The Servile State
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ISBN 9780692282489 | |
The Servile State is a 1912
Contents
This book lays out, in very broad outline, Belloc's version of European economic history, starting with ancient pagan states, in which
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
Reception
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A 1912 review in The Guardian suggested Belloc's embrace of widespread property ownership seemed "impracticable for a proletarian population with no appreciable margin for saving and with no adequate spirit of cooperation."[3]
In a 1946 article for Polemic, George Orwell described the work as written in a "tiresome style" and argued that the remedy it suggested was "impossible". However, he considered that it foretold the sorts of things that were happening in the 1930s with "remarkable insight".[4]
Kenneth Minogue's 2010 book The Servile Mind[5] was inspired by Belloc's book. Minogue described Belloc's book as somewhat dated but still offering valuable insights into the development of servility and dependence on government largesse, which Minogue tended to regard unfavorably.
References
- ISBN 9781602068674.
- ISBN 978-1860776168.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Orwell, George (May 1946), "Second Thoughts on James Burnham", Polemic, 3.
- ISBN 9781594036514.
- ISBN 9780226320533.
External links
- The Servile State at Standard Ebooks
- The Servile State public domain audiobook at LibriVox