The Servile State · Chapter
Preface to Second Edition explained
Belloc clarifies misconceptions about his thesis, emphasizing that the book does not discuss the socialist state but rather the tendency toward a servile state where the proletariat loses legal freedom and is subject to compulsory labor.
What happens
Belloc clarifies misconceptions about his thesis, emphasizing that the book does not discuss the socialist state but rather the tendency toward a servile state where the proletariat loses legal freedom and is subject to compulsory labor. He argues that socialist reform, in conflict with capitalism, produces a third thing—the servile state—and that modern organized reform is not leading to collectivism but to a reestablishment of slavery. He also addresses historical points about the transformation of slavery under Catholic civilization and the rise of capitalism after the 16th century disruption.
Themes in this chapter
Collectivism as a Path to Servitude, Not Socialism
Belloc argues that socialist reform, in conflict with capitalism, produces the servile state rather than collectivism.
Historical Cycle of Slavery and Freedom
The preface discusses the slow transformation of slavery under Catholic civilization and the return of servile conditions where Catholic influence receded.
The Replacement of Contract by Status
Belloc defines servile labour as undertaken not by contract but under compulsion of positive law, attached to the status of the labourer.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The author (Belloc) speaks in first person, defending his thesis and addressing criticisms.
- Collectivism
Referenced as the socialist ideal that is not being approached; instead, the servile state emerges from the conflict between collectivism and capitalism.
- Europeans
Mentioned in the context of European civilization and the universal nature of societal changes.
- The Crown
Implied in the discussion of state regulation and municipal enterprise based on loans rather than confiscation.
Key passages
“This book does not discuss the socialist state. Indeed it is the very heart of my thesis that we are not, as a fact, approaching socialism at all, but a very different state of society; to wit, a society in which the capitalist class shall be even more powerful and far more secure than it is at present: a society in which the proletarian mass shall not suffer from particular regulations, oppressive or beneficent, but shall change their status, lose their present legal freedom, and be subject to compulsory labour.”
Belloc clarifies that his book is not about socialism but about the trend toward a society where capitalists are stronger and workers lose freedom and face forced labor.
Central thesis of the preface.
“I say nowhere in the book that the reestablishment of slavery would be a bad thing as compared with our present insecurity, and no one has a right to read such an opinion into this book. Upon the contrary, I say clearly enough that I think the tendency towards the reestablishment of slavery is due to the very fact that the new conditions may be found more tolerable than those obtaining under capitalism.”
Belloc states he is not warning against slavery; rather, the trend toward it may be because it could be more tolerable than capitalism.
Addresses misconception that the book is a warning.
“The traveller is the socialist. The south which he desires to reach is the collectivist state. The river is modern 'organised reform.' The northern country where the mountain river will ultimately find a quiet bed is a society reposing upon compulsory labour.”
Belloc uses a metaphor: socialists think reform leads to collectivism, but it actually leads to a society based on forced labor.
Metaphor explaining the divergence of reform from socialist goals.
“The path of confiscation, the only way by which socialists can reach their goal, gets more and more remote with every new and positive economic reform, undertaken, remember, with the aid and under the advice of socialists themselves.”
Socialists are making it harder to achieve their goal by supporting reforms that move away from confiscation.
Critique of socialist participation in reform.
