The Servile State

The Servile State

A copy of the original issuing of The Servile State, first published in 1912
Author	Hilaire Belloc
Language	English
Subject	political economy, capitalism, distributism, socialism, history of economics, history of Europe
Genre	non-fiction
Publisher	T. N. Foulis
Publication date	1912
Pages	133
ISBN	9780692282489

The Servile State is a 1912 economic and political treatise by Hilaire Belloc. It serves primarily as a history of capitalism, a critique of both capitalism and socialism, and a rebuke of developments Belloc believed would bring about a form of totalitarianism he called the "servile state". The "servile state" is a state in which the proletariat – defined as a majority of civil society dispossessed of the means of production – is compelled by positive law to work for those possessed of those same means. Belloc believed that capitalism is fundamentally unstable and therefore serves as a transitory state of affairs, viewing it as a disruption of the natural development of property and societal norms that arose during the Middle Ages. While Belloc writes about socialism – which he generally refers to as "collectivism" – as an alternative to capitalism, he believes that attempts at its implementation are ineffective and will only hasten and solidify the reintroduction of the servile state.