We can no longer rely on large corporations coming to these shores and giving us jobs: if we want jobs we must provide our own.
An English Radical government would provide the shelter for our existing industries to recover and thrive, while the ordinary people of England learn the skills and gather the confidence to create their own businesses. Are the LibLabCon parties offering you this? No, just “We are all Europeans now, we must let the free market decide, protectionism is naughty, etc”. What help is that to England? To YOU, and your family? None at all.
+ click here to return to home page & menu +
Instead ERA supports a third option, Distributism, a philosophy that would deliver fairness, equality and economic stability.
DISTRIBUTISM EXPLAINED
To help describe the concept of distributism, there’s an old saying, which says:
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; (dole)
Teach a man to fish, and he feeds himself for life. (work)
Distributism is the science of giving ordinary people the means to support themselves, their families and their communities – “teaching them to fish”, if you like, and giving them a net as well - and slowly replacing our dependency on big business, who may shut your workplace and relocate abroad, if they can get their widgets made cheaper there.
Capitalists fear Distributism, because the money, (presently controlled by them), will eventually be controlled by the general population, who can then cut them “out of the loop” and use it to start and run their own businesses.
Socialists fear Distributism, because a general population not working for large exploitive employers, but becoming their own employer will have no reason to turn to them for support: it will cut them out of the loop!
There are already thousands of small businesses, very often sole traders or partnerships, or in larger instances, co-operatives, so Distributism is an achievable system.
In fact, one of the largest businesses in Spain is the Mondragon co-operative, employing thousands in various enterprises, even having their own Bank and University!
Also, let’s think for a moment where all the new jobs that England needs, are going to come from: will Toyota or IBM be coming over to build new factories when workers in the far east are so much cheaper to hire and fire - or will it be our own people, individually ploughing their savings or redundancy money into a new business venture?
For Distributism to thrive, it means giving small business people a level playing field against big business: for instance, how many shops have closed in towns when a big supermarket opens nearby? Who sticks up for the local baker trying to compete with these giants, who will sell their bread at a loss, to drive him out of business?
It means protecting English jobs by imposing tariffs and even limits on the products threatening our vital industries. Remember when we used to have a fishing fleet and car manufacturers? The British government allows massive European factory ships to plunder our fish stocks, and MG Rover to collapse with the loss of thousands of jobs.
Future generations have lost these, and other, industries, because we did not defend them.
You might ask “Where will ordinary working class people get the capital to start their own businesses?” The answer is quite simply: ourselves. We, as consumers, already power the economy, by buying things which sadly, are now often made abroad.
A capitalist’s wealth was once our disposable income, so what is to stop us investing our future disposable income in our own communities? If every English county or region had its own Bank – the Bank of Cheshire, the Bank of Yorkshire, the Bank of Wessex – not owned by shareholders, but by the county or region itself – it would not be some untouchable, remote entity that took stupid risks to make extra profit for fat cats, but an accountable, local institution, lending money to local businesses, with all profits made being reinvested within the county or region.
Capitalism, while we were at the top of the manufacturing food chain, was great for a handful of capitalists and provided work for most of us, but as the capital ebbs away from England to cheaper manufacturing bases abroad, we face two choices:
Accept massive unemployment, with fewer and fewer workers to prop up the benefit system – eventually leading to lower benefits, deprivation and civil unrest, or:
Use our own capital, while we still have some, and start creating our own employment.
The English Radicals believe that old style Capitalism and its well meaning sibling, Socialism, are not the answers to England’s problems, but rather the problem itself.
Distributism, as outlined above, is really the only alternative to the difficulties we face. We can no longer rely on large corporations coming to these shores and giving us jobs: if we want jobs we must provide our own.
An English Radical government would provide the shelter for our existing industries to recover and thrive, while the ordinary people of England learn the skills and gather the confidence to create their own businesses. Are the LibLabCon parties offering you this? No, just “We are all Europeans now, we must let the free market decide, protectionism is naughty, etc”. What help is that to England? To YOU, and your family? None at all.
+ click here to return to home page & menu +