Thomas Piketty – French economist known for Capital in the Twenty-First Century; advocates global progressive wealth taxes.
Ingrid Robeyns – Dutch philosopher and proponent of Limitarianism, the idea that no one should be excessively rich.
Henry George – 19th-century American economist; proposed the Land Value Tax as a single, fair way to redistribute wealth.
Amartya Sen – Indian economist and Nobel laureate; supports equitable development and capabilities-based justice.
Karl Marx – Philosopher and economist; advocated for abolition of private property and redistribution through socialism.
Peter Kropotkin – Russian anarchist and geographer; championed mutual aid and communal wealth sharing.
Huey Long – American populist; proposed the Share Our Wealth program to cap personal fortunes and guarantee basic income.
Evo Morales – Bolivian president who nationalized industries and redistributed revenues to the poor.
B.R. Ambedkar – Indian reformer who advocated for land redistribution and economic justice for Dalits.
Thomas Sankara – Burkina Faso's revolutionary leader; redistributed land to peasants and rejected foreign aid.
Fidel Castro – Cuban leader who redistributed wealth and property post-revolution.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Former president of Brazil; lifted millions out of poverty through Bolsa Família.
Dorothy Day – Co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; supported personalism and voluntary poverty.
Oscar Romero – Archbishop of El Salvador; criticized economic injustice and oligarchy.
Leo Tolstoy – Russian novelist and Christian anarchist; rejected private property as immoral.
Murray Bookchin – Social ecologist; argued for municipal wealth redistribution and direct democracy.
Rutger Bregman – Dutch historian; author of Utopia for Realists; defends UBI and higher taxes on the rich.
Emiliano Zapata – Mexican revolutionary; fought for land redistribution to peasants under Tierra y Libertad.
Ricardo Flores Magón – Mexican anarchist; inspired redistribution ideals in the Mexican Revolution.
Julius Nyerere – Tanzania's first president; promoted African socialism and equitable rural development.
Subcomandante Marcos (EZLN) – Zapatista leader in Mexico; fights for land and wealth redistribution for Indigenous communities.
Kwame Nkrumah — First president of independent Ghana; a strong proponent of African socialism, state ownership of resources, and Pan-African unity as a means to redistribute colonial wealth and empower the masses.
Patrice Lumumba (Congo) — Anti-colonial leader who sought to reclaim national wealth from Belgian control and redistribute it for the benefit of Congolese people before his assassination.
Frantz Fanon (Martinique/Algeria)— Though not born in Africa, he deeply influenced African anti-colonial thought. In The Wretched of the Earth, he called for redistribution of land and wealth seized during colonization.
Amílcar Cabral (Guinea-Bissau/Cape Verde) — Revolutionary and agronomist who advocated land reform, anti-imperialism, and wealth redistribution through community-based economies.
Wangari Maathai (Kenya) — Environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner; linked economic inequality, environmental justice, and the need to empower women through access to resources and land.
The GINI Index – A measure of income or wealth inequality within a nation, with 0 being perfect equality and 1 being extreme inequality.
Global Egalitarianism – A movement and philosophy that promotes fair distribution of wealth, power, and opportunities across all nations and peoples.
Distributism – An economic theory rooted in Catholic social teaching advocating for widespread ownership of productive property instead of concentration under the state or capitalists.
Progressive Taxation – A tax system where the rate increases with income, designed to reduce inequality by having the wealthy pay a larger share.
Land Reform (India, Mexico, etc.) – Redistribution of land from large landowners to peasants or the landless, aimed at correcting historic injustices and reducing rural poverty.
Nationalizing Natural Resources & Industry – The state takes ownership of key industries and natural assets to ensure profits benefit the public rather than private elites.
Billionaire Wealth – Ethical Concerns – Questions whether extreme wealth accumulation is just, and whether hoarding wealth harms social cohesion and democracy.
Tax Havens – Countries or jurisdictions with low or no taxes that enable the wealthy and corporations to hide money and avoid contributing to public revenue.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) – A guaranteed, unconditional income for all people, proposed as a response to job loss from automation and AI.