Gutiérrez, Gustavo 129cloth weavers in England). Most nonagricultural busi-
nesses were organized as guilds in MEDIEVALEurope
(e.g., shoemakers or cobblers, masons, printers,
plumbers, tailors, jewelers, etc.). Guilds regulated the
quality, sale, and personnel of certain specialized
goods. They created an effective monopoly in these
areas of the economy that they controlled. Training of
skilled workers was accomplished through the guilds
(through a system of apprentices, journeymen, and
masters). Dominating industry in Europe from the
10th through the 17th centuries, guilds exercised con-
siderable political influence in many cities and towns,
providing a regional governance, checking the na-
tional power of the king and continental power of the
church. Sometimes called colleges or corporations,
medieval guilds also existed in educational and reli-
gious bodies (academic institutions were originally
guilds of scholars). Guilds tended to be CONSERVATIVE
organizations, valuing routine, TRADITION, and stability
over economic development and technological change
(which was seen as threatening their economic liveli-
hood and political influence). With mechanized
industrial CAPITALISMin the 17th and 18th centuries,
the economic and political power of the European
guilds was destroyed. Technology, free trade, and
competition eroded their influence. Some MODERN
labor and trade unions modeled their structures on
medieval guilds, as did new trade professions (such as
electrician). But only in FASCISMin Italy and Spain
(through the ideas of CORPORATISMand SYNDICALISM)
did guilds continue into the 20th century. A move-
ment called guild SOCIALISMin Britain tried, in the
early 1900s, to improve the conditions of industrial
workers by reintroducing guild systems and monopo-
lies (in cooperation with the state), but it tended to be
supplanted by more nationalistic, MARXIST workers’
socialism. Guilds came to be associated with the past
and reactionary social movements. The term guild
now signifies mostly an honorary or professional asso-
ciation.
Further Readings
Cole, M. “Guild socialism and the labour research department.”
In Essays in Labour History 1886–1923,A. Briggs and J.
Saville, eds. Hamden, Conn.: Anchor Books, 1971.
Glass, S. T. The Responsible Society: The Ideas of the English Guild
Socialist.Longmans, London: 1966.
Russell, Bertrand. Proposed Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anar-
chism and Syndicalism.New York: Henry Holt and Co.,
1919.
Wright, A. W. G.D.H. Cole and Socialist Democracy.Oxford,
Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1979.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo (1928– ) Latin Ameri-
can Catholic theologian and philosopher of liberation
theology
In his book, A Theology of Liberation(1973), Gutiérrez
presents the classic theory of LIBERATION THEOLOGYthat
dominated the LEFTof the CATHOLICChurch in Latin
America (and mainline LIBERALprotestant churches) in
the 1970s and 1980s. It seeks to address the poverty
and misery of the Third World by combining MARXIST-
LENINISTsocial analysis with CHRISTIANITY. According to
this view, contemporary politics is understood in terms
of the wealthy CAPITALIST IMPERIALISTcountries of the
Northern Hemisphere (such as the United States,
Britain, and Germany), exploiting and oppressing the
poor “neo-colonies” of the Southern Hemisphere
(South America, Africa, Asia, etc.). The only solution
to this economic injustice is the revolutionary over-
throw of the developing country governments, expul-
sion of imperialist corporations, and establishment of
SOCIALISM. The church, in its Christian role to help the
poor, should assist these socialist, anti-imperialist rev-
olutions, thereby achieving “salvation in history.” So,
liberation theology sees fighting for radical revolution
as serving God. Its goal, as Christ’s, is the realization of
“true human existence.” Gutiérrez advocated a “broad
and deep aspiration for liberation from all that limits
or keeps man from self-fulfillment, liberation from all
impediments to the exercise of his freedom.”
This expression of worldly, economic, and political
FREEDOMdiffered from traditional Catholic views of
human nature and politics. Although liberation theol-
ogy cared for the poor (and affected reforms benefiting
them, especially in socialist Nicaragua under the Marx-
ist Sandinista government), the Roman Catholic hier-
archy criticized it for distorting traditional Christian
theology. By drawing on ENLIGHTENMENTand COMMU-
NISTideas of people and society, Gutiérrez saw sin in
terms of social systemsrather than the individual will,
and salvation in material rather than spiritual terms. In
turn, he criticized the Catholic Church in Latin Amer-
ica for being aligned with the economic and political
establishment and sanctifying the oppression of the
poor and helpless. He claimed the Catholic hierarchy
was aiding the rich imperialists in preventing the
masses from getting “dignity, liberty, and personal ful-
fillment.” By remaining neutral in the world economic
class struggle, the church, in effect, is siding with the
wealthy and powerful. The church should take the side
of the revolutionary masses and radical socialism.