A Restauração da Propriedade Privada

Hillaire Belloc

Let it be remembered that this aim of ours for the restoration of private property among a determining number of the community, the distribution of property among the masses of citizens who should thus be made free, does not contradict state ownership of certain functions. What it contradicts is the false doctrine of general or preponderant state ownership, or what is worst of all universal State ownership. The State exists for the family and the individual; not these for the State.

In many European countries where highly divided property is the rule, railways are State owned, and in all without exception, the Post Office.

There is no hard and fast line, but the general principle is clear enough. Any free and well ordered state includes a proportion of State ownership which is based upon private ownership in the hands of as many citizens and families as possible at any rate, of so many as to make the principle determining character of society. Such ownership may be co-operative in the form of the Guild where large units are necessary or as in the case of nearly all agriculture and a great deal of industry as well, owned in small units by craftsmen.

The function of distribution should also follow the same lines. Where there must be concentration in a large unit, that unit should be organized as a Guild; but in the vast majority of cases a small unit of distribution—the small store—is sufficient.