Having discussed just wages, we turn now to Pope Pius XI’s focus on two things that he considers “especially necessary” if the good work started by Rerum Novarum is to continue. Those two are the “reform of institutions” and the “correction of morals.”
As far as institutions, the pope notes that “the State comes chiefly to mind.” The reason for this, he explains, is that “individualism” has disintegrated the rich social life that used to exist so that we are left with only individuals and the government, with nothing between them. This has shifted many tasks and burdens to the state that were once taken care of by social life more generally. The pope notes that this overwhelms the state – which was more or less true at the time he wrote it – but now we can see how governments now utilize these gaps to grow continually in power, influence, and control. Regardless of the difference between now and when this was written, the principle Pope Pius points out applies just as well. It is the principle of Subsidiarity, which you may remember from previous papal teaching. It basically means that higher authorities should allow smaller and subordinate groups handle everything they can handle on their own level. In our own context, the Federal government should allow the State government to handle what it can on its own level and the State in turn should allow local governments to handle what they can. Only when matters are too large or too dysfunctional for the smaller group should a higher authority step in.
Continuing his focus on institutions, the pope calls for an end to conflict between classes in society. Marxism at it’s most basic level claims that class conflict is the heart of human history. The rich and poor are always in conflict and must be so until private ownership is abolished. As history show, however, Marxism actually just antagonizes class conflict and only changes who is using power to oppress whom. Our response is to call for cooperation and good will between people at different levels of society. Because the poor are typically the victims, the Church focuses often on defending them against abuse. In this case, Pope Pius echoes Pope Leo to remind us that “Labor… is not a commodity” and “therefore cannot be bought and sold” like one. A “worker’s human dignity must be recognized,” which means recognizing that their labor and the things they produce with it are an extension of themselves, not just means to a profit. So, Pope Pius XI calls for a return to “Industries and Professions.” By that he means that “those who follow the same industry or profession… form guilds or associations.” The idea is that instead of workers of the same kind competing to the point of dehumanizing each other, they collaborate both in what they produce and in ensuring just situations for each other.
The pope writes, “people are quite free not only to found such associations, which are a matter of private order and private right, but also in respect to them ‘freely to adopt the organization and the rules which they judge most appropriate to achieve their purpose.’” Yes, this could apply to the idea of unions, which we’ll discuss more in the next article in this series. Closely connected to this, however, is the truth that “the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces.” This, he says, is the source of all the ”errors of individualist economic teaching.” To keep “economic life … altogether free from and independent of public authority” does not magically create a perfect economy all on it’s own. Historical experience shows that that kind of unregulated competition might produce more money, but it definitely produces serious injustice towards laborers and the poor, whose lives are reduced to numbers on spreadsheets. Hence, regulation of the economy is necessary and that regulation ought to be founded above all on the principles of human dignity and the common good. This also means you cannot turn to “economic dictatorship,” which goes to the opposite extreme and is somewhat worse because it headstrong and more directly violent.