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Encyclical Letter

of

Pope Leo XIII

The Condition of Labor

New York

THE PAULIST PRESS

40) West 59th Street





ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER
BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE

POPE LEO XIII

ON

THE CONDITION OF LABOR

To Our Venerable Brethren, All Patriarchs, Primates,

Archbishops and Bishops of the

Catholic World,

In Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See,

POPE LEO XIII

Venerable Brethren,

Health and Apostolic Benediction

I

T is not surprising that the spirit of revolutionary change,
which has long been predominant in the nations of the world,

should have passed beyond politics and made its influence felt

in the cognate field of practical economy. The elements of a

conflict are unmistakable: the growth of industry, and the sur-

prising discoveries of science; the changed relations of mas-

ters and workmen; the enormous fortunes of individuals and

the poverty of the masses; the increased self-reliance and the

closer mutual combination of the working population; and,

finally, a general moral deterioration. The momentous serious-

ness of the present state of things just now fills every mind

with painful apprehension; wise men discuss it; practical men

propose schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and sovereign

princes, all are occupied with it—and there is nothing which has
a deeper hold on public attention.

Therefore, Venerable Brethren, as on former occasions,

when it seemed opportune to refute false teaching, We have

©saddled



2 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

addressed you in the interests of the Church and of the com-

monwealth, and have issued Letters on Political Power, on

Human Liberty, on the Christian Constitution of the State, and

on similar subjects, so now We have thought it useful to
speak on

The Condition of Labor

It is a matter on which we have touched once or twice al-

ready. But in this Letter the responsibility of the Apostolic

office urges Us to treat the question expressly and at length,

in order that there may be no mistake as to the principles

which truth and justice dictate for its settlement. The dis-

cussion is not easy, nor is it free from danger. It is not easy

to define the relative rights and the mutual duties of the wealthy

and of the poor, of capital and of labor. And the danger

lies in this, that crafty agitators constantly make use of these

disputes to pervert men’s judgments and to stir up the people

to sedition.

But all agree, and there can be no question whatever, that

some remedy must be found, and quickly found, for the misery

and wretchedness which press so heavily at this moment on

the large majority of the very poor. The ancient workmen’s

Guilds were destroyed in the last century, and no other organ-

ization took their place. Public institutions and the laws have

repudiated the ancient religion. Hence by degrees it has come

to pass that Working Men have been given over, isolated and

defenceless, to the callousness of employers and the greed of

unrestrained competition. The evil has been increased by rapa-

cious Usury, which, although more than once condemned by

the Church, is nevertheless, under a different form but with

the same guilt, still practiced by avaricious and grasping men.

And to this must be added the custom of working by contract,

and the concentration of so many branches of trade in the hands

of a few individuals, so that a small number of very rich men

have been able to lay upon the masses of the poor a yoke little

better than slavery itself.

To remedy these evils the Socialists

,

working on the poor

man’s envy of the rich, endeavor to destroy private property,

and maintain that individual possessions should become the com-

mon property of all, to be administered by the State or by



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 3

municipal bodies. They hold that, by thus transferring prop-

erty from private persons to the community, the present evil

state of things will be set to rights, because each citizen will

then have his equal share of whatever there is to enjoy. But

their proposals are so clearly futile for all practical purposes,

that if they were carried out the working man himself would

be among the first to suffer. Moreover they are emphatically

unjust, because they would rob the lawful possessor, bring the

State into a sphere that is not its own, and cause complete

confusion in the community.

Private Ownership

It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remu-

nerative labor, the very reason and motive of his work is to

obtain property, and to hold it as his own private possession.

If one man hires out to another his strength or his industry,

he does this for the purpose of receiving in return what is

necessary for food and living; he thereby expressly proposes

to acquire a full and real right, not only to the remuneration,

but also to the disposal of that remuneration as he pleases.

Thus, if he lives sparingly, saves money, and invests his sav-

ings, for greater security, in land, the land in such a case is

only his wages in another form; and, consequently, a working

man’s little estate thus purchased should be as completely at

his own disposal as the wages he receives for his labor. But

it is precisely in this power of disposal that ownership con-

sists, whether the property be land or movable goods. The

Socialists

,

therefore, in endeavoring to transfer the possessions

of individuals to the community, strike at the interests of every

wage earner, for they deprive him of the liberty of disposing

of his wages, and thus of all hope and possibility of increasing

his stock and of bettering his condition in life.

What is of still greater importance, however, is 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 chief instincts, which keep

his powers alert, move him to use his strength, and determine

him to action without the power of choice. These instincts



4 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

are self-preservation and the propagation of the species. Both

can attain their purpose by means of things which are close at

hand; beyond their surroundings the brute creation cannot go,

for they are moved to action by sensibility alone, and by the

things which sense perceives. But with man it is different

indeed. He possesses, on the one hand, the full perfection of

animal nature, and therefore he enjoys, at least, as much as

the rest of the animal race, the fruition of the things of the

body. But animality, however perfect, is far from being the

whole of humanity, and is indeed humanity’s humble handmaid,

made to serve and obey. It is the mind, or the reason, which

is the chief thing in us who are human beings; it is this which

makes a human being human, and distinguishes him essentially

and completely from the brute. And on this account—viz.,
that man alone among animals possesses reason—it must be
within his right to have things not merely for temporary and

momentary use, as other living beings have them, but in stable

and permanent possession; he must have not only things which

perish in the using, but also those which, though used, remain

for use in the future.

The Power of Reason

This becomes still more clearly evident if we consider man’s

nature a little more deeply. For man, comprehending by the

power of his reason things innumerable, and joining the future

with the present—being, moreover, the master of his own acts
—governs himself by the foresight of his counsel, 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 on things which regard his present welfare, -but also

on those which will be for his advantage in time to come.

Hence man not only can possess the fruits of the earth, but

also the earth itself; for of the products of the earth he can

make provision for the future. Man’s needs do not die out,

but recur; satisfied to-day, they demand new supplies to-mor-

row. Nature, therefore, owes to man a storehouse that shall

never fail, the daily supply of his daily wants. And this he

finds only in the inexhaustible fertility of the earth.

Nor must we, at this stage, have recourse to the State. Man
is older than the State and he holds the right of providing for



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 5

the life of his body prior to the formation of any State. And

to say that God has given the earth to the use and enjoyment

of the universal human race is not to deny that there can be

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 please, but rather that no part of it has been

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

the laws of individual peoples. Moreover, the earth, though

divided among private owners, ceases not thereby to minister

to the needs of all
;
for there is no one who does not live on what

the land brings forth. Those who do not possess the soil, con-

tribute their labor; so that it may be truly said that all human

subsistence is derived either from labor on one’s own land, or

from some laborious industry which is paid either in the produce

of the land itself or in that which is exchanged for what the

land brings forth.

The Law of Nature

Here, again, we have another proof that private ownership

is according to nature’s law. For that which is required for

the preservation of life and for life’s well-being, is produced

in great abundance by the earth, but not until man has brought

it into cultivation and lavished upon it his care and skill. Now,

when man thus spends the industry of his mind and the strength

of his body in procuring the fruits of nature, by that 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 own

personality; and it cannot but be just that he should possess

that portion as his own, and should have a right to keep it

without molestation.

These arguments are so strong and convincing that it seems

surprising that certain obsolete opinions should now be revived

in opposition to what is here laid down. We are told that it
is right for private persons to have the use of the soil and the

fruits of their land, but that it is unjust for anyone to possess

as owner either the land on which he has built or the estate

which he has cultivated. But those who assert this do not per-

ceive that they are robbing man of what his own labor has

reduced. For the soil which is tilled and cultivated with toil



6 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

and skill utterly changes its condition; it was wild before, it is

now fruitful; it was barren, and now it brings forth in abund-

ance. That which has thus altered and improved it becomes so

truly part of itself as to be in a great measure indistinguish-

able, inseparable from it. Is it just that the fruit of a man’s

sweat and labor should be enjoyed by another? As effects fol-

low their cause, so it is just and right that the results of labor

should belong to him who has labored.

With reason, therefore, the common opinions of mankind,

little affected by the few dissentients who have maintained the

opposite view, has found in the study of nature, and in the

law of nature herself, the foundations of the division of prop-

erty, and has consecrated by the practice of all ages the prin-

ciple of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity

with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistak-

able manner to the peace and tranquillity of human life. The

same principle is confirmed and enforced by the civil laws

—

laws which, as long as they are just, derive their binding

force from the law of nature. The authority of the Divine

Law adds its sanction, forbidding us in the gravest terms even

to covet that which is another’s: “Thou shalt not covet thy

neighbor’s wife
;
nor his house, nor his field, nor his man-servant,

nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything which

is his .”
1

A Family Right

The rights here spoken of belonging to each individual man,

are seen in a much stronger light if they are 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 either to follow the counsel of Jesus Christ as to

virginity, or to enter into the bonds of marriage. No human

law can abolish the natural and primitive right of marriage, or

in any way limit the chief and principal purpose of marriage,

ordained by God’s authority from the beginning. “Increase

and multiply .”
2 Thus we have the family; the “society” of a

man’s own household; a society limited indeed in numbers, but

a true “society,” anterior to every kind of State or nation,

with rights and duties of its own, totally independent of the

commonwealth.

lDeut. v. 21. 2Gen. i. 28.



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 7

That right of property, therefore, which has been proved

to belong naturally to individual persons must also belong to

a man in his capacity of head of a family; nay, such a per-

son must possess this right so much the more clearly in pro-

portion as his position multiplies his duties. For it is a most

sacred law of nature that a father must provide food and all

necessaries for those whom he has begotten; and, similarly,

nature dictates that a man’s children, who carry on, as it were,

and continue his own personality, should be provided by him

with all that is needful to enable them honorably to keep

themselves from want and misery in the uncertainties of this

mortal life. Now, in no other way can a father effect this

except by the ownership of profitable 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 a power

within itself, that is to say, by the father. Wherefore, pro-

vided the limits be not transgressed which are prescribed by

the very purposes for which it exists, the family has, at least,

equal rights with the State in the choice and pursuit of those

things which are needful to its preservation and its just liberty.

We say, at least equal rights; for since the domestic house-
hold is anterior both in idea and in fact to the gathering of men

into a commonwealth, the former must necessarily have rights

and duties which are prior to those of the latter, and which rest

more immediately on nature. If the citizens of a State—that
is to say, the families—on entering into association and fel-
lowship, experienced at the hands of the State hindrance in-

stead of help, and found their rights attacked instead of being

protected, such association were rather to be repudiated than

sought after.

Socialism Rejected

The idea, then, that the civil government should, at its own

discretion, penetrate and pervade the family and the house-

hold, is a great and pernicious mistake. True, if a family

finds itself in great difficulty, utterly friendless, and without

prospect of help, it is right that extreme necessity be met by

public aid; for each family is a part of the commonwealth. In

like manner, if within the walls of the household there occur

grave disturbance of mutual rights, the public power must in-



8 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

terfere to force each party to give the other what is due; for

this is not to rob citizens of their rights, but justly and prop-

erly to safeguard and strengthen them. But the rulers of the

State must go no further: nature bids them stop here. Paternal

authority can neither be abolished by the State nor absorbed;

for it has the same source as human life itself; “the child be-

longs to the father,” and is, as it were, the continuation of the

father’s personality; and, to speak with strictness, the child

takes its place in civil society not in its own right, but in its

quality as a member of the family in which it is begotten.

And it is for the very reason that “the child belongs to the

father,” that, as St. Thomas of Aquin says, “before it attains

the use of free-will, it is in the power and care of its parents.”
3

The Socialists, therefore, in setting aside the parent and in-

troducing the providence of the State, act against natural jus-

tice

,

and threaten the very existence of family life.

And such interference is not only unjust, but is quite certain

to harass and disturb all classes of citizens, and to subject them

to odious and intolerable slavery. It would open the door to

envy, to evil speaking, and to quarrelling; the sources of wealth

would themselves run dry, for no one would have any interest

in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality

of which so much is said would, in reality, be the leveling down

of all to the same condition of misery and dishonor.

Thus it is clear that the main tenet of Socialism, the com-

munity of goods, must be utterly rejected; for it would injure

those whom it is intended to benefit, it would be contrary to

the natural rights of mankind, and it would introduce confusion,

and disorder into the commonwealth. Our first and most fun-

damental principle, therefore, when we undertake to alleviate

the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private

property This laid down, We go on to show where we must
find the remedy that we seek.

The Church is Necessary

We approach the subject with confidence, and in the exercise
of the rights which belong to Us. For no practical solution of

this question will ever be found without the assistance of Re-

ligion and the Church. It is We who are the chief guardian

3St. Th., Sutntna Tfteoloeica, 2a 2ae 0. x. art. 12.



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 9

of Religion, and the chief dispenser of what belongs to the

Church, and we must not by silence neglect the duty which lies

,
upon Us. Doubtless this most serious question demands the

attention and the efforts of others besides Ourselves—of the
rulers of States, of employers of labor, of the wealthy, and of

the working population themselves for whom We plead. 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

proclaims from the Gospel those teachings by which the con-

flict can be brought to an end, or at least made far less bitter;

the Church uses its efforts not only to enlighten the mind, but

to direct by its precepts the life and conduct of men; the Church

improves and ameliorates the condition of the working man

by numerous useful organizations; does its best to enlist the

services of all ranks in discussing and endeavoring to meet, in

the most practical way, the claims of the working classes; and

acts on the decided view that for these purposes recourse should

be had, in due measure and degree, to the help of the law and

of State authority.

Let it be laid down, in the first place, that humanity must

remain as it is. It is impossible to reduce human society to a

level. The Socialists may do their utmost, but all striving

against nature is vain. There naturally exists among mankind

innumerable differences of the most important kind; people dif-

fer in capability, in diligence, in health, and in strength; and

unequal fortune is a necessary result of inequality in condition.

Such inequality is far from being disadvantageous either to

individuals or to the community; social and public life can

only go on by the help of various kinds of capacity and the

playing of many parts, and each man, as a rule, chooses the

part which peculiarly suits his case. As regards bodily labor,

even had man never fallen from the state of innocence, he

would not have been wholly unoccupied; but that which would

then have been his free choice, his delight, became afterwards

compulsory, and the painful expiation of his sin. “Cursed be

the earth in thy work; in thy labor thou shalt eat of it all the

days of thy life .”
4

In like manner, the other pains and hard-

ships of life will have no end or cessation on this earth; for

the consequences of sin are bitter and hard to bear, and they

4Gen. iii. 17.



10 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

must be with man as long as life lasts. To suffer and to en-

dure, therefore, is the lot of humanity; let men try 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 freedom from pain and trouble, undisturbed repose, and

constant enjoyment—they cheat the people and impose upon
them, and their lying promises will only make the evil worse

than before. There is nothing more useful than to look at the

world as it really is—and at the same time look elsewhere for a
remedy to its troubles.

Employer and Employee

The great mistake that is made in the matter now under con-

sideration, is to possess oneself of the idea that class is natu-

rally hostile to class; that rich and poor are intended by nature

to live at war with one another. So irrational and so false is

this view, that the exact contrary is the truth. Just as the

symmetry of the human body is the result of the disposition

of the members of the body, so in a State it is ordained by

nature that these two classes should exist in harmony and agree-

ment, and should, as it were, fit into one another, so as to

maintain the equilibrium of the body politic. Each requires

the other; capital cannot do without labor, nor labor with-

out capital. Mutual agreement results in pleasantness and

good order; perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion

and outrage. Now, in preventing such strife as this, and in

making it impossible, the efficacy of Christianity is marvelous

and manifold. First of all, there is nothing more powerful

than Religion (of which the Church is the interpreter and

guardian) in drawing rich and poor together, by reminding

each class of its duties to the other, and especially of the duties

of justice. Thus Religion teaches the laboring man and the

workman to carry out honestly and well all equitable agree-

ments freely made, never to injure capital, nor to outrage the

person of an employer; never to employ violence in represent-

ing his own cause, nor to engage in riot and disorder; and to

have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon

the people with artful promises, and raise foolish hopes which

usually end in disaster and in repentance when too late. Re-



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 11

ligion teaches the rich man and the employer that their work

people are not their slaves; that they must respect in every

man his dignity as a man and as a Christian; that labor is

nothing to be ashamed of, if we listen to right reason and to

Christian philosophy, but is an honorable employment, enabling

a man to sustain his life in an upright and creditable way;

and that it is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chat-

tels to make money by, or to look upon them merely as so

much muscle or physical power. Thus, again, Religion teaches

that, as among the workmen’s concerns are Religion herself,

and things spiritual and mental, the employer is bound to see

that he has time for the duties of piety; that he be not ex-

posed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and

that he be not led away to neglect his home and family or to

squander his wages. Then, again, the employer must never

tax his work-people beyond their strength, nor employ them in

work unsuited to their sex or age. His great and principal

obligation is to give to every one that which is just. Doubtless

before we can decide whether wages are adequate many things

have to be considered; but rich men and masters should re-

member this—that to exercise pressure for the sake of gain,
upon the indigent and destitue, and to make 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

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 the ears of the

Lord of Sabaoth .”
5
Finally, the rich must religiously refrain from

cutting down the workman’s earnings, either by force, fraud, or

by usurious dealing; and with the more reason because the poor

man is weak and unprotected, and because his slender means

should be sacred in proportion to their scantiness.

Were these precepts carefully obeyed and followed would

not strife die out and cease?

The Great Truth

But the Church* with Jesus Christ for its Master and Guide,

aims higher still. It lays down precepts yet more perfect, and

tries to bind class to class in friendliness and good understand-

5St. James v. 4.



12 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

ing. The things of this earth cannot be understood or valued

rightly without taking into consideration the life to come, the

life that will last forever. Exclude the idea of futurity, and

the very notion of what is good and right would perish; nay,

the whole system 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 Re-

ligion rests as on its base—that when we have done with this
present life then we shall 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 true country. Money

and the other things which men call good and desirable—we
may have them in abundance or we may want them altogether;

as far as eternal happiness is concerned, it is no matter; the

only thing that is important 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 make

up the texture 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 foot-

prints of his Savior. “If we suffer with Him, we shall also

reign with Him.” 6 His labors and His sufferings accepted by

His own free will, have marvelously sweetened all suffering and

all labor. And not only by His example, but by His grace and

by the hope of everlasting recompense, He has made pain and

grief more easy to endure; “for that which is at present momen-

tary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure

exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.”
7

The Right Use of Money

Therefore, those whom fortune favors are warned that free-

dom from sorrow and abundance of earthly riches, are no guar-

antee of that beatitude that shall never end, but rather the

contrary

;

8
that the rich • should tremble at the threatenings

of Jesus Christ—threatenings so strange in the mouth of our
Lord;

9
and that a most strict account must be given to the

Supreme Judge for all that we possess. The chiefest and most

ell. Tim. ii. 2. 711. Cor. iv. 17. 8St. Matt. xix. 23, 24.

»St. Luke vi. 24, 25.



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 13

excellent rule for the right use of money is one which the

heathen philosophers indicated, 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 pleases. Pri-

vate 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 of Aquin, “for a man to hold private property;

and it is also necessary for the carrying on of human life .” 10

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 outward

possessions as his own, but as common to all, so as to share

them without difficulty when others are in need. Whence the

Apostle saith, Command the rich of this world ... to give

with ease, to communicate .”
11

True, no one is commanded to

distribute to others that which is required for his own necessi-

ties 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 unbecomingly.”
12 But when neces-

sity has been supplied, and one’s position fairly considered, it is

a duty to give to the indigent out of that which is over. “That

which remaineth give alms .”
13

It is a duty, not of justice (ex-

cept in extreme cases), but of Christian Charity—a duty which
is not enforced by human law. But the laws and judgment of

men must give place to the laws and judgment of Christ, the

true God; Who in many ways urges on His followers the prac-
tice of almsgiving

—
“It is more blessed to give than to receive ;”14

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 .” 15 Thus to sum up what has
been said:—Whoever has received from the Divine bounty a
large share of blessings, whether they be external and corporal,

or gifts of the mind, has received them for the purpose of using

them for perfecting his own nature, and, at the same time,

that he may employ them, as the minister of God’s Providence,

102a 2ae 0. lxvi. art. 2.

i3St. Luke xi. 41.

liIbid., Q. ixv, art. 2.

i4Acts xx. 35.

122a 2ae Q. xxxii. art. 6.

l5St. Matt. xxv. 40.



14 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

for the benefit of others. “He that hath a talent,” says St. Greg-

ory the Great, “let him see that he hideth not; he that hath abun-

dance, let him arouse himself to mercy and generosity; he that

hath art and skill, let him do his best to share the use and utility

thereof with his neighbor.”
16

The Dignity of Labor

As for those who do not possess 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 seeking

one’s bread by labor. This is strengthened by what we see in

Christ Himself, “Who whereas He was rich, for our sakes be-

came poor ;” 17 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?” 18

From the contemplation of this Divine example, it is easy to

understand that the true dignity and excellence of man lies

in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is the com-

mon inheritance of all, 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 more to those who suffer

evil; for Jesus Christ calls the poor blessed
;

19 He lovingly in-

vites those in labor and grief to come to Him for solace
;

20

and He displays the tenderest charity to the lowly and op-

pressed. These reflections cannot fail to keep down the pride

of those who are well off, and to cheer the spirit of the afflicted;

to incline the former to generosity, and the latter to tranquil

resignation. Thus the separation which pride would make tends

to disappear, nor will it be difficult to make rich and poor join

hands in friendly concord.

But, if Christian precepts prevail, the two classes will not

only be united in the bonds of friendship, but also those of

brotherly love. For they will understand and feel that all men

are the children of the common father, that is, of God; that

all have the same end, which is God Himself, Who alone can

i6St. Gregory the Great. Horn. ix. in Evangel, n. 7. 1711. Cor. viii. 9.

l8St. Mark vi. 3. i9St. Matt. v. 3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

20Ibid., xi. 28: “Come to Me all you that labor and are burdened, and I will
refresh you.”



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 15

make either men or angels absolutely and perfectly happy;

that all and each are redeemed by Jesus Christ, and raised to

the dignity of children of God, and are thus united in broth-

erly ties both with each other and with Jesus Christ, “the first

born among many brethren;” that the blessings of nature and

the gifts of grace belong in common to the whole human race,

and that to all, except to those who are unworthy, is promised

the inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven. “If sons, heirs also;

heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs of Christ .” 21

Such is the scheme of duties and of rights which is put forth

to the world by the Gospel. Would it not seem that strife must

quickly cease were society penetrated with ideas like these?

The Church Applies the Remedy

But the Church, not content with pointing out the remedy,

also applies it. For the Church does its utmost to teach and to

train men, and to educate them; and by means of its Bishops

and clergy, it diffuses its salutary teachings far and wide. It

strives to influence the mind and heart so that all may willingly

yield themselves to be formed and guided by the command-

ments of God. It is precisely in this fundamental and prin-

cipal matter, on which everything depends, that the Church

has a power peculiar to itself. The agencies which it employs

are given it for the very purpose of reaching the hearts of men

by Jesus Christ Himself, and derive their efficiency from God.

They alone can touch the innermost heart and conscience, and

bring men to act from a motive of duty, to resist their passions

and appetites, to love God and their fellowmen with love that

is unique and supreme, and courageously to break down every

barrier which stands in the way of a virtuous life.

On this subject We need only recall for one moment the
examples written down in history. Of these things there can-

not be the shadow of doubt; for instance, that civil society

was renovated in every part by the teachings of Christianity;

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 pass in the ages that are

yet to be. Of this beneficent transformation, Jesus Christ was

2lRom. viii. 17.



16 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

at once the first cause and the final purpose; as from Him

all came, so to Him all was to be referred. For when, by the

light of the Gospel message, the human race came to know the

grand mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and the redemp-

tion of man, the life of Jesus Christ, God and Man, penetrated

every race and nation, and impregnated them with His faith,

His precepts, and His laws. And, if Society is to be cured

now, in no other way can it be cured but by a return to the

Christian life and Christian institutions. When a society is

perishing, the true advice to give to those who would restore it

is, to recall it to the principles from which it sprung; for the

purpose and perfection of an association is to aim at and to

attain that for which it was formed
;
and its operation should

be put in motion and inspired by the end and object which

originally gave it its being. So that to fall away from its primal

constitution is disease; to go back to it is recovery. And this

may be asserted with the utmost truth both of the State in gen-

eral and of that body of its citizens—by far the greatest num-
ber—who sustain life by labor.

The Church and the Poor

Neither must it be supposed that the solicitude of the Church

is so occupied with the spiritual concerns of its children as to

neglect their interests temporal and earthly. Its desire is that

the poor, for example, should rise above poverty and wretched-

ness, and should better their condition in life; and for this it

strives. By the very fact that it calls men to virtue and forms

them to its practice, it promotes this in no slight degree. Chris-

tian morality, when it is adequately and completely practiced,

conduces of itself to temporal prosperity, for it merits the blessing

of that God Who is the source of all blessings; it powerfully re-
strains the lust of possession and the lust of pleasure—twin
plagues, which too often make a man without self-restraint

miserable in the midst of abundance
;

22
it makes men supply by

economy for the want of means, teaching them to be content with

frugal living, and keeping them out of the reach of those vices

which eat up not merely small incomes, but large fortunes, and

dissipate many a goodly inheritance.

Moreover, the Church intervenes directly in the interest of the

22“The root of all evils is cupidity.” I. Tim. vi. 10.



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 17

poor, by setting on foot and keeping up many things which it

sees to be efficacious in the relief of poverty. Here, again, it has

always succeeded so well that it has even extorted the praise of

its enemies. Such was the ardor of brotherly love among the

earliest Christians that numbers of those who were better off

deprived themselves of their possessions in order to relieve their

brethren; whence “neither was there any one needy among

them.” 23 To the order of Deacons, instituted for that very pur-

pose, was committed by the Apostles the charge of the daily dis-

tributions; 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 volun-

tarily by Christians in their assemblies, “deposits of piety,” be-

cause, to cite his words, they were employed “in feeding the

needy, in burying them, in the support of boys and girls desti-

tute of means and deprived of their parents, in the care of the

aged, and in the relief of the shipwrecked .”
24

Thus by degrees came into existence the patrimony which

the Church has guarded with jealous care as the inheritance of

the poor. Nay, to spare them the shame of begging, the com-

mon Mother of the rich and poor has exerted herself to gather

together funds for the support of the needy. The Church has

stirred up everywhere the heroism of charity, and has estab-

lished Congregations of Religious and many other useful insti-

tutions for help and mercy, so that there might be hardly any

kind of suffering which was not visited and relieved. At the

present day there are many who, like the heathen of old, blame

and condemn the Church for this beautiful charity. They would

substitute in its place a system of State-organized relief. But

no human methods will ever supply for the devotion and self-

sacrifice of Christian charity. Charity, as a virtue, belongs to

the Church
;
for it is no virtue unless it is drawn from the Sacred

Heart of Jesus Christ; and he who turns his back on the Church

cannot be near to Christ.

The State and Poverty

It cannot, however, be doubted that to attain the purpose

of which We treat, not only the Church, but all human means

24Apologia Secunda, xxxi*-23Acts iv. 34.



18 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

must conspire. All who are concerned in the matter must be

of one mind and must act together. It is in this, as in the

Providence which governs the world; results do not happen save

where all the causes cooperate.

Let us now, therefore, inquire what part the State should

play in the work of remedy and relief.

By the State We here understand, not the particular form
of government which prevails in this or that nation, but the

State as rightly understood; 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 ex-
pounded in the Encyclical on The Christian Constitution of the

State . The first duty, therefore, of the rulers of the State

should be to make sure that the laws and institutions, the gen-

eral character and administration of the commonwealth, shall be

such as to produce of themselves public well-being and private

prosperity. This is the proper office of wise statesmanship and

the work of the heads of the State. Now a State chiefly pros-
pers and flourishes by morality, well-regulated family life, by

respect for religion and justice, by the moderation and equal dis-

tribution of public burdens, by the progress of the arts and of

trade, by the abundant yield of the land—by everything which
makes the citizens better and happier. Here, then, it is in the

power of a ruler to benefit every order of the State, and amongst

the rest to promote in the highest degree the interests of the

poor; and this by virtue of his office, and without being ex-

posed to any suspicion of undue interference—for it is the prov-
ince of the commonwealth to consult for the common good. And

the more that is done for the working population by the general

laws of the country, the less need will there be to seek for par-

ticular means to relieve them. There is another and a deeper

consideration which must not be lost sight of.

Justice Towards All

To the State the interests of all are equal whether high or low.

The poor are members of the national community equally with

the rich
;
they are real component parts, living parts, which make

up, through the family, the living body; and it need hardly be

said that they are by far the majority. It would be irrational to

neglect one portion of the citizens and to favor another; and



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 19

therefore the public administration must duly and solicitously

provide for the welfare and the comfort of the working people,

or else that law of justice will be violated which ordains that each

shall have his due. To cite the wise words of St. Thomas of

Aquin: “As the part and the whole are in a certain sense identi-

cal, the part may in some sense claim what belongs to the

whole.”
25 Among the many and grave duties of rulers who would

do their best for their people, the first and chief is to act with

strict justice—with that justice which is called in the Schools
distributive—towards each and every class.

But although all citizens, without exception, can and ought

to contribute to that common good in which individuals share

so profitably to themselves, yet it is not to be supposed that

all can contribute in the same way and to the same extent. No

matter what changes may be made in forms of government,

there will always be differences and inequalities of condition

in the State. Society cannot exist or be conceived without

them. Some there must be who dedicate themselves to the

work of the commonwealth, who make the laws, who admin-

ister justice, 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 the fore-

most estimation, for their work touches most nearly and effec-

tively the general interests of the community. Those who labor

at a trade or calling do not promote the general welfare in such

a fashion as this; but they do in the most important way bene-

fit the nation, though less directly. We have insisted that,
since it is the end of Society to make men better, the chief

good that Society can be possessed of is virtue. Nevertheless,

in all well-constituted States it is a by no means unimportant

matter to provide those bodily and external commodities, “the

use of which is necessary to virtuous action .”
26 And in the

provision of material well-being, the labor of the poor—the exer-
cise of their skill and the employment of their strength in the

culture of the land and the workshops of trade—is most effica-
cious and altogether indispensable. Indeed, their cooperation

in this respect is so important that it may be truly said that

it is only by the labor of the working man that States grow rich.

252a 2ae Q. lxi. art. 1 and 2.

26St. Thomas of Aquin. De Regimine Principum, I, cap. IS.



20 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

Justice, therefore, demands that the interests of the poorer

population 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 they create

—

that being housed, clothed, and enabled to support life, they

may find their existence less hard and more endurable. It

follows that whatever shall appear to be conducive to the well-

being of those who work, should receive favorable considera-

tion. Let it not be feared that solicitude of this kind will

injure any interest; on the contrary, it will be to the advan-

tage of all; for it cannot but be good for the commonwealth

to secure from misery those on whom it so largely depends.

The First Law of Government

We have said that the State must not absorb the individual
or the family; both should be allowed free and untrammelled

action as far as is consistent with the common good and the

interests of others. Nevertheless, rulers should anxiously safe-

guard the community and all its parts; the community, because

the conservation of the community is so emphatically the busi-

ness of the supreme power, that the safety of the common-

wealth is not only the first law, but is a Government’s whole

reason of existence; and the parts, because both philosophy

and the Gospel agree in laying down that the object of the

administration of the State should be not the advantage of

the ruler, but the benefit of those over whom he rules. The

gift of authority is from God, and is, as it were, a participation

of the highest of all sovereignties; and it should be exercised as

the power of God is exercised—with a fatherly solicitude which
not only guides the whole but reaches to details as well.

Whenever the general interest of any particular class suf-

fers, or is threatened with, evils which can in no other way be

met, the public authority must step in to meet them. Now,

among the interests of the public, as of private individuals, are

these: that peace and good order should be maintained; that

family life should be carried on in accordance with God’s laws

and those of nature; that Religion should be reverenced and

obeyed; that a high standard of morality should prevail in

public and private life; that the sanctity of justice should be

respected, and that no one should injure another with impunity;



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 21

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, or other

combination of workmen, there should be imminent danger of

disturbance to the public peace; or if circumstances were such

that among the laboring population the ties of family life were

relaxed; if Religion were found to suffer through the workmen

not having time and opportunity to practice it; if in workshops

and factories there were danger to morals through the mixing

of the sexes or from any occasion of evil; or if employers laid

burdens upon the workmen which were unjust, or degraded

them with conditions that were repugnant to their dignity as

human beings; finally, if health were endangered by excessive

labor, or by work unsuited to sex or age—in these cases there
can be no question that, within certain limits, it would be right

to call in the help 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 this, that the law must
not undertake more, nor go further, than is required for the

remedy of the evil or the removal of the danger.

The Right of Protection

Rights must be religiously respected wherever they are found

;

and it is the duty of the public authority to prevent and pun-

ish injury, and to protect each one in the possession of his own.

Still, when there is question of protecting the rights of individ-

uals, the poor and helpless have a claim to special consideration.

The richer population have many ways of protecting them-

selves, and stand less in need of help from the State; those who

are badly off have no resources of their own to fall back upon,

and must chiefly rely upon the assistance of the State. And it

is for this reason that wage-earners, who are, undoubtedly,

among the weak and necessitous, should be specially cared for

and protected by the commonwealth.

Here, however, it will be advisable to advert expressly to

one or two of the more important details.

It must be borne in mind that the chief thing to be secured

is the safeguarding, by legal enactment and policy, of private

property. Most of all it is essential in these times of covetous

greed, to keep the multitude within the line of duty; for if all



22 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

may justly strive to better their condition, yet neither justice

nor the common good allows anyone to seize that which be-

longs to another, or, under the pretext of futile and ridiculous

equality, to lay hands on other people’s fortunes. It is most

true that by far the larger part of the people who work prefer

to improve themselves by honest labor rather than by doing

wrong to others. But there are not a few who are imbued

with bad principles and are anxious for revolutionary change,

and whose great purpose it is to stir up tumult and bring about

a policy of violence. The authority of the State should inter-

vene to put restraint upon these disturbers, to save the work-

men from their seditious arts, and to protect lawful owners from

spoliation.

The Workman’s Rights

When work-people have recourse to a strike, 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 ob-

viated by public remedial measures; for such paralysis of labor

not only affects the masters and their work-people, but is ex-

tremely injurious to trade, and to the general interests of the

public; moreover, on such occasions, violence and disorder are

generally not far off, and thus it frequently happens that the

public peace is threatened. The laws should be beforehand, and

prevent these troubles from arising; they should lend their in-

fluence and authority to the removal in good time of the causes

which lead to conflicts between masters and those whom they

employ.

But if the owners of property must be made secure, the

workman, too, has property and possessions in which he must

be protected; and, first of all, there are his spiritual and men-

tal interests. 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 practice 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 sovereignty resides, in

virtue of which man is commanded to rule the creatures below

him, and to use all the earth and ocean for his profit and ad-



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 23

vantage. “Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes

of the sea and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures

which move upon the earth .
7 ’27

In this respect all men are

equal; there is no difference between rich and poor, master

and servant, ruler and ruled, “for the same is Lord over all .”
28

No man may outrage with impunity that human dignity which

God Himself treats with reverence, nor stand in the way of

that higher life which is the preparation for the eternal life

of Heaven. Nay, more; a man has here no power over him-

self. To consent to any treatment which is calculated to de-

feat 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, most

sacred and inviolable.

From this follows the obligation of the cessation of work

and labor on Sundays and certain festivals. This rest from

labor is not to be understood as mere idleness; much less must

it be an occasion of spending money and a vicious excess, as

many would desire it to be; but it should be rest from labor

consecrated by Religion. Repose united with religious observ-

ance disposes man to forget for a while the business of this

daily life, and to turn his thoughts to heavenly things and to

the worship which he so strictly owes to the Eternal Deity.

It is this, above all, which is the reason and motive for the

Sunday rest; a rest sanctioned by God’s great law of the ancient

covenant, “Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day,”29 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.”30

Hours of Labor

If we turn now to things exterior and corporal, the first

concern of all is to save the poor workers from the cruelty of

grasping speculators, who use human beings as mere instru-

ments for making money. It is neither justice nor humanity

so to grind men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their

minds and wear out their bodies. Man’s powers, like his gen-

eral nature, are limited, and beyond these limits he cannot go.

His strength is developed and increased by use and exercise,

27Gen. i. 28. 28Rom. x. 12. 29Exod. xx. 8. 30Gen. ii. 2.



24 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

but only on condition of due intermission and proper rest. Daily

labor, therefore, must be so regulated that it may not be pro-

tracted during longer hours than strength admits. How many
and how long the intervals of rest should be, will depend upon

the nature of the work, on circumstances of time and place,

and on the health and strength of the workman. Those who

labor in mines and quarries, and in work within the bowels

of the earth, should have shorter hours in proportion, as their

labor is more severe and more trying to health. Then, again,

the season of the year must be taken in account; for not un-

frequently a kind of labor is easy at one time which at another

is intolerable or very difficult. Finally, work which is suitable

for a strong man cannot reasonably be required from a woman

or a child.

Child Labor

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 mature. For just as rough weather

destroys the buds of spring, so too early an experience of life’s

hard work blights the young promise of a child’s powers, and

makes any real education impossible. Women, again, are not

suited to certain trades; for 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 prin-

ciple, it may be laid down, that a workman ought to have

leisure and rest in proportion to the wear and tear of his

strength; for the waste of strength must be repaired by the

cessation of work.

In all agreements between masters and work-people, there

is always the condition, expressed or understood, that there

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 right or just 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.

Just Wages

We now approach a subject of very great importance and
one on which, if extremes are to be avoided, right ideas are



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 25

absolutely necessary. Wages, we are told, are fixed by free

consent; and, therefore, the employer when he pays what was

greed upon, has done his part, and is not called upon for any-

thing further. The only way, it is said, in which injustice

could happen, would be if the master refused to pay the whole

of the wages, or the workman would not complete the work

undertaken; when this happens the State should intervene, to

see that each obtains his own, but not under any other cir-

cumstances.

This mode of reasoning is by no means convincing to a fair-

minded man, for there are important considerations which it

leaves out of view altogether. To labor is to exert one’s self

for the sake of procuring what is necessary for the purposes

of life, and most of all for self-preservation. “In the sweat of

thy brow thou shalt eat bread .”
31

Therefore, a man’s labor

has two notes or characters. First of all, it is personal

;

for the

exertion of individual power belongs to the individual who puts

it forth, employing this power for that personal profit for which

it was given. Secondly, a man’s labor is necessary; for with-

out the results of labor a man cannot live; and self-conservation

is a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey. Now, if we

were to consider labor merely so far as it is personal
,
doubt-

less it would be within the workman’s right to accept any rate

of wages whatever; for in the same way as he is free to work

or not, so he is free to accept a small remuneration or even

none at all. But this is a mere abstract supposition; the labor

of the working man is not only his personal attribute, but it is

necessary; and this makes all the difference. The preservation

of life is the bounden duty of each and all, and to fail therein

is a crime. It follows that each one has a right to procure what

is required in order to live; and the poor can procure it in no

other way than by work and wages.

Let it be granted, then, that, as a rule, workman and em-

ployer should make free agreements, and in particular should

freely agree as to wages; nevertheless, there is a dictate of na-

ture more imperious and more ancient than any bargain be-

tween man and man, that the remuneration must be enough to

support the wage-earner in reasonable and frugal comfort. If

through necessity or fear of a worse evil, the workman accepts

8iGen. iii. 1.



26 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

harder conditions because an employer or contractor will give

him no better, he is 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
supercede undue interference on the part of the State, espe-

cially 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 method of safe-
guarding the interests of wage-earners; the State to be asked for

approval and protection.

Benefits of Property Ownership

If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him to main-

tain himself, his wife, and his children in reasonable comfort,

he will not find it difficult, if he is a sensible man, to study

economy; and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to

put by a little property: nature and reason would urge him

to do this. We have seen that this great labor question can-
not be solved except by assuming as a principle that private

ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, there-

fore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to in-

duce as many people as possible to become owners.

Many excellent results will follow from this; and first of

all, property will certainly become more equitably divided. For

the effect of civil change and revolution has been to divide

society into two widely different castes. On the one side there

is the party which holds the power because it holds the wealth;

which has in its grasp all labor and all trade; which manipulates

for its own benefit and its own purposes all the sources of sup-

ply, and which is powerfully represented in the councils of the

State itself. On the other side there is the needy and power-

less multitude, sore and suffering, always ready for disturbance.

If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtain-

ing a share in the land, the result will be that the gulf between

vast wealth and deep poverty will be bridged over, and the two

orders will be brought nearer together. Another consequence will

be the great abundance of the fruits of the earth. Men always

work harder and more readily when they work on that which

is their own; nay, they learn to love the very soil which yields



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 27

in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat,

but an abundance of the good things for themselves and those

that are dear to them. It is evident how such a spirit of willing

labor would add to the produce of the earth and to the wealth

of the community. And a third advantage would arise 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 tolerable and happy

life. These three important benefits, however, can only be ex-

pected on the condition that a man’s means be not drained and

exhausted by excessive taxation. The right to possess private

property is from nature, not from man; and the State has only

the right to regulate its use in the interests of the public good,

but by no means to abolish it altogether. The State is, therefore,

unjust and cruel, if, in the name of taxation, it deprives the pri-

vate owner of more than is just.

Workmen’s Associations

In the first place—employers and workmen may themselves
effect much in the matter of which We treat, by means of
those institutions and organizations which afford opportune as-

sistance to those in need, and which draw the two orders more

closely together. Among these may be enumerated: societies for

mutual help; various foundations established by private per-

sons for providing for the workman, and for his widow or his

orphans, in sudden calamity, in sickness, and in the event of

death; and what are called “patronages,” or institutions for the

care of boys and girls, for young people, and also for those of

more mature age.

The most important of all are Workmen’s Associations; for

these virtually include all the rest. History attests what excel-

lent results were affected by the Artificer’s Guilds of a former

day. They were the means not only of many advantages to

the workmen, but in no small degree of the advancement of

art, as numerous monuments remain to prove. Such associa-

tions should be adapted to the requirements of the age in which

we live—an age of greater instruction, of different customs,
and of more numerous requirements in daily life. It is gratify-

ing to know that there are actually in existence not a few so-

cieties of this nature, consisting either of workmen alone, or



28 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

of workmen and employers together; but it were greatly to be

desired that they should multiply and become more effective.

We have spoken of them more than once; but it will be well
to explain here how much they are needed, to show that they

exist by their own right, and to enter into their organization and

their work.

The experience of his own weakness urges man to call in

help 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 sup-

ported by the other. Woe to him that is alone, for when he

falleth he hath none to lift him up .”32 And further: “A brother

that is helped by his brother is like a strong city.”
33

It is this

natural impulse which unites men in civil society; and it is this

also which makes them band themselves together in associations

of citizen with citizen; associations which, it is true, cannot

be called societies in the complete sense of the word, but which

are societies nevertheless.

These lesser societies and the society which constitutes the

State differ in many things, because their immediate purpose and

end is different. Civil society exists for the common good, and,

therefore, is concerned with the interests of all in general, and

with the individual interests in their due place and proportion.

Hence, it is called public society, because by its means, as St.

Thomas of Aquin says, “Men communicate with one another

in the setting up of a commonwealth .”34 But the societies

which are formed in the bosom of the State are called private

,

and justly so, because 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 carry-

ing out private business; as when two or three enter into part-

nership with the view of trading in conjunction.”
35

Particular

societies, then, although they exist within the State, and are

each a part of the State, nevertheless cannot be prohibited by

the State absolutely and as such. For to enter into a “society”

of this kind is the natural right of man; and the State must

protect natural rights, not destroy them; and if it forbids

its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very prin-

32Eccles. iv. 9, 10.

^Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, Cap. II.

33Prov. xviii. 19.

35Ibid.



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 29

ciple of its own existence; for both they and it exist in virtue

of the same principle, viz., the natural propensity of man to

live in society.

There are times, no doubt, when it is right that the law

should interfere to prevent association; as when men join to-

gether for purposes which are evidently bad, unjust, or dan-

gerous to the State. In such cases the public authority may

justly forbid the formation of association, and may dissolve

them when they already exist. But every precaution should be

taken not to violate the rights of individuals, and not to make

unreasonable regulations under the pretense of public benefit.

For laws only bind when they are in accordance with right

reason, and therefore with the eternal law of God .36

Violent Oppression

And here we are reminded of the Confraternities, Societies,

and Religious Orders which have arisen by the Church’s au-

thority and the piety of the Christian people. The annals of

every nation down to our own times testify to what they have

done for the human race. It is indisputable on grounds of

reason alone, that such associations, being perfectly blameless

in their objects, have the sanction of the law of nature. On

their religious side, they rightly claim to be responsible to the

Church alone. The administrators of the State, therefore, have

no rights over them, nor can they claim any share in their

management; on the contrary, it is the State’s duty to respect

and cherish them, and, if necessary, 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 has

laid violent hands on these communities, and committed mani-

fold injustice against them; it has placed them under the civil

law, taken away their rights as corporate bodies, and robbed

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

them for a definite purpose, and of those for whose benefit and

assistance they existed. Wherefore We cannot refrain from

3G“Human law is law only in virtue of its accordance with right reason: and thus
it is manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And in so far as it deviates from
right reason^ it is called an unjust law; in such case it is not law at all, but rather a

species of violence.” St. Thomas of Aquin, Summa Theologica, la 2ae 0- xciii art. iii.



30 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

complaining of such spoilation as unjust and fraught with evil

results; and with the more reason because, at the very time

when the law proclaims that association is free to all, We see
that Catholic societies, however peaceable and useful, are hin-

dered in every way, whilst the utmost freedom is given to men

whose objects are at once hurtful to Religion and dangerous to

the State.

Associations of every kind, and especially those of working

men, are now far more common than formerly. In regard to

many of these there is no need at present to inquire whence

they spring, what are their objects or what means they use.

But there is a good deal of evidence which goes to prove that

many of these societies are in the hands of invisible leaders, and

are managed on principles far from compatible with Christian-

ity and the public well-being; and that they do their best to get

into their hands the whole field of labor and to force workmen

either to join them or to starve. Under these circumstances the

Christian workmen must do one of two things: either join asso-

ciations in which their religion will not be exposed to peril or form

associations among themselves—unite their forces and coura-
geously shake off the yoke of an unjust and intolerable oppres-

sion. No one who does not wish to expose man’s chief good to
extreme danger will hesitate to say that the second alternative

must by all means be adopted.

Principles of Organization

Those Catholics are worthy of all praise—and there are not
a few—who, understanding what the times require, have, by
various enterprises and experiments, endeavored to better the

conditions of the working people without any sacrifice of prin-

ciple. They have taken up the cause of the working man, and

have striven to make both families and individuals better off;

to infuse the spirit of justice into the mutual relations of em-

ployers 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 diver-

gent interests and various classes which compose the State. It

is with such ends in view that We see men of eminence meet-
ing together for discussion, for the promotion of united action,



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 31

and for practical work. Others, again, strive to unite working

people of various kinds into associations, help them with their

advice and their means, and enable them to obtain honest and

profitable work. 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 on behalf of the spiritual and mental interests of the

members of Associations. And there are not wanting Catholics

possessed of affluence, who have, as it were, cast 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 by his

labor not only many present advantages, but also the certainty

of honorable support in time to come. How much this multiplied
and earnest activity has benefited the community at large is

too well known to require Us to dwell upon it. We find in it
the grounds of the most cheering hope for the future; provided

that the Associations We have described continue to grow and
spread, and are well and wisely administered. Let the State

watch over these societies of citizens united together in the exer-

cise of their right; but let it not thrust itself into their peculiar

concerns and their organization, for things move and live by

the soul within them, and they may be killed by the grasp

of a hand from without.

Religion First

In order that an Association may be carried on with a unity
of purpose and harmony of action, its organization and gov-

ernment must be firm and wise. All such societies, being free

to exist, have the further right to adopt such rules and or-

ganization as may best conduce to the attainment of their ob-
jects. We do not deem it possible to enter into definite de-
tails on the subject of organization; this must depend on na-

tional character, on practice and experience, on the nature and

scope of the work to be done, on the magnitude of the various

trades* and employments, and on other circumstances of fact and

of time—all of which must be carefully weighed. Speaking sum-
marily, we may lay it down as a general and perpetual law,
that Workmen’s Associations should be so organized and gov-

erned as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attain-



32 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

ing what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual

member to better his condition to the utmost, in body, mind

and property. It is clear that they must pay special and prin-

cipal attention to piety and morality, and that their internal

discipline must be directed precisely by these considerations;

otherwise they entirely lose their special character, and come to

be very little better than those societies which take no account

of Religion at all. What advantage can it be to a workman

to obtain by means of a society all that he requires, and to

endanger his soul for want of spiritual food? “What doth it

profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of

his own soul ?”37

This, as Our Lord teaches, is the note or character that dis-

tinguishes 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 .”
38

Let our Associations, then, look first and before

all to God; let religious instruction have therein a foremost

place, each one being carefully taught what is his duty to God,

what to believe, what to hope for, and how to work out his

salvation; and let all be warned and fortified with especial solici-

tude against wrong opinions and false teaching. Let the working

man be urged and led to the worship of God, to the earnest prac-

tice of Religion, and, among other things, to the sanctification of

Sundays and festivals. Let him learn to reverence and love

Holy Church the common Mother of us all; and so to obey

the precepts and frequent the Sacraments of the Church, those

Sacraments being the means ordained by God for obtaining for-

giveness of sin and for leading a holy life.

Relation of Members

The foundations of the organization being laid in Religion,

We next go on to determine the relations of the members, one to
another, in order that they may live together in concord, and

go on prosperously and successfully. The offices and charges of

the society should be distributed for the good of the society

itself, and in such manner that difference in degree or position

, should not interfere with unanimity and good-will. Office-

bearers should be appointed with prudence and discretion, and

37St. Matt. xvi. 26. 88St. Matt. vi. 32. 33



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 33

each one’s charge should be carefully marked out; thus no mem-

ber will suffer wrong. Let the common funds be administered

with strictest honesty, in such a way that a member receives

assistance in proportion to his necessities. The rights and

duties of employers should be the subject of careful considera-

tion as compared with the rights and duties of the employed.

If it should happen that either a master or a workman deemed

himself injured, nothing would be more desirable than that

there should be a committee composed of honest and capable

men of the Association itself, whose duty it should be, by the

laws of the Association, to decide the dispute. Among the pur-

poses of a society should be an effort to arrange for a continuous

supply of work at all times and seasons; and to create a fund

from which the members may be helped in their necessities,

not only in case of accident, but also in sickness, old age, and

misfortune.

Such rules and regulations, if obeyed willingly by all, will

sufficiently ensure the well-being of poor people; whilst such

Mutual Associations among Catholics are certain to be produc-

tive, in no small degree, of prosperity to the State. It is 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 of the early ages of

the Church, that the greater number of them had to live by

begging or by labor. Yet, destitute as 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, laborious and peaceful, men of

justice, and, above all, men of brotherly love. In the presence

of such a life and such an example, prejudice disappeared, the

tongue of malevolence was silenced, and the lying traditions of

ancient superstition yielded little by little to Christian truth.

Honesty

At this moment the condition of the working population is

the question of the hour; and nothing can be of higher interest

to all classes of the State than that it should be rightly and



34 THE CONDITION OF LABOR

reasonably decided. But it will be easy for Christian working

men to decide it aright if they form Associations, choose wise

guides, and follow the same path which with so much advan-

tage to themselves and the commonwealth was trod by their

fathers before them. Prejudice, it is true, is mighty, and so

is the love of money; but if the sense of what is just and right

be not destroyed by depravity of heart, their fellow-citizens

are sure to be won over to a kindly feeling towards men whom

they see to be so industrious and so modest, who so unmistak-

ably prefer honesty to lucre, and the sacredness of duty to all

other considerations.

And another great advantage would result from the state of

things We are describing; there would be so much more hope
and possibility of recalling to a sense of their duty those work-

ing men who have either given up their faith altogether, or

whose lives are at variance with its precepts. These men, in

most cases, feel that they have been fooled by empty promises

and deceived by false appearances. They cannot but perceive

that their grasping employers too often treat them with the

greatest inhumanity, and hardly care for them beyond the

profit their labor brings; and if they belong to an Association,

it is probably one in which there exists, in place of charity

and love, that internal strife which always accompanies un-

resigned and irreligious poverty. Broken in spirit and worn

down in body, how many of them would gladly free themselves

from this galling slavery! But human respect, or the dread

of starvation, makes them afraid to take the step. To such

as these, Catholic Associations are of incalculable service, help-

ing them out of their difficulties, inviting them to companion-

ship, and receiving the repentant to a shelter in which they

may securely trust.

Conclusion

We have now laid before you, Venerable Brethren, who are

the persons, and what are the means, by which this most dif-

ficult question must be solved. Every one must put his hand

to work which falls to his share, and that at once and imme-

diately, lest the evil which is already so great may by delay

become absolutely beyond remedy. Those who rule the State

must use the law and the institutions of the country; masters



THE CONDITION OF LABOR 35

and rich men must remember their duty; the poor, whose in-

terests are at stake, must make every lawful and proper effort;

since Religion alone, as We said at the beginning, can destroy
the evil at its root, all men must be persuaded that the primary

thing needful is to return to real Christianity, in the absence

of which all the plans and devices of the wisest will be of little

avail.

As far as regards the Church, its assistance will never be

wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may; and it will

intervene with great effect in proportion as its liberty of ac-

tion is the more unfettered; let this be carefully noted by

those whose office it is to provide for the public welfare. Every

minister of holy Religion must throw into the conflict all the

energy of his mind, and all the strength of his endurance; with

your authority, Venerable Brethren, and by your example, they

must never cease to urge upon all men of every class, upon the

high as well as the lowly, the Gospel doctrines of Christian life;

by every means in their power they must strive for the good

of the people; and above all they must earnestly cherish in

themselves, and try to arouse in others, Charity, the mistress

and 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 other’s sake, and which is man’s surest antidote against

worldly pride and immoderate love of self; that Charity whose

office is described and whose God-like features are drawn by the

Apostle St. Paul in these words: “Charity is patient, is kind,

. . . seeketh not her own, . . . suffereth all things, . . . endureth

all things.”
39

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 Bene-
diction.

Given at St. Peter’s in Rome, the fifteenth day of May, 1891,

the fourteenth year of Our Pontificate.

LEO XIII., POPE.
891 . Cor. xiii. 4-7.



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