Summary of Hilaire Belloc's The Servile State

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Wealth is created when a human being consciously and intelligently transforms his environment from a condition in which it is less to a condition in which it is more serviceable to his needs. Without wealth, man cannot exist. #2 There are three factors in the production of all human wealth: land, capital, and labor. When we talk about the Means of Production, we are referring to land and capital combined. When we say that a man is dispossessed of the means of production, we mean that he is the master of his labor but not of either capital or land. #3 The two marks that define the Capitalist State are: 1) that the citizens thereof are politically free, and 2) that the State as a whole is not characterized by the institution of ownership among free citizens, but by the restriction of ownership to a section markedly less than the whole. #4 A clear distinction exists between the servile and non-servile condition of labor. The former is imposed on men by law, and the latter is not. A servile condition exists only when there is also present the free citizen for whose benefit the slave works under the compulsion of law.