Perhaps in this really weird election year, featuring a pants suit wearing relic of the 1970s and a oddly coifed billionaire who comes across like a New York blowhard, some serious stuff might be in order. We'll given it a shot.
RERUM NOVARUM
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON CAPITAL AND LABOR
ON CAPITAL AND LABOR
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs,
Primates,Archbishops, Bishops, and other ordinaries
of places having Peace andCommunion with the Apostolic See.
Primates,Archbishops, Bishops, and other ordinaries
of places having Peace andCommunion with the Apostolic See.
Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor
That the spirit of revolutionary change,
which has long been disturbing the nations of the world,should have
passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the
cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of
the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of
industrial pursuits and the marvellous discoveries of science; in the
changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes
of some few individuals,and the utter poverty of the masses; the
increased self reliance and closer mutual combination of the working
classes; as also, finally, in the prevail in gmoral degeneracy.
The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills every
mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men
are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of
nations are all busied with it - actually there is no question which has
taken deeper hold on the public mind.
2. Therefore, venerable brethren, as on
former occasions when it seemed opportune to refute false teaching, We
have addressed you in the interests of the Church and of the common
weal, and have issued letters bearing on political power, human liberty,
the Christian constitution of the State, and like matters, so have We
thought it expedient now to speak on the condition of the working
classes. It is a subject on which We have already touched more than
once, incidentally. But in the present letter, the responsibility of the
apostolic office urges Us to treat the question of set purpose and in
detail, in order that no misapprehension may exist as to the principles
which truth and justice dictate for its settlement. The discussion is
not easy, nor is it void of danger. It is no easy matter to define the
relative rights and mutual duties of the rich and of the poor, of
capital and of labor. And the danger lies in this, that crafty agitators
are intent on making use of these differences of opinion to pervert
men's judgments and to stir up the people to revolt.
3. In any case we clearly see, and on
this there is general agreement, that some opportune remedy must be
found quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on
the majority of the working class: for the ancient workingmen's guilds
were abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization
took their place. Public institutions and the laws set aside the
ancient religion. Hence, by degrees it has come to
pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to
the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition.
The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although
more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a
different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous
and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labor and the
conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so
that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the
teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of
slavery itself.
4. To remedy these wrongs the
socialists, working on the poor man's envy of the rich, are striving to
do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions
should become the common property of all, to be administered by the
State or by municipal bodies. They hold that by thus transferring
property from private individuals to the community, the present
mischievous state of things will be set to rights, inasmuch as each
citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy. But
their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that
were they carried into effect the working man himself would be among the
first to suffer. They are, moreover, emphatically unjust, for they
would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and
create utter confusion in the community.
5. It is surely undeniable that, when a
man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of
his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very
own. If one man hires out to another his strength or skill, he does so
for the purpose of receiving in return what is necessary for the
satisfaction of his needs; he therefore expressly intends to acquire a
right full and real, not only to the remuneration, but also to the
disposal of such remuneration, just as he pleases. Thus, if he lives
sparingly, saves money, and, for greater security, invests his savings
in land, the land, in such case, is only his wages under another form;
and, consequently, a working man's little estate thus purchased should
be as completely at his full disposal as are the wages he receives for
his labor. But it is precisely in such power of disposal that ownership
obtains, whether the property consist of land or chattels. Socialists,
therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to
the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner,
since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages,
and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and
of bettering his condition in life.
6. What is of far greater moment,
however, is the fact that the remedy they propose is manifestly against
justice. For, every man has by nature the right to possess property as
his own. This is one of the chief points of distinction between man and
the animal creation, for the brute has no power of self direction, but
is governed by two main instincts, which keep his powers on the alert,
impel him to develop them in a fitting manner, and stimulate and
determine him to action without any power of choice. One of these
instincts is self preservation, the other the propagation of the
species. Both can attain their purpose by means of things which lie
within range; beyond their verge the brute creation cannot go, for they
are moved to action by their senses only, and in the special direction
which these suggest. But with man it is wholly different. He possesses,
on the one hand, the full perfection of the animal being, and hence
enjoys at least as much as the rest of the animal kind, the fruition of
things material. But animal nature, however perfect, is far from
representing the human being in its completeness, and is in truth but
humanity's humble handmaid, made to serve and to obey. It is the mind,
or reason, which is the predominant element in us who are human
creatures; it is this which renders a human being human, and
distinguishes him essentially from the brute. And on this very account -
that man alone among the animal creation is endowed with reason - it
must be within his right to possess things not merely for temporary and
momentary use, as other living things do, but to have and to hold them
in stable and permanent possession; he must have not only things that
perish in the use, but those also which, though they have been reduced
into use, continue for further use in after time.
7. This becomes still more clearly
evident if man's nature be considered a little more deeply. For man,
fathoming by his faculty of reason matters without number, linking the
future with the present, and being master of his own acts, guides his
ways under the eternal law and the power of God, whose providence
governs all things. Wherefore, it is in his power to exercise his choice
not only as to matters that regard his present welfare, but also about
those which he deems may be for his advantage in time yet to come.
Hence, man not only should possess the fruits of the earth, but also the
very soil, inasmuch as from the produce of the earth he has to lay by
provision for the future. Man's needs do not die
out, but forever recur; although satisfied today, they demand fresh
supplies for tomorrow. Nature accordingly must have given to man a
source that is stable and remaining always with him, from which he might
look to draw continual supplies. And this stable condition of things he
finds solely in the earth and its fruits. There is no need to bring in
the State. Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to the formation
of any State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.
8. The fact that God has given the earth
for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race can in no way be a
bar to the owning of private property. For God has granted the earth to
mankind in general, not in the sense that all without distinction can
deal with it as they like, but rather that no part of it was assigned to
any one in particular, and that the limits of private possession have
been left to be fixed by man's own industry, and by the laws of
individual races. Moreover, the earth, even though apportioned among
private owners, ceases not thereby to minister to the needs of all,
inasmuch as there is not one who does not sustain life from what the
land produces. Those who do not possess the soil contribute their labor;
hence, it may truly be said that all human subsistence is derived
either from labor on one's own land, or from some toil, some calling,
which is paid for either in the produce of the land itself, or in that
which is exchanged for what the land brings forth.
9. Here, again, we have further proof
that private ownership is in accordance with the law of nature. Truly,
that which is required for the preservation of life, and for life's
well-being, is produced in great abundance from the soil, but not until
man has brought it into cultivation and expended upon it his solicitude
and skill. Now, when man thus turns the activity of his mind and the
strength of his body toward procuring the fruits of nature, by such act
he makes his own that portion of nature's field which he cultivates -
that portion on which he leaves, as it were, the impress of his
personality; and it cannot but be just that he should possess that
portion as his very own, and have a right to hold it without any one
being justified in violating that right.
10. So strong and convincing are these
arguments that it seems amazing that some should now be setting up anew
certain obsolete opinions in opposition to what is here laid down. They
assert that it is right for private persons to have the use of the soil
and its various fruits, but that it is unjust for any one to possess
outright either the land on which he has built or the estate which he
has brought under cultivation. But those who deny these rights do not
perceive that they are defrauding man of what his own labor has
produced. For the soil which is tilled and cultivated with toil and
skill utterly changes its condition; it was wild before, now it is
fruitful; was barren, but now brings forth in abundance. That which has
thus altered and improved the land becomes so truly part of itself as to
be in great measure indistinguishable and inseparable from it. Is it
just that the fruit of a man's own sweat and labor should be possessed
and enjoyed by any one else? As effects follow their cause, so is it
just and right that the results of labor should belong to those who have
bestowed their labor.
11. With reason, then, the common
opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have
contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of
nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of
property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of
private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human
nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace
and tranquillity of human existence. The same principle is confirmed and
enforced by the civil laws-laws which, so long as they are just, derive
from the law of nature their binding force. The authority of the divine
law adds its sanction, forbidding us in severest terms even to covet
that which is another's: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; nor
his house, nor his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his."
12. The rights here spoken of, belonging
to each individual man, are seen in much stronger light when considered
in relation to man's social and domestic obligations. In choosing a
state of life, it is indisputable that all are at full liberty to follow
the counsel of Jesus Christ as to observing virginity, or to bind
themselves by the marriage tie. No human law can abolish the natural and
original right of marriage, nor in any way limit the chief and
principal purpose of marriage ordained by God's authority from the
beginning: "Increase and multiply." Hence we have the family, the
"society" of a man's house - a society very small, one must admit, but
none the less a true society, and one older than any State.
Consequently, it has rights and duties peculiar to itself which are
quite independent of the State.
13. That right to property, therefore,
which has been proved to belong naturally to individual persons, must in
like wise belong to a man in his capacity of head of a family; nay,
that right is all the stronger in proportion as the human person
receives a wider extension in the family group. It is a most sacred law
of nature that a father should provide food and all necessaries for
those whom he has begotten; and, similarly, it is natural that he should
wish that his children, who carry on, so to speak, and continue his
personality, should be by him provided with all that is needful to
enable them to keep themselves decently from want and misery amid the
uncertainties of this mortal life. Now, in no other way can a father
effect this except by the ownership of productive property, which he can
transmit to his children by inheritance. A family, no less than a
State, is, as We have said, a true society, governed by an authority
peculiar to itself, that is to say, by the authority of the father.
Provided, therefore, the limits which are prescribed by the very
purposes for which it exists be not transgressed, the family has at
least equal rights with the State in the choice and pursuit of the
things needful to its preservation and its just liberty. We say, "at
least equal rights"; for, inasmuch as the domestic household is
antecedent, as well in idea as in fact, to the gathering of men into a
community, the family must necessarily have rights and duties which are
prior to those of the community, and founded more immediately in nature.
If the citizens, if the families on entering into association and
fellowship, were to experience hindrance in a commonwealth instead of
help, and were to find their rights attacked instead of being upheld,
society would rightly be an object of detestation rather than of
desire.
14. The contention, then, that the civil
government should at its option intrude into and exercise intimate
control over the family and the household is a great and pernicious
error. True, if a family finds itself in exceeding distress, utterly
deprived of the counsel of friends, and without any prospect of
extricating itself, it is right that extreme necessity be met by public
aid, since each family is a part of the commonwealth. In like manner, if
within the precincts of the household there occur grave disturbance of
mutual rights, public authority should intervene to force each party to
yield to the other its proper due; for this is not to deprive citizens
of their rights, but justly and properly to safeguard and strengthen
them. But the rulers of the commonwealth must go no further; here,
nature bids them stop. Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor
absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself.
"The child belongs to the father," and is, as it were, the continuation
of the father's personality; and speaking strictly, the child takes its
place in civil society, not of its own right, but in its quality as
member of the family in which it is born. And for the very reason that
"the child belongs to the father" it is, as St. Thomas Aquinas says,
"before it attains the use of free will, under the power and the charge
of its parents."(4) The socialists, therefore, in setting aside the
parent and setting up a State supervision, act against natural justice,
and destroy the structure of the home.
15. And in addition to injustice, it is
only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all
classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be
subjected. The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective,
and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no
one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and
that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be
in reality the levelling down of all to a like condition of misery and
degradation. Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of
socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only
injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary
to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and
disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle,
therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the
masses, must be the inviolability of private property. This being established, we proceed to show where the remedy sought for must be found.
16. We approach the subject with
confidence, and in the exercise of the rights which manifestly appertain
to Us, for no practical solution of this question will be found apart
from the intervention of religion and of the Church. It is We who are
the chief guardian of religion and the chief dispenser of what pertains
to the Church; and by keeping silence we would seem to neglect the duty
incumbent on us. Doubtless, this most serious question demands the
attention and the efforts of others besides ourselves - to wit, of the
rulers of States, of employers of labor, of the wealthy, aye, of the
working classes themselves, for whom We are pleading. But We affirm
without hesitation that all the striving of men will be vain if they
leave out the Church. It is the Church that insists, on the authority of
the Gospel, upon those teachings whereby the conflict can be brought to
an end, or rendered, at least, far less bitter; the Church uses her
efforts not only to enlighten the mind, but to direct by her precepts
the life and conduct of each and all; the Church improves and betters
the condition of the working man by means of numerous organizations;
does her best to enlist the services of all classes in discussing and
endeavoring to further in the most practical way, the interests of the
working classes; and considers that for this purpose recourse should be
had, in due measure and degree, to the intervention of the law and of
State authority.
17. It must be first of all recognized
that the condition of things inherent in human affairs must be borne
with, for it is impossible to reduce civil society to one dead level.
Socialists may in that intent do their utmost, but all striving against
nature is in vain. There naturally exist among mankind manifold
differences of the most important kind; people differ in capacity,
skill, health, strength; and unequal fortune is a necessary result of
unequal condition. Such unequality is far from being disadvantageous
either to individuals or to the community. Social and public life can
only be maintained by means of various kinds of capacity for business
and the playing of many parts; and each man, as a rule, chooses the part
which suits his own peculiar domestic condition. As regards bodily
labor, even had man never fallen from the state of innocence, he would
not have remained wholly idle; but that which would then have been his
free choice and his delight became afterwards compulsory, and the
painful expiation for his disobedience. "Cursed be the earth in thy
work; in thy labor thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life."
18. In like manner, the other pains and
hardships of life will have no end or cessation on earth; for the
consequences of sin are bitter and hard to bear, and they must accompany
man so long as life lasts. To suffer and to endure, therefore, is the
lot of humanity; let them strive as they may, no strength and no
artifice will ever succeed in banishing from human life the ills and
troubles which beset it. If any there are who pretend differently - who
hold out to a hard-pressed people the boon of freedom from pain and
trouble, an undisturbed repose, and constant enjoyment - they delude the
people and impose upon them, and their lying promises will only one day
bring forth evils worse than the present. Nothing is more useful than
to look upon the world as it really is, and at the same time to seek
elsewhere, as We have said, for the solace to its troubles.
19. The great mistake made in regard to
the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that
class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the
working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So
irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the
truth. Just as the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the
suitable arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State
is it ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony
and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic. Each
needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without
capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while
perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity.
Now, in preventing such strife as this, and in uprooting it, the
efficacy of Christian institutions is marvellous and manifold. First of
all, there is no intermediary more powerful than religion (whereof the
Church is the interpreter and guardian) in drawing the rich and the
working class together, by reminding each of its duties to the other,
and especially of the obligations of justice.
20. Of these duties, the following bind
the proletarian and the worker: fully and faithfully to perform the work
which has been freely and equitably agreed upon; never to injure the
property, nor to outrage the person, of an employer; never to resort to
violence in defending their own cause, nor to engage in riot or
disorder; and to have nothing to do with men of evil principles,
who work upon the people with artful promises of great results, and
excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and grievous
loss. The following duties bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not
to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in
every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character. They
are reminded that, according to natural reason and Christian philosophy,
working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it
enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though
they were things in the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for
their physical powers - that is truly shameful and inhuman. Again
justice demands that, in dealing with the working man, religion and the
good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to
see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not
exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be
not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his
earnings. Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people
beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and
age. His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just.
Doubtless, before deciding whether wages axe fair, many things have to
be considered; but wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be
mindful of this - that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the
destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one's profit out of the
need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine. To defraud
any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries to the
avenging anger of Heaven. "Behold, the hire of the laborers... which by
fraud has been kept back by you, crieth; and the cry of them hath
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Lastly, the rich must
religiously refrain from cutting down the workmen's earnings, whether by
force, by fraud, or by usurious dealing; and with all the greater
reason because the laboring man is, as a rule, weak and unprotected, and
because his slender means should in proportion to their scantiness be
accounted sacred. Were these precepts carefully obeyed and
followed out, would they not be sufficient of themselves to keep under
all strife and all its causes?
21. But the Church, with Jesus Christ as her Master and
Guide, aims higher still. She lays down precepts yet more perfect, and
tries to bind class to class in friendliness and good feeling. The
things of earth cannot be understood or valued aright without taking
into consideration the life to come, the life that will know no death.
Exclude the idea of futurity, and forthwith the very notion of what is
good and right would perish; nay, the whole scheme of the universe would
become a dark and unfathomable mystery. The great truth which we learn
from nature herself is also the grand Christian dogma on which religion
rests as on its foundation - that, when we have given up this present
life, then shall we really begin to live. God has not created us for the
perishable and transitory things of earth, but for things heavenly and
everlasting; He has given us this world as a place of exile, and not as
our abiding place. As for riches and the other things which men call
good and desirable, whether we have them in abundance, or are lacking in
them-so far as eternal happiness is concerned - it makes no difference;
the only important thing is to use them aright. Jesus Christ, when He
redeemed us with plentiful redemption, took not away the pains and
sorrows which in such large proportion are woven together in the web of
our mortal life. He transformed them into motives of virtue and
occasions of merit; and no man can hope for eternal reward unless he
follow in the blood-stained footprints of his Saviour. "If we suffer
with Him, we shall also reign with Him." Christ's labors and
sufferings, accepted of His own free will, have marvellously sweetened
all suffering and all labor. And not only by His example, but by His
grace and by the hope held forth of everlasting recompense, has He made
pain and grief more easy to endure; "for that which is at present
momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure
exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."
22. Therefore, those whom fortune favors are warned that
riches do not bring freedom from sorrow and are of no avail for eternal
happiness, but rather are obstacles; that the rich should tremble at
the threatenings of Jesus Christ - threatenings so unwonted in the
mouth of our Lord - and that a
most strict account must be given to the Supreme Judge for all we
possess. The chief and most excellent rule for the right use of money is
one the heathen philosophers hinted at, but which the Church has traced
out clearly, and has not only made known to men's minds, but has
impressed upon their lives. It rests on the principle that it is one
thing to have a right to the possession of money and another to have a
right to use money as one wills. Private ownership, as we have seen, is
the natural right of man, and to exercise that right, especially as
members of society, is not only lawful, but absolutely necessary. "It is
lawful," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "for a man to hold private property;
and it is also necessary for the carrying on of human existence."" But
if the question be asked: How must one's possessions be used? - the
Church replies without hesitation in the words of the same holy Doctor:
"Man should not consider his material possessions as his own, but as
common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in
need. Whence the Apostle with, ‘Command the rich of this world... to
offer with no stint, to apportion largely.’" True, no one is
commanded to distribute to others that which is required for his own
needs and those of his household; nor even to give away what is
reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life, "for no
one ought to live other than becomingly." But, when what necessity
demands has been supplied, and one's standing fairly taken thought for,
it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. "Of
that which remaineth, give alms." It is a duty, not of justice (save
in extreme cases), but of Christian charity - a duty not enforced by
human law. But the laws and judgments of men must yield place to the
laws and judgments of Christ the true God, who in many ways urges on His
followers the practice of almsgiving - ‘It is more blessed to give than
to receive"; and who will count a kindness done or refused to the
poor as done or refused to Himself - "As long as you did it to one of My
least brethren you did it to Me." To sum up, then, what has been
said: Whoever has received from the divine bounty a large share of
temporal blessings, whether they be external and material, or gifts of
the mind, has received them for the purpose of using them for the
perfecting of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he may employ
them, as the steward of God's providence, for the benefit of others. "He
that hath a talent," said St. Gregory the Great, "let him see that he
hide it not; he that hath abundance, let him quicken himself to mercy
and generosity; he that hath art and skill, let him do his best to share
the use and the utility hereof with his neighbor."
23. As for those who possess not the
gifts of fortune, they are taught by the Church that in God's sight
poverty is no disgrace, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in
earning their bread by labor. This is enforced by what we see in Christ
Himself, who, "whereas He was rich, for our sakes became poor"; and
who, being the Son of God, and God Himself, chose to seem and to be
considered the son of a carpenter - nay, did not disdain to spend a
great part of His life as a carpenter Himself. "Is not this the
carpenter, the son of Mary?"
24. From contemplation of this divine
Model, it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of
man lie in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is,
moreover, the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of
high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever
found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness. Nay,
God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer misfortune; for
Jesus Christ calls the poor "blessed"; He lovingly invites those in
labor and grief to come to Him for solace; and He displays the
tenderest charity toward the lowly and the oppressed. These reflections
cannot fail to keep down the pride of the well-to-do, and to give heart
to the unfortunate; to move the former to be generous and the latter to
be moderate in their desires. Thus, the separation which pride would set
up tends to disappear, nor will it be difficult to make rich and poor
join hands in friendly concord.
25. But, if Christian precepts prevail,
the respective classes will not only be united in the bonds of
friendship, but also in those of brotherly love. For they will
understand and feel that all men are children of the same common Father,
who is God; that all have alike the same last end, which is God
Himself, who alone can make either men or angels absolutely and
perfectly happy; that each and all are redeemed and made sons of God, by
Jesus Christ, "the first-born among many brethren"; that the blessings
of nature and the gifts of grace belong to the whole human race in
common, and that from none except the unworthy is withheld the
inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven. "If sons, heirs also; heirs indeed
of God, and co-heirs with Christ." Such is the scheme of
duties and of rights which is shown forth to the world by the Gospel.
Would it not seem that, were society penetrated with ideas like these,
strife must quickly cease?
26. But the Church, not content with pointing out the
remedy, also applies it. For the Church does her utmost to teach and to
train men, and to educate them and by the intermediary of her bishops
and clergy diffuses her salutary teachings far and wide. She strives to
influence the mind and the heart so that all may willingly yield
themselves to be formed and guided by the commandments of God. It is
precisely in this fundamental and momentous matter, on which everything
depends that the Church possesses a power peculiarly her own. The
instruments which she employs are given to her by Jesus Christ Himself
for the very purpose of reaching the hearts of men, and drive their
efficiency from God. They alone can reach the innermost heart and
conscience, and bring men to act from a motive of duty, to control their
passions and appetites, to love God and their fellow men with a love
that is outstanding and of the highest degree and to break down
courageously every barrier which blocks the way to virtue.
27. On this subject we need but recall for one moment
the examples recorded in history. Of these facts there cannot be any
shadow of doubt: for instance, that civil society was renovated in every
part by Christian institutions; that in the strength of that renewal
the human race was lifted up to better things-nay, that it was brought
back from death to life, and to so excellent a life that nothing more
perfect had been known before, or will come to be known in the ages that
have yet to be. Of this beneficent transformation Jesus Christ was at
once the first cause and the final end; as from Him all came, so to Him
was all to be brought back. For, when the human race, by the light of
the Gospel message, came to know the grand mystery of the Incarnation of
the Word and the redemption of man, at once the life of Jesus Christ,
God and Man, pervaded every race and nation, and interpenetrated them
with His faith, His precepts, and His laws. And if human society is to
be healed now, in no other way can it be healed save by a return to
Christian life and Christian institutions. When a society
is perishing, the wholesome advice to give to those who would restore
it is to call it to the principles from which it sprang; for the purpose
and perfection of an association is to aim at and to attain that for
which it is formed, and its efforts should be put in motion and inspired
by the end and object which originally gave it being. Hence, to fall
away from its primal constitution implies disease; to go back to it,
recovery. And this may be asserted with utmost truth both of the whole
body of the commonwealth and of that class of its citizens-by far the
great majority - who get their living by their labor.
28. Neither must it be supposed that the
solicitude of the Church is so preoccupied with the spiritual concerns
of her children as to neglect their temporal and earthly interests. Her
desire is that the poor, for example, should rise above poverty and
wretchedness, and better their condition in life; and for this she makes
a strong endeavor. By the fact that she calls men to virtue and forms
them to its practice she promotes this in no slight degree. Christian
morality, when adequately and completely practiced, leads of itself to
temporal prosperity, for it merits the blessing of that God who is the
source of all blessings; it powerfully restrains the greed of possession
and the thirst for pleasure-twin plagues, which too often make a man
who is void of self-restraint miserable in the midst of abundance;
it makes men supply for the lack of means through economy, teaching them
to be content with frugal living, and further, keeping them out of the
reach of those vices which devour not small incomes merely, but large
fortunes, and dissipate many a goodly inheritance.
29. The Church, moreover, intervenes
directly in behalf of the poor, by setting on foot and maintaining many
associations which she knows to be efficient for the relief of poverty.
Herein, again, she has always succeeded so well as to have even extorted
the praise of her enemies. Such was the ardor of brotherly love among
the earliest Christians that numbers of those who were in better
circumstances despoiled themselves of their possessions in order to
relieve their brethren; whence "neither was there any one needy among
them." To the order of deacons, instituted in that very intent, was
committed by the Apostles the charge of the daily doles; and the Apostle
Paul, though burdened with the solicitude of all the churches,
hesitated not to undertake laborious journeys in order to carry the alms
of the faithful to the poorer Christians. Tertullian calls these
contributions, given voluntarily by Christians in their assemblies,
deposits of piety, because, to cite his own words, they were employed
"in feeding the needy, in burying them, in support of youths and maidens
destitute of means and deprived of their parents, in the care of the
aged, and the relief of the shipwrecked."
30. Thus, by degrees, came into
existence the patrimony which the Church has guarded with religious care
as the inheritance of the poor. Nay, in order to spare them the shame
of begging, the Church has provided aid for the needy. The common Mother
of rich and poor has aroused everywhere the heroism of charity, and has
established congregations of religious and many other useful
institutions for help and mercy, so that hardly any kind of suffering
could exist which was not afforded relief. At the present day many there
are who, like the heathen of old, seek to blame and condemn the Church
for such eminent charity. They would substitute in its stead a system of
relief organized by the State. But no human expedients will ever make
up for the devotedness and self sacrifice of Christian charity. Charity,
as a virtue, pertains to the Church; for virtue it is not, unless it be
drawn from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ; and whosoever turns
his back on the Church cannot be near to Christ.
31. It cannot, however, be doubted that
to attain the purpose we are treating of, not only the Church, but all
human agencies, must concur. All who are concerned in the matter should
be of one mind and according to their ability act together. It is with
this, as with providence that governs the world; the results of causes
do not usually take place save where all the causes cooperate. It is sufficient, therefore, to inquire what part the State should play in the work of remedy and relief.
32. By the State we here understand, not the particular
form of government prevailing in this or that nation, but the State as
rightly apprehended; that is to say, any government conformable in its
institutions to right reason and natural law, and to those dictates of
the divine wisdom which we have expounded in the encyclical On the Christian Constitution of the State.(26)
The foremost duty, therefore, of the rulers of the State should be to
make sure that the laws and institutions, the general character and
administration of the commonwealth, shall be such as of
themselves to realize public well-being and private prosperity. This is
the proper scope of wise statesmanship and is the work of the rulers.
Now a State chiefly prospers and thrives through moral rule,
well-regulated family life, respect for religion and justice, the
moderation and fair imposing of public taxes, the progress of the arts
and of trade, the abundant yield of the land-through everything, in
fact, which makes the citizens better and happier. Hereby, then, it lies
in the power of a ruler to benefit every class in the State, and
amongst the rest to promote to the utmost the interests of the poor; and
this in virtue of his office, and without being open to suspicion of
undue interference - since it is the province of the commonwealth to
serve the common good. And the more that is done for the benefit of the
working classes by the general laws of the country, the less need will
there be to seek for special means to relieve them.
33. There is another and deeper
consideration which must not be lost sight of. As regards the State, the
interests of all, whether high or low, are equal. The members of the
working classes are citizens by nature and by the same right as the
rich; they are real parts, living the life which makes up, through the
family, the body of the commonwealth; and it need hardly be said that
they are in every city very largely in the majority. It would be
irrational to neglect one portion of the citizens and favor another, and
therefore the public administration must duly and solicitously provide
for the welfare and the comfort of the working classes; otherwise, that
law of justice will be violated which ordains that each man shall have
his due. To cite the wise words of St. Thomas Aquinas: "As the part and
the whole are in a certain sense identical, so that which belongs to the
whole in a sense belongs to the part." Among the many and grave
duties of rulers who would do their best for the people, the first and
chief is to act with strict justice - with that justice which is called distributive - toward each and every class alike.
34. But although all citizens, without
exception, can and ought to contribute to that common good in which
individuals share so advantageously to themselves, yet it should not be
supposed that all can contribute in the like way and to the same extent.
No matter what changes may occur in forms of government, there will
ever be differences and inequalities of condition in the State. Society
cannot exist or be conceived of without them. Some there must be who
devote themselves to the work of the commonwealth, who make the laws or
administer justice, or whose advice and authority govern the nation in
times of peace, and defend it in war. Such men clearly occupy the
foremost place in the State, and should be held in highest estimation,
for their work concerns most nearly and effectively the general
interests of the community. Those who labor at a trade or calling do not
promote the general welfare in such measure as this, but they benefit
the nation, if less directly, in a most important manner. We have
insisted, it is true, that, since the end of society is to make men
better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue. Nevertheless,
it is the business of a well-constituted body politic to see to the
provision of those material and external helps "the use of which is
necessary to virtuous action." Now, for the provision of such
commodities, the labor of the working class - the exercise of their
skill, and the employment of their strength, in the cultivation of the
land, and in the workshops of trade - is especially responsible and
quite indispensable. Indeed, their co-operation is in this respect so
important that it may be truly said that it is only by the labor of
working men that States grow rich. Justice, therefore, demands that the
interests of the working classes should be carefully watched over by the
administration, so that they who contribute so largely to the advantage
of the community may themselves share in the benefits which they
create-that being housed, clothed, and bodily fit, they may find their
life less hard and more endurable. It follows that whatever shall appear
to prove conducive to the well-being of those who work should obtain
favorable consideration. There is no fear that solicitude of this kind
will be harmful to any interest; on the contrary, it will be to the
advantage of all, for it cannot but be good for the commonwealth to
shield from misery those on whom it so largely depends for the things
that it needs.
35. We have said that the State must not
absorb the individual or the family; both should be allowed free and
untrammelled action so far as is consistent with the common good and the
interest of others. Rulers should, nevertheless, anxiously safeguard
the community and all its members; the community, because the
conservation thereof is so emphatically the business of the supreme
power, that the safety of the commonwealth is not only the first law,
but it is a government's whole reason of existence; and the members,
because both philosophy and the Gospel concur in laying down that the
object of the government of the State should be, not the advantage of
the ruler, but the benefit of those over whom he is placed. As the power
to rule comes from God, and is, as it were, a participation in His, the
highest of all sovereignties, it should be exercised as the power of
God is exercised - with a fatherly solicitude which not only guides the
whole, but reaches also individuals.
36. Whenever the general interest or any
particular class suffers, or is threatened with harm, which can in no
other way be met or prevented, the public authority must step in to deal
with it. Now, it is to the interest of the community, as well as of the
individual, that peace and good order should be maintained; that all
things should be carried on in accordance with God's laws and those of
nature; that the discipline of family life should be observed and that
religion should be obeyed; that a high standard of morality should
prevail, both in public and private life; that justice should be held
sacred and that no one should injure another with impunity; that the
members of the commonwealth should grow up to man's estate strong and
robust, and capable, if need be, of guarding and defending their
country. If by a strike of workers or concerted interruption of work
there should be imminent danger of disturbance to the public peace; or
if circumstances were such as that among the working class the ties of
family life were relaxed; if religion were found to suffer through the
workers not having time and opportunity afforded them to practice its
duties; if in workshops and factories there were danger to morals
through the mixing of the sexes or from other harmful occasions of evil;
or if employers laid burdens upon their workmen which were unjust, or
degraded them with conditions repugnant to their dignity as human
beings; finally, if health were endangered by excessive labor, or by
work unsuited to sex or age - in such cases, there can be no question
but that, within certain limits, it would be right to invoke the aid and
authority of the law. The limits must be determined by the nature of
the occasion which calls for the law's interference - the principle
being that the law must not undertake more, nor proceed further, than is
required for the remedy of the evil or the removal of the mischief.
37. Rights must be religiously respected
wherever they exist, and it is the duty of the public authority to
prevent and to punish injury, and to protect every one in the possession
of his own. Still, when there is question of defending the rights of
individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial
consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves,
and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the
poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly
depend upon the assistance of the State. And it is for this reason that
wage-earners, since they mostly belong in the mass of the needy, should
be specially cared for and protected by the government.
38. Here, however, it is expedient to
bring under special notice certain matters of moment. First of all,
there is the duty of safeguarding private property by legal enactment
and protection. Most of all it is essential, where the passion of greed
is so strong, to keep the populace within the line of duty; for, if all
may justly strive to better their condition, neither justice nor the
common good allows any individual to seize upon that which belongs to
another, or, under the futile and shallow pretext of equality, to lay
violent hands on other people's possessions. Most true it is that by far
the larger part of the workers prefer to better themselves by honest
labor rather than by doing any wrong to others. But there are not a few
who are imbued with evil principles and eager for revolutionary change,
whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and incite their fellows to
acts of violence. The authority of the law should intervene to put
restraint upon such firebrands, to save the working classes from being
led astray by their maneuvers, and to protect lawful owners from
spoliation.
39. When work people have recourse to a
strike and become voluntarily idle, it is frequently because the hours
of labor are too long, or the work too hard, or because they consider
their wages insufficient. The grave inconvenience of this not uncommon
occurrence should be obviated by public remedial measures; for such
paralysing of labor not only affects the masters and their work people
alike, but is extremely injurious to trade and to the general interests
of the public; moreover, on such occasions, violence and disorder are
generally not far distant, and thus it frequently happens that the
public peace is imperiled. The laws should forestall and prevent such
troubles from arising; they should lend their influence and authority to
the removal in good time of the causes which lead to conflicts between
employers and employed.
40. The working man, too, has interests
in which he should be protected by the State; and first of all, there
are the interests of his soul. Life on earth, however good and desirable
in itself, is not the final purpose for which man is created; it is
only the way and the means to that attainment of truth and that love of
goodness in which the full life of the soul consists. It is the soul
which is made after the image and likeness of God; it is in the soul
that the sovereignty resides in virtue whereof man is commanded to rule
the creatures below him and to use all the earth and the ocean for his
profit and advantage. "Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the
fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures
that move upon the earth." In this respect all men are equal; there
is here no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler
and ruled, "for the same is Lord over all."(30) No man may with impunity
outrage that human dignity which God Himself treats with great
reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life which is the
preparation of the eternal life of heaven. Nay, more; no man has in this
matter power over himself. To consent to any treatment which is
calculated to defeat the end and purpose of his being is beyond his
right; he cannot give up his soul to servitude, for it is not man's own
rights which are here in question, but the rights of God, the most
sacred and inviolable of rights.
41. From this follows the obligation of
the cessation from work and labor on Sundays and certain holy days. The
rest from labor is not to be understood as mere giving way to idleness;
much less must it be an occasion for spending money and for vicious
indulgence, as many would have it to be; but it should be rest from
labor, hallowed by religion. Rest (combined with religious observances)
disposes man to forget for a while the business of his everyday life, to
turn his thoughts to things heavenly, and to the worship which he so
strictly owes to the eternal Godhead. It is this, above all, which is
the reason arid motive of Sunday rest; a rest sanctioned by God's great
law of the Ancient Covenant-"Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath
day," and taught to the world by His own mysterious "rest" after the
creation of man: "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which
He had done."
42. If we turn not to things external and
material, the first thing of all to secure is to save unfortunate
working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as
mere instruments for money-making. It is neither just nor human so to
grind men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their minds and wear
out their bodies. Man's powers, like his general nature, are limited,
and beyond these limits he cannot go. His strength is developed and
increased by use and exercise, but only on condition of due intermission
and proper rest. Daily labor, therefore, should be so regulated as not
to be protracted over longer hours than strength admits. How many and
how long the intervals of rest should be must depend on the nature of
the work, on circumstances of time and place, and on the health and
strength of the workman. Those who work in mines and quarries, and
extract coal, stone and metals from the bowels of the earth, should have
shorter hours in proportion as their labor is more severe and trying to
health. Then, again, the season of the year should be taken into
account; for not unfrequently a kind of labor is easy at one time which
at another is intolerable or exceedingly difficult. Finally, work which
is quite suitable for a strong man cannot rightly be required from a
woman or a child. And, in regard to children, great care should be taken
not to place them in workshops and factories until their bodies and
minds are sufficiently developed. For, just as very rough weather
destroys the buds of spring, so does too early an experience of life's
hard toil blight the young promise of a child's faculties, and render
any true education impossible. Women, again, are not suited for certain
occupations; a woman is by nature fitted for home-work, and it is that
which is best adapted at once to preserve her modesty and to promote the
good bringing up of children and the well-being of the family. As a
general principle it may be laid down that a workman ought to have
leisure and rest proportionate to the wear and tear of his strength, for
waste of strength must be repaired by cessation from hard work.
In all agreements between masters and
work people there is always the condition expressed or understood that
there should be allowed proper rest for soul and body. To agree in any
other sense would be against what is right and just; for it can never be
just or right to require on the one side, or to promise on the other,
the giving up of those duties which a man owes to his God and to
himself.
43. We now approach a subject of great
importance, and one in respect of which, if extremes are to be avoided,
right notions are absolutely necessary. Wages, as we are told, are
regulated by free consent, and therefore the employer, when he pays what
was agreed upon, has done his part and seemingly is not called upon to
do anything beyond. The only way, it is said, in which injustice might
occur would be if the master refused to pay the whole of the wages, or
if the workman should not complete the work undertaken; in such cases
the public authority should intervene, to see that each obtains his due,
but not under any other circumstances.
44. To this kind of argument a
fair-minded man will not easily or entirely assent; it is not complete,
for there are important considerations which it leaves out of account
altogether. To labor is to exert oneself for the sake of procuring what
is necessary for the various purposes of life, and chief of all for self
preservation. "In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread."
Hence, a man's labor necessarily bears two notes or characters. First of
all, it is personal, inasmuch as the force which acts is bound up with
the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts, and,
further, was given to him for his advantage. Secondly, man's labor is necessary; for
without the result of labor a man cannot live, and self-preservation is
a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey. Now, were we to consider
labor merely in so far as it is personal, doubtless it would be within
the workman's right to accept any rate of wages whatsoever; for in the
same way as he is free to work or not, so is he free to accept a small
wage or even none at all. But our conclusion must be very different if,
together with the personal element in a man's work, we consider the fact
that work is also necessary for him to live: these two aspects of his
work are separable in thought, but not in reality. The preservation of
life is the bounden duty of one and all, and to be wanting therein is a
crime. It necessarily follows that each one has a natural right to
procure what is required in order to live, and the poor can procure that
in no other way than by what they can earn through their work.
45. Let the working man and the employer
make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the
wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more
imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that
wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved
wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman
accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford
him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice. In these
and similar questions, however - such as, for example, the hours of
labor in different trades, the sanitary precautions to be observed in
factories and workshops, etc. - in order to supersede undue interference
on the part of the State, especially as circumstances, times, and
localities differ so widely, it is advisable that recourse be had to
societies or boards such as We shall mention presently, or to some other
mode of safeguarding the interests of the wage-earners; the State being
appealed to, should circumstances require, for its sanction and
protection.
46. If a workman's wages be sufficient to
enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children,
he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and
he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little
savings and thus secure a modest source of income. Nature itself would
urge him to this. We have seen that this great labor question cannot be
solved save by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be
held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership,
and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to
become owners.
47. Many excellent results will follow
from this; and, first of all, property will certainly become more
equitably divided. For, the result of civil change and revolution has
been to divide cities into two classes separated by a wide chasm. On the
one side there is the party which holds power because it holds wealth;
which has in its grasp the whole of labor and trade; which manipulates
for its own benefit and its own purposes all the sources of supply, and
which is not without influence even in the administration of the
commonwealth. On the other side there is the needy and powerless
multitude, sick and sore in spirit and ever ready for disturbance. If
working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in
the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and
sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be
brought nearer to one another. A further consequence will result in the
great abundance of the fruits of the earth. Men always work harder and
more readily when they work on that which belongs to them; nay, they
learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labor of
their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for
themselves and those that are dear to them. That such a spirit of
willing labor would add to the produce of the earth and to the wealth of
the community is self evident. And a third advantage would spring from
this: men would cling to the country in which they were born, for no one
would exchange his country for a foreign land if his own afforded him
the means of living a decent and happy life. These three important
benefits, however, can be reckoned on only provided that a man's means
be not drained and exhausted by excessive taxation. The right to possess
private property is derived from nature, not from man; and the State
has the right to control its use in the interests of the public good
alone, but by no means to absorb it altogether. The State would
therefore be unjust and cruel if under the name of taxation it were to
deprive the private owner of more than is fair.
48. In the last place, employers and
workmen may of themselves effect much, in the matter We are treating, by
means of such associations and organizations as afford opportune aid to
those who are in distress, and which draw the two classes more closely
together. Among these may be enumerated societies for mutual help;
various benevolent foundations established by private persons to provide
for the workman, and for his widow or his orphans, in case of sudden
calamity, in sickness, and in the event of death; and institutions for
the welfare of boys and girls, young people, and those more advanced in
years.
49. The most important of all are
workingmen's unions, for these virtually include all the rest. History
attests what excellent results were brought about by the artificers'
guilds of olden times. They were the means of affording not only many
advantages to the workmen, but in no small degree of promoting the
advancement of art, as numerous monuments remain to bear witness. Such
unions should be suited to the requirements of this our age - an age of
wider education, of different habits, and of far more numerous
requirements in daily life. It is gratifying to know that there are
actually in existence not a few associations of this nature, consisting
either of workmen alone, or of workmen and employers together, but it
were greatly to be desired that they should become more numerous and
more efficient. We have spoken of them more than once, yet it will be
well to explain here how notably they are needed, to show that they
exist of their own right, and what should be their organization and
their mode of action.
50. The consciousness of his own
weakness urges man to call in aid from without. We read in the pages of
holy Writ: "It is better that two should be together than one; for they
have the advantage of their society. If one fall he shall be supported
by the other. Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth he hath none
to lift him up." And further: "A brother that is helped by his
brother is like a strong city." It is this natural impulse which
binds men together in civil society; and it is likewise this which leads
them to join together in associations which are, it is true, lesser and
not independent societies, but, nevertheless, real societies.
51. These lesser societies and the
larger society differ in many respects, because their immediate purpose
and aim are different. Civil society exists for the common good, and
hence is concerned with the interests of all in general, albeit with
individual interests also in their due place and degree. It is therefore
called a public society, because by its agency, as St. Thomas of
Aquinas says, "Men establish relations in common with one another in the
setting up of a commonwealth."(36) But societies which are formed in
the bosom of the commonwealth are styled private, and rightly so,
since their immediate purpose is the private advantage of the
associates. "Now, a private society," says St. Thomas again, "is one
which is formed for the purpose of carrying out private objects; as when
two or three enter into partnership with the view of trading in
common."(37) Private societies, then, although they exist within the
body politic, and are severally part of the commonwealth, cannot
nevertheless be absolutely, and as such, prohibited by public authority.
For, to enter into a "society" of this kind is the natural right of
man; and the State has for its office to protect natural rights, not to
destroy them; and, if it forbid its citizens to form associations, it
contradicts the very principle of its own existence, for both they and
it exist in virtue of the like principle, namely, the natural tendency
of man to dwell in society.
52. There are occasions, doubtless, when
it is fitting that the law should intervene to prevent certain
associations, as when men join together for purposes which are evidently
bad, unlawful, or dangerous to the State. In such cases, public
authority may justly forbid the formation of such associations, and may
dissolve them if they already exist. But every precaution should be
taken not to violate the rights of individuals and not to impose
unreasonable regulations under pretense of public benefit. For laws only
bind when they are in accordance with right reason, and, hence, with
the eternal law of God.
53. And here we are reminded of the
confraternities, societies, and religious orders which have arisen by
the Church's authority and the piety of Christian men. The annals of
every nation down to our own days bear witness to what they have
accomplished for the human race. It is indisputable that on grounds of
reason alone such associations, being perfectly blameless in their
objects, possess the sanction of the law of nature. In their religious
aspect they claim rightly to be responsible to the Church alone. The
rulers of the State accordingly have no rights over them, nor can they
claim any share in their control; on the contrary, it is the duty of the
State to respect and cherish them, and, if need be, to defend them from
attack. It is notorious that a very different course has been followed,
more especially in our own times. In many places the State authorities
have laid violent hands on these communities, and committed manifold
injustice against them; it has placed them under control of the civil
law, taken away their rights as corporate bodies, and despoiled them of
their property, in such property the Church had her rights, each member
of the body had his or her rights, and there were also the rights of
those who had founded or endowed these communities for a definite
purpose, and, furthermore, of those for whose benefit and assistance
they had their being. Therefore We cannot refrain from complaining of
such spoliation as unjust and fraught with evil results; and with all
the more reason do We complain because, at the very time when the law
proclaims that association is free to all, We see
that Catholic societies, however peaceful and useful, are hampered in
every way, whereas the utmost liberty is conceded to individuals whose
purposes are at once hurtful to religion and dangerous to the
commonwealth.
54. Associations of every kind, and
especially those of working men, are now far more common than
heretofore. As regards many of these there is no need at present to
inquire whence they spring, what are their objects, or what the means
they imply. Now, there is a good deal of evidence in favor of the
opinion that many of these societies are in the hands of secret leaders,
and are managed on principles ill - according with Christianity and the
public well-being; and that they do their utmost to get within their
grasp the whole field of labor, and force working men either to join
them or to starve. Under these circumstances Christian working men must
do one of two things: either join associations in which their religion
will be exposed to peril, or form associations among themselves and
unite their forces so as to shake off courageously the yoke of so
unrighteous and intolerable an oppression. No one who does not wish to
expose man's chief good to extreme risk will for a moment hesitate to
say that the second alternative should by all means be adopted.
55. Those Catholics are worthy of all
praise-and they are not a few-who, understanding what the times require,
have striven, by various undertakings and endeavors, to better the
condition of the working class by rightful means. They have taken up the
cause of the working man, and have spared no efforts to better the
condition both of families and individuals; to infuse a spirit of equity
into the mutual relations of employers and employed; to keep before the
eyes of both classes the precepts of duty and the laws of the Gospel -
that Gospel which, by inculcating self restraint, keeps men within the
bounds of moderation, and tends to establish harmony among the divergent
interests and the various classes which compose the body politic. It is
with such ends in view that we see men of eminence, meeting together
for discussion, for the promotion of concerted action, and for practical
work. Others, again, strive to unite working men of various grades into
associations, help them with their advice and means, and enable them to
obtain fitting and profitable employment. The bishops, on their part,
bestow their ready good will and support; and with their approval and
guidance many members of the clergy, both secular and regular, labor
assiduously in behalf of the spiritual interest of the members of such
associations. And there are not wanting Catholics blessed with
affluence, who have, as it were, cast in their lot with the
wage-earners, and who have spent large sums in founding and widely
spreading benefit and insurance societies, by means of which the working
man may without difficulty acquire through his labor not only many
present advantages, but also the certainty of honorable support in days
to come. How greatly such manifold and earnest activity has benefited
the community at large is too well known to require Us to dwell upon it.
We find therein grounds for most cheering hope in the future, provided
always that the associations We have described continue to grow and
spread, and are well and wisely administered. The State should watch
over these societies of citizens banded together in accordance with
their rights, but it should not thrust itself into their peculiar
concerns and their organization, for things move and live by the spirit
inspiring them, and may be killed by the rough grasp of a hand from
without.
56. In order that an association may be
carried on with unity of purpose and harmony of action, its
administration and government should be firm and wise. All such
societies, being free to exist, have the further right to adopt such
rules and organization as may best conduce to the attainment of their
respective objects. We do not judge it possible to enter into minute
particulars touching the subject of organization; this must depend on
national character, on practice and experience, on the nature and aim of
the work to be done, on the scope of the various trades and
employments, and on other circumstances of fact and of time - all of
which should be carefully considered.
57. To sum up, then, We may lay it down
as a general and lasting law that working men's associations should be
so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means
for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each
individual member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul,
and property. It is clear that they must pay special and chief attention
to the duties of religion and morality, and that social betterment
should have this chiefly in view; otherwise they would lose wholly their
special character, and end by becoming little better than those
societies which take no account whatever of religion. What advantage can
it be to a working man to obtain by means of a society material
well-being, if he endangers his soul for lack of spiritual food? "What
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of
his soul?"This, as our Lord teaches, is the mark or character that
distinguishes the Christian from the heathen. "After all these things do
the heathen seek . . . Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
justice: and all these things shall be added unto you." Let our
associations, then, look first and before all things to God; let
religious instruction have therein the foremost place, each one being
carefully taught what is his duty to God, what he has to believe, what
to hope for, and how he is to work out his salvation; and let all be
warned and strengthened with special care against wrong principles and
false teaching. Let the working man be urged and led to the worship of
God, to the earnest practice of religion, and, among other things, to
the keeping holy of Sundays and holy days. Let him learn to reverence
and love holy Church, the common Mother of us all; and hence to obey the
precepts of the Church, and to frequent the sacraments, since they are
the means ordained by God for obtaining forgiveness of sin and fox
leading a holy life.
58. The foundations of the organization
being thus laid in religion, We next proceed to make clear the relations
of the members one to another, in order that they may live together in
concord and go forward prosperously and with good results. The offices
and charges of the society should be apportioned for the good of the
society itself, and in such mode that difference in degree or standing
should not interfere with unanimity and good-will. It is most important
that office bearers be appointed with due prudence and discretion, and
each one's charge carefully mapped out, in order that no members may
suffer harm. The common funds must be administered with strict honesty,
in such a way that a member may receive assistance in proportion to his
necessities. The rights and duties of the employers, as compared with
the rights and duties of the employed, ought to be the subject of
careful consideration. Should it happen that either a master or a
workman believes himself injured, nothing would be more desirable than
that a committee should be appointed, composed of reliable and capable
members of the association, whose duty would be, conformably with the
rules of the association, to settle the dispute. Among the several
purposes of a society, one should be to try to arrange for a continuous
supply of work at all times and seasons; as well as to create a fund out
of which the members may be effectually helped in their needs, not only
in the cases of accident, but also in sickness, old age, and distress.
59. Such rules and regulations, if
willingly obeyed by all, will sufficiently ensure the well being of the
less well-to-do; whilst such mutual associations among Catholics are
certain to be productive in no small degree of prosperity to the State.
Is it not rash to conjecture the future from the past. Age gives way to
age, but the events of one century are wonderfully like those of
another, for they are directed by the providence of God, who overrules
the course of history in accordance with His purposes in creating the
race of man. We are told that it was cast as a reproach on the
Christians in the early ages of the Church that the greater number among
them had to live by begging or by labor. Yet, destitute though they
were of wealth and influence, they ended by winning over to their side
the favor of the rich and the good-will of the powerful. They showed
themselves industrious, hard-working, assiduous, and peaceful, ruled by
justice, and, above all, bound together in brotherly love. In presence
of such mode of life and such example, prejudice gave way, the tongue of
malevolence was silenced, and the lying legends of ancient superstition
little by little yielded to Christian truth.
60. At the time being, the condition of
the working classes is the pressing question of the hour, and nothing
can be of higher interest to all classes of the State than that it
should be rightly and reasonably settled. But it will be easy for
Christian working men to solve it aright if they will form associations,
choose wise guides, and follow on the path which with so much advantage
to themselves and the common weal was trodden by their fathers before
them. Prejudice, it is true, is mighty, and so is the greed of money;
but if the sense of what is just and rightful be not deliberately
stifled, their fellow citizens are sure to be won over to a kindly
feeling towards men whom they see to be in earnest as regards their work
and who prefer so unmistakably right dealing to mere lucre, and the
sacredness of duty to every other consideration.
61. And further great advantage would
result from the state of things We are describing; there would exist so
much more ground for hope, and likelihood, even, of recalling to a sense
of their duty those working men who have either given up their faith
altogether, or whose lives are at variance with its precepts. Such men
feel in most cases that they have been fooled by empty promises and
deceived by false pretexts. They cannot but perceive that their grasping
employers too often treat them with great inhumanity and hardly care
for them outside the profit their labor brings; and if they belong to
any union, it is probably one in which there exists, instead of charity
and love, that intestine strife which ever accompanies poverty when
unresigned and unsustained by religion. Broken in spirit and worn down
in body, how many of them would gladly free themselves from such galling
bondage! But human respect, or the dread of starvation, makes them
tremble to take the step. To such as these Catholic associations are of
incalculable service, by helping them out of their difficulties,
inviting them to companionship and receiving the returning wanderers to a
haven where they may securely find repose.
62. We have now laid before you,
venerable brethren, both who are the persons and what are the means
whereby this most arduous question must be solved. Every one should put
his hand to the work which falls to his share, and that at once and
straightway, lest the evil which is already so great become through
delay absolutely beyond remedy. Those who rule the commonwealths should
avail themselves of the laws and institutions of the country; masters
and wealthy owners must be mindful of their duty; the working class,
whose interests are at stake, should make every lawful and proper
effort; and since religion alone, as We said at the beginning, can avail
to destroy the evil at its root, all men should rest persuaded that
main thing needful is to re-establish Christian morals, apart from which
all the plans and devices of the wisest will prove of little avail.
63. In regard to the Church, her
cooperation will never be found lacking, be the time or the occasion
what it may; and she will intervene with all the greater effect in
proportion as her liberty of action is the more unfettered. Let this be
carefully taken to heart by those whose office it is to safeguard the
public welfare. Every minister of holy religion must bring to the
struggle the full energy of his mind and all his power of endurance.
Moved by your authority, venerable brethren, and quickened by your
example, they should never cease to urge upon men of every class, upon
the high-placed as well as the lowly, the Gospel doctrines of Christian
life; by every means in their power they must strive to secure the good
of the people; and above all must earnestly cherish in themselves, and
try to arouse in others, charity, the mistress and the queen of virtues.
For, the happy results we all long for must be chiefly brought about by
the plenteous outpouring of charity; of that true Christian charity
which is the fulfilling of the whole Gospel law, which is always ready
to sacrifice itself for others' sake, and is man's surest antidote
against worldly pride and immoderate love of self; that charity whose
office is described and whose Godlike features are outlined by the
Apostle St. Paul in these words: "Charity is patient, is kind, . . .
seeketh not her own, . . . suffereth all things, . . . endureth all
things."
64. On each of you, venerable brethren,
and on your clergy and people, as an earnest of God's mercy and a mark
of Our affection, we lovingly in the Lord bestow the apostolic
benediction.
Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the fifteenth day of May, 1891, the fourteenth year of Our pontificate.
LEO XIII
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