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LABOR
RELATIONS
BY FATHER WILLIAM J. SMITH, S.J.

m.

Catechetical <@uilti educational ^ocietp

£>t. $aul, iWinnestota



Imprimi Potest: Thomas E. Henneberry, S.J.
Provincial

, New Yor\

Nihil obstat: John M. A, Fearns, S.T.D.

Censor Ubrorum

Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal Spellman

Archbishop of New York

April 4, 1955

The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations

that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error.

No implication is contained therein that those who have
granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur agree with the

contents, opinions or statements expressed.

m

Cover by Edwin Schmidt

COPYRIGHT 1955 BY CATECHETICAL GUILD EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY ARTISTS AND WRITERS GUILD, INC.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY WESTERN PRINTING AND LITHOGRAPHING CO.

PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA

BY PALM PUBLISHERS, MONTREAL.

Owwnod



Contents!

one Peter to Pius 7

two Why Pope Leo XIII Wrote

His Original Letter in 1891 17

three Basic Social Defects 20

four The Basic Moral Defect—Greed 25

five Partial Interim Progress 28

six Right to Organize 36

seven The Contract and Political Action 43

eight The Stride 49

nine An Industry Council Economy 53

ten “Re-action” vs. Action 61





ONE

-peter to

TflfN the establishment of His Church, Jesus Christ, the

J) founder of Christianity, commissioned one man, Peter,

chosen from among His first followers, to be its sovereign

head. It can easily be shown that the currently reigning sov-

ereign pontiff of the Catholic Church, Pius XII, is the legiti-

mate successor in direct line to Peter, the first pope of that

Church.

From Peter to Pius, in succession down the years, the

pontiffs have made public pronouncements on thousands of

subjects in keeping with their times and the circumstances of

their age, as men and movements passed across the stage of

history.

These public papal statements, in their official character,

have always been confined to one phase of human affairs : the

relation of thoughts and actions of men to faith and morals.

Neither the Church, by the very nature of its organization,

nor the pope as its official spokesman, claims the right to go

beyond the confines of that self-imposed restriction.

NOT OUT OF BOUNDS

At first sight, the title of our book, The Pope and Labor

Relations, might lead one to believe that here at least is

one time and one topic in which papal pronouncements seem

to go beyond the stated scope and jurisdiction. As we develop

our theme, however, it will be clearly seen that this is not so.



8 The Pope Td\s About Labor Relations

We are presenting the thoughts and the principles of a
modern pope, Pius XI, on a timely subject, together with

some observations of a worthy predecessor, Leo XIII, and his

universally esteemed successor, Pius XII. The source of the

material is from what are called encyclicals. The basic prin-

ciples presented reflect papal thought from the angle of faith

and morals. Citations of fact, reference to past or current

events, personal observations, and comments are the responsi-

bility of this writer.

WHAT IS AN ENCYCLICAL?

The word encyclical is used to denote an official letter or

message issued by the sovereign pontiff and addressed ordi-

narily to the hierarchy and the members of the Catholic

Church throughout the world. The famous encyclical of Pius

XI, promulgated on May 15, 1931, for instance, bears the fol-

lowing salutation:

“To Our venerable brethren, the patriarchs, primates,

archbishops, bishops, and other ordinaries, in peace and

communion with the Holy See, and likewise to all the

faithful of the Catholic world: On Reconstructing Social

Order and on perfecting it in conformity with the law of

the Gospel, in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the en-

cyclical of Leo XIII, On the Condition of Workers.”

Both the official and the popular title given to an encyclical

are taken from the first two words of the first sentence of the

document in the original Latin text. The particular letter re-

ferred to above is known as Quadragesimo Anno. The cus-

tomary translation of the two words is “After Forty Years.”

The reference reveals the fact that this social encyclical of

Pius XI was made public forty years to the day after the pub-



Peter to Pius 9

lication of Leo XIIFs pioneer pronouncement in 1891 on the

Condition of the Working People.

NOT A SERMON OR SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

An encyclical is not the same as a catechism, either in form

or in content. The ordinary catechism is a booklet in ques-

tion-and-answer form. It consists of the truths we must believe

as members of the Catholic Church; an explanation of the

Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church; the

dogmas defined by the Church; and usually supplementary

prayers which are either necessary or useful in living a full

Christian life.

Nor is an encyclical a series of quotations from sacred Scrip-

ture and a commentary upon them. Sacred Scripture is the

revealed word of God as given to us by the inspired writers

whom God in His divine providence chose at appropriate

times in history.

THE SOCIAL ENCYCLICALS

The three encyclicals to which we will refer in this book

and upon which we build our theme are often spoken of as

the “social encyclicals.” There are other papal encyclicals

treating of practically every phase of the spiritual life, but

those are not so widely known. The three to which we refer

get their popular name “social” because they are directly con-

cerned with social problems, social conditions, the nature of

human society itself, and the relationships which should exist

in human institutions.

In these papal messages you may find statements which

explicitly or implicitly express a thought or a truth which you

have read in one form or another in your catechism. Here and

there they are interspersed with scriptural texts. But they



10 The Pope Talkj About Labor Relations

differ from the catechism and the Scriptures particularly in

this: in the so-called social encyclicals, the popes analyze the

condition of human society, point out errors and defects of

false philosophies in regard to human life, pinpoint social

abuses, and offer the proper principles for remedial action.

These profound messages of great social significance are

the fruit of scholarly research, penetrating thought, and the

age-old experience of the Church, coupled with a time-tested

social philosophy.

They reflect the thinking of a mind blessed with wisdom,

steeped in learning, strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Any

man of good will, intent upon serious study and reflection,

should find in them a veritable well-spring of strong logic

and sound reasoning.

RIGHT REASON— PLUS
For the Catholic reader, desirous of being truly Catholic in

all things, however, a papal encyclical has much more mean-

ing than merely an analysis of the nature of man and things,

deduced from natural reason. The papal message carries a

sanction that may not be disregarded.

Most Rev. John J. Wright, Bishop of Worcester, Massa-

chusetts, writing in The Voice of St. Jude, reminds the Faith-

ful of their obligation in this way:

“While radio broadcasts and public addresses by the Pope

cannot be put in the same class as his encyclical letters, still

they are usually comparable to them in that they are utter-

ances of the supreme teacher and pastor of Christendom,

using his teaching office to teach and guide the Christian

flock in matters of faith and morals. Accordingly, the truly

faithful will accord the Holy Fatheron such occasions that

internal and external compliance which, according to Cath-

t



Peter to Pius 11

olic teaching, is due the teaching authority of the Church in

its ordinary exercise.

“The assent which we give to this authority in its ordinary

exercise is known technically as ‘religious assent'. It is a true

internal assent. Its motive is not the authority of God speak-

ing, nor is it precisely the infallibility of the Church’s teach-

ing authority, but rather the official position of the Supreme

Teacher.”

The inference is clear. The Faithful are bound to give

“religious assent” to radio broadcasts and public addresses of

His Holiness. The binding force of a formal encyclical is

even greater.

His Excellency concludes on a strong note. “The fact,”

he insists, “that occasionally some Catholics may quibble

about or even contradict what the Holy Father has to say

in his. apostolic efforts to provide the world with moral

leadership is sad, even scandalous, but it signifies noth-

ing about the binding force of such public pronounce-

ments by the Pope.”

BY WHAT AUTHORITY?
An objection might be raised at this point: By what right

and authority does the pope, the spiritual head of a spiritual

institution, speak about such subjects at all? Again, that no

one may have any doubt as to the papal position, we will

quote his own words from the text of the social encyclical,

Quadragesimo Anno.

Pius XI states that the principle must be laid down at the

outset here, namely, that

“There resides in Us the right and duty to pronounce

with supreme authority upon social and economic matters.



12 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

Certainly the Church was not given the commission to

guide men to only a fleeting and perishable happiness but

to that which is eternal. Indeed, the Church holds that it

is unlawful for her to mix without cause in these temporal

concerns; however, she can in no wise renounce the duty

God entrusted to her to interpose her authority, not of

course in matters of technique for which she is neither

suitably equipped nor endowed by office, but in all things

that are connected with the moral law. For as to these, the

deposit of truth that God committed to Us and the grave

duty of disseminating and interpreting the whole moral

law, and of urging it in season and out of season, bring

under and subject to Our supreme jurisdiction not only

social order but economic activities themselves.”

Any man of normal intelligence and average good will

should be able to recognize immediately that economic activ-

ity and industrial relations do involve questions of justice and

injustice. Wherever you have a question of justice and injus-

tice you have a moral issue. It is on that basis alone (and from

that aspect alone) that the pope claims both the right and the

duty to speak out clearly and forcibly, particularly to the

members of his own flock, on the vital issues which pertain

to economic order and industrial society.

W H O—I F NOT THE POPE?
With solid right and stern logic we might reverse the

previous query and ask who in this whole wide world has the

right to speak out on faith and morals if not the Vicar of

Christ in the Vatican ? Must the Church ask some successor of

Stalin, some pompous politician or atheistic scientist to de-

cide when, where, and on which subjects the pope may speak ?

By what right and authority, does the critic raise a voice of



Peter to Pius 13

objection? Which human being or human institution may

claim the right to determine the jurisdiction of Christ’s Vicar

on questions of faith and morals?

No one within the Church, certainly, would even dream of

challenging the papal prerogative. The sovereign pontiff

speaks in his official capacity as head of the Church in accord-

ance with a divine constitution personally established by the

divine Founder. So it was with Peter, and so it is with our

present pope, and so it will be until the end of time.

Outside the Church no one can be found who has a legiti-

mate right to discount or dispute the unique primacy and

supremacy of the papal position. There is nothing in the

personality of any individual, in science, wealth, political or

military power, competitive or comparable religion, or in

human society itself, which possesses the proper credentials

to dislodge the successor of Peter as the Lord’s anointed

spokesman on issues of faith and morals.

It matters not what the field or area of human activity; so

long as it is human action, the morality or immorality of that

act comes within the legitimate jurisdiction of papal observa-

tion, moral judgment, and pronouncement.

THE NEED FOR MORAL GUIDANCE

That there is need for an authentic spokesman in a world

writhing in the agony of its own social and spiritual confu-

sions is too evident for comment. If no such power and per-

sonality were in existence, every reasonable man should see

clearly the necessity of establishing, if possible, just such a

voice.

God, in His infinite power and wisdom, did foresee and

ordain an official spokesman to proclaim truth in His Name.

To date, man, the highest and noblest of God’s creatures on



14 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

earth, has not yet caught a sufficient glimpse of that divine

wisdom to desire ardently to share universally in it, nor does

the modern generation seem able to divert its attention long

enough from its miseries or its pleasures to feel the warmth

of it.

Indeed, there is need for an authentic voice, re-echoing in

clearest tones the unchanging and unchallengeable truths

which God Himself first promulgated in the hearts of human

beings when He created them to His own image and likeness.

There is need for such a voice today, as there has been in

every age. From the saintly lips of Leo 3QII, when the cruel

and crushing new industrial era had reached a peak, the

world did hear the sound of that voice in the year 1891. Pius

XI, recalling “the wonderful teaching which has made the

encyclical illustrious forever” gives us the reason for the vigor

of Leo’s original protest. He writes:

(10.) “The supreme pastor in this letter, grieving that so

large a portion of mankind should ‘five undeservedly in

miserable and wretched conditions,’ took it upon himself

with great courage to defend ‘the cause of the workers

whom the present age has handed over, each alone and

defenseless, to the inhumanity of employers and the un-

bridled greed of competitors.’
”

WHAT AN ENCYCLICAL IS NOT
The social suggestions and the moral directives contained

in a papal message are not and can never be either a theo-

retical outline or practical plan to be superimposed as an

economic strait jacket upon the industrial activities of a na-

tion. There is a proper relationship between economic science

and the moral law. There is also an area of sharp distinction

between the two.



Peter to Pius 15

Pius XI clearly recognized a dependence of the one upon

the other—namely, the relationship between economics and
moral science; and at the same time he drew the proper line of

distinction between the two. Lest anyone misunderstand his

intent and meaning it may be well for us to quote his words

directly :

* (42) “Even though economics and moral science em-

ploys each its own principles in its own sphere, it is, never-

theless, an error to say that the economic and moral orders

are so distinct from and alien to each other that the former

depends in no way on the latter. Certainly, the laws of

economics, as they are termed . . . determine the limits of

what productive human effort cannot, and of what it can,

attain in the economic field and by what means. Yet it is

reason itself that clearly shows, on the basis of the indi-

vidual and social nature of things and of men, the purpose

which God ordained for all economic life.”

MORAL LAW—THE GUIDING STAR
“But it is only the moral law,” the pope continues, “which

. . . commands us to seek directly in each kind of activity

those purposes which God, the Author of nature, established

for that kind of action, and, in orderly relationship, to sub-

* ordinate such immediate purposes to our supreme and last

end.

“If we faithfully observe this law, then it will follow that

the particular purposes, both individual and social, that are

sought in the economic field will fall in their proper place in

the universal order of purposes.”

* All papal quotations used in this booklet are from the Outline Press editions

of the Social Encyclicals, published by Dr. Francis
J. Brown, DePaul Univer-

sity, Chicago, 111.



16 The Pope Talks About Labor Relations

ECONOMICS PLAYS ITS OWN PART
In this brief excerpt, the pope is telling us that the “laws of

economics” can estimate the possible areas of production,

what can or cannot be produced by human effort in the eco-

nomic field, and by what technological means such produc-

tion can be attained. In the truly scientific aspects of that study

and its applications the Church does not and will not intrude.

The pope goes on to remind us, however, that economic

life is not some form of human activity outside the range of

complete human living. Economics cannot tell us what is the

supreme and last end of a human being; it cannot determine

for us the whole end and nature of society or specify for us

how the social, civic, political, and spiritual activities of men

fit into God’s divine plan. In that field, economics, in its turn,

has no right to intrude.

ROCK-BOTTOM REASONING

We must find out first of all what a man is, what he is
meant to be, and why he is on the earth at all—and then see
where each of the particular activities engaged in by human

beings fits into the over-all plan of order originally designed

by the Creator.

We can come to a knowledge of those facts by a study of
the nature of man and of things. In the course of our study we

discover, for instance, whether man was made for the ma-

chine or the machine for man. As we learn the correct answers

to such problems, we see where each particular type of human

activity according to its purpose falls into its proper place in

the jigsaw puzzle of life. As we develop our theme in this

book, the cut and mold of the pieces of the puzzle will be

recognized more clearly.



TWO

WB\)p $ope %to X

X

tl Wrote

His! (Anginal Hetter m 1891

^I^he Industrial Revolution was on. A new power, a mon-

ster called “Money—Capital,” had seized control of
human life. Pius XI would characterize the degrading effects

of it at a later date with the biting observation : “Dead matter

leaves the factories ennobled, while men are corrupted and

decay.”

In every country, wherever the new-found magic of the

machine was introduced, and in man/ industries in which it

had not yet been employed, the human worker was looked

upon as of less value than a piece of steel or iron or wood. The

dignity of man was desecrated, his nature was degraded, and

his destiny seemingly was unknown. This age of man’s in-

humanity to man would remain unsurpassed until com-

munism, its offspring, would arise to outdo the parent in

cruelty and malice. In the meantime, the effect of the evil

spread to every nation.

As early as 1848, in Germany, the strident voices of Marx

and Engels were proclaiming their declaration of war on

human society in the Communist Manifesto as a protest



18 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

against the new industrial tyranny. At the same time, from

the pulpit of the Cathedral of Mainz, the thundering tones of

Bishop Von Ketteler gave loud rebuttal from the viewpoint

of Catholic social teaching.

It was England’s unhappy fate to lead the way in the new

art of exploitation. Frustrated men, frail women, and stunted

children toiled and sweated in unsanitary shops from sunrise

to sundown. When each long day’s work was done, they re-

turned to unhealthy slums to snatch a scanty meal and stretch

their aching bones upon some makeshift bed.

On the continent in France, any plea for social sanity fell

on ears which had been dulled and deafened by the din of an

anti-religious French Revolution.

The United States was not slow in catching the spirit of

the surging industrialism. Thousands of miles of railroad

were laid in the blood and sweat of natives and immigrants

alike. Shrewd men built their industrial empires, gouging

government and public by tricky manipulations, while pay-

ing the toiling masses starvation wages.

Barebacked workers steamed and sweated fourteen or six-

teen hours a day in the steel plants, and in mines and mills

strong men and worn children with drawn faces toiled side

by side from dawn to setting sun.

It is difficult indeed for our modern American worker with

his sedan, television set, and two or three radios around the

house to picture even in imagination the harrowing experi-

ences of the laborer of those days. To add to this irony it was

common belief, shared even by many of the helpless poor,

that wealth was a sign of divine favoritism. The heresy was a

comforting thought to the conscience of the tycoon but was

little consolation to the oppressed multitude.

The miseries of the poor and oppressed workers clamored



The Letter of Pope Leo XIII 19

to heaven for justice and for a champion to plead the cause of

charity in the court of world opinion. God had provided such

a spokesman, fully equipped and uniquely stationed, to as-

sume the role.

With the calm assurance that comes from the guidance of

the Holy Spirit and the cool courage of one who wears the

robes of martyred predecessors, Leo XIII blazoned to the

world the meaning of regl religion and the unexpendable

place it must have in the lives of men. He analyzed with keen

acumen the evils and the errors of his day and pointed out

with uncanny accuracy the even greater hardships and suffer-

ing that would fall upon the human race in the future as a

consequence.

He outlined with telling strokes the rights and duties of

employers and employees, the legitimate powers of govern-

ments (and their limitations), and the shortcomings of so-

cialism, even as he indicated clearly the pattern of sound

social philosophy to be followed.

The world of his day, non-Catholic and Catholic alike, was

ill-prepared to understand and appreciate his words of wis-

dom. In spite of that, the impact of his message was a mighty

one. Pius XI would later call the letter a Catholic Magna

Charta. The fullness of the seed, however, fell on barren

ground for many a year.

Perhaps the lack of a complete response to Leo’s great mes-

sage might be called a happy failing. For the very negligence

of the Catholic world toward his encyclical created the neces-

sity for a more comprehensive, clear-cut, and commanding

letter from his worthy successor. Forty years later, in 1931, the

ever-growing need for a fuller and more current commen-

tary called forth from the Vatican the masterly pronounce-

ment of Pius XI, known everywhere as Quadragesimo Anno.



THREE

Paste Social defects

rtE Industrial Revolution gave an irresistible impetus tothe anti-social error of individualism. It inflicted a death
blow upon the co-operative spirit in industrial society. Taking

quick and unscrupulous advantage of the helplessness of the

workers, owners of wealth got a “running start” in the race

for power and privilege in the new era. Economic strength

and industrial might supplanted the concepts of justice, co-

operation, and the common good in economic life.

Karl Marx did not invent class conflict. It was the offspring

of injustice and exploitation spawned in every city, town, and

hamlet as the spirit of individualism spread the virus of a

codeless capitalism throughout the world. The very concept of

“society,” of harmonious human relations under law, which

had been a sustaining wall of human solidarity, was discred-

ited and denied.

Unbridled pursuit of profits became the dominating prin-

ciple of economic activity. Unfettered freedom found itself as

the supreme and segregated “virtue” of modern life. But it

was a freedom that could be enjoyed for the most part only



Basic Social Defects 21

by the rich, the powerful, and the unscrupulous. The very

state itself became a pawn on the chessboard of competition

as the tycoons mapped out their areas of conquest for their

respective industrial empires.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

By the year 1931 some small social progress had been made.

The power of counter-social pressures had been at work, chip-

ping away scales from the Gibraltar of greed. But even at that

late date Pius XI in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno could

not join the applause that the rugged individualists were

still sending up in praise of liberalistic, disordered enterprise.

He wrote:

(109) “The ultimate consequences of the individualistic

spirit in economic life are those which you yourselves, Ven-

erable Brethren and Beloved Children, see and deplore:

Free competition has destroyed itself; economic dictator-

ship has supplanted the free market; unbridled ambition

for power has likewise succeeded greed for gain; all eco-

nomic life has become tragically hard, inexorable, and

cruel.

“To these are to be added the grave evils that have re-

sulted from an intermingling and shameful confusion of

the functions and duties of public authority with those of

the economic sphere—such as (one of the worst) the vir-
tual degradation of the majesty of the state, which al-

though it ought to sit on high like a queen and supreme

arbitress, free from all partiality and intent upon the one

common good and justice, is become a slave, surrendered

and delivered to the passions and greed of men.

“And as to international relations, two different streams



22 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

have issued from the one fountainhead : On the one hand,

economic nationalism or even economic imperialism; on

the other, a not less deadly and accursed internationalism

of finance or international imperialism whose country is

where profit is.”

“CREEPING CAPITALISM” AND KARL MARX

By coincidence the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its arti-

cle on capitalism practically paraphrases another pertinent

statement of Pius XI. In the Britannica article we read:

“As it has enlarged and altered the white societies out

of recognition, capitalism reaches into the depths of the

newer continents and is stirring anew the ancient Asiatic

peoples; while in a single half century it has penetrated the

dark continent from end to end and transformed all Afri-

can conditions. . . . It is the strongest pervading influence

in the daily affairs of all civilized peoples”

The papal view is expressed as follows:

(103.) “With the diffusion of modern industry throughout

the whole world, the capitalist economic regime has spread

to such a degree, particularly since the publication of Leo

XIII’s encyclical, that it has invaded and pervaded the eco-

nomic and social life of even those outside its orbit and is

unquestionably impressing on it its advantages, disadvan-

tages, and vices and, in a sense, is giving it its own shape

and form.”

At first sight these two statements seem to have no further

significance than an unusual similarity of thought and expres-

sion. It was Karl Marx, however, who, in advocating his

extreme doctrine for the overthrow of the whole capitalistic



Basic Social Defects 23

system, made the claim and the prediction that it is the

economic system which shapes and forms the social, civic, and

domestic lives of the citizens of the nation.

DIGRESSION ON A QUIBBLE

Objection is taken at times to the use of the term “capital-

ism” as an apt expression for the non-communist, non-social-

ist economic system popularly referred to under that title.

The argument advanced for discontinuing the use of the

term “capitalism” is that it was adopted as a slogan of con-

tempt by Karl Marx and his communist followers. With the

tremendous changes that have taken place in capitalistic sys-

tems since that day, the term has come to mean little more

than “what the communists are against.” Some, apprehensive

of communism, look upon it simply as a “scare-word.” It is

also contended that the popes have been reluctant to employ

the expression. Nonetheless, Messner and other outstanding

authorities still employ it.

Ten years ago a publicity contest was conducted with the

hope of re-naming American capitalism. The effort, evi-

dently, bore little fruit. We use the term in this book as an
“everyday” word that the average reader understands.

In the present instance, we are concerned with some of the

social effects of the capitalist regime; calling the thing by an-

other name would not lessen its impact upon human society.

Continuing this line of thought we add a few more pertinent

observations.

Peter Drucker in his thought-provoking The New Society

advances the thesis that mass-production capitalism is already

destroying the traditional concept and form of family life and

that evidences of the evil extend even to China, famous for its

ancestor worship and close-knit family structure. In our own



24 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

country, the double pay envelope of the working husband and

wife brings that danger to our own doorstep.

Pius XI, in the paragraph previously quoted,* points out

the undue influence that traditional capitalism has had upon

the true nature and function of civic authority.

From the words uttered by Leo XIII more than sixty years

ago right down to the present day, the Church has found it

difficult to get a hearing for her message even from her own

children whose souls, it seems at times, are absorbed in the

daily grind of mass-production, pursuing the siren song of

profits, and being enveloped in an environment of materialis-

tic gain and progress.

FRIGHTENING CONCLUSI ON

?

The gradual disruption of true family life, the distortion of

the correct concept of government, the nervous tensions aris-

ing from high-quota mass productidn, the over-all absorption

in the materialistic aspects of life—these and other such fea-
tures of capitalistic society give us reason to pause, and to ask:

“Is capitalism proving Karl Marx a prophet? Is our economic

system the servant or the master of the people?”

All that glitters in this capitalistic age is not gold. It is not

the gold, at least, of true living, of sanctity and sanity, of

sound social order, of the simple delight of walking with God.

Indeed there is need in every age for the voice of the Vati-

can to be heard. Thank God it still rings out amidst the organ-

ized chaos and the social confusion that men euphemistically

call “Modern Life.”

0

* Page 21



FOUR

GFfje Paste Jffloral Btfect— t^reeb

3
n this small book it is not possible to go into too much

detail. We merely indicate by apt quotes from the papal
encyclicals that there is more to our capitalistic system than

meets the eye. In summing up his diagnosis of capitalism,

communism, and socialism, Pius XI pointedly remarked,

(128) “Having surveyed the present economic system, we

have found it laboring under the gravest of evils. We have
also summoned communism and socialism again to judg-

ment and have found all their forms, even the most modi-

fied, to wander far from the precepts of the Gospel.”

He then goes on to lay the axe to the root of the evils.

(129)
“
‘Wherefore,’ to use the words of Our predecessor,

‘if human society is to be healed, only a return to Christian

•life and institutions will heal it.’

(132) “The root and font of [this] defection in economic

and social life from the Christian law and of the conse-

quent apostasy of great numbers of workers from the

Catholic faith are the disordered passions of the soul, the

sad result of original sin which has so destroyed the won-



26 The Pope Talks About Labor Relations

derful harmony of man’s faculties that, easily led astray

by his evil desires, he is strongly incited to prefer the pass-

ing goods of this world to the lasting goods of heaven.

“Hence arises that unquenchable thirst for riches and

temporal goods, which has at all times impelled men to

break God’s law and trample upon the rights of their

neighbors, but which, on account of the present system

of economic life, is laying far more numerous snares for

human frailty.

“Since the instability of economic life, and especially of

its structure, exacts of those engaged in it the most intense

and unceasing effort, some have become so hardened to

the stings of conscience as to hold that they are allowed, in

any manner whatsoever, to increase their profits and use

means, fair or foul, to protect their hard-won wealth

against sudden changes of fortune.”

The pope was neither unaware of nor unconcerned about

the fact that the “acquisitive spirit of capitalism,” as Tawney*

characterized it, had seeped down and infiltrated the minds

of the millions. He did not hesitate, however, to lay the blame

for the original seduction of the working classes where it

belongs.

(135) “With the rulers of economic life abandoning the

right road,” he states frankly, “it was easy for the rank-and-

file workers everywhere to rush headlong also into the

same chasm; and all the more so because very many man-

agements treated their workers as mere tools, with no

concern at all for their souls, without indeed even the least

thought of spiritual things.”

* R. H. Tawney: Religion and the Rise of Capitalism



The Basic Moral Defect—Greed 27

THE REMEDY

Pius XI immediately indicates the twofold nature of the

reconstruction which human society must undergo—namely,
a return to the moral law and the reformation of social insti-

tutions and relationships.

(136) “No genuine cure can be furnished for this lament-

able ruin of souls, which, so long as it continues, will frus-

trate all efforts to regenerate society,” he asserts, “unless

men return openly and sincerely to the teaching of the

Gospel, to the precepts of Him who alone has the words of

everlasting life, words which will never pass away, even if

heaven and earth will pass away.

“All experts in social problems are seeking eagerly a

structure so fashioned in accordance with the norms of

reason that it can lead economic life back to sound and

right order. But this order, which We Ourselves ardently
long for and with all Our efforts promote, will be wholly

defective and incomplete unless all the activities of men

harmoniously unite to imitate and attain, insofar as it lies

within human strength, the marvelous unity of the divine

plan.”



FIVE

partial interim progress

some extent at least, in recent decades, we in the United

States have made progress in our efforts to correct the

abuses of the past, to reinforce the foundations of the social

structure of the present, and to look with open eyes at the

prospects and the projects which must be considered for the

future. Government, management, workers, and the public

have all shared in one way or another in our common striving

for a better social order and a more humane way of life. What

has been accomplished cannot be labeled with the humanly

impossible title of “perfect.” Human weaknesses and social

shortsightedness may still be in evidence, but it cannot be de-

nied that a great deal of good will, honest effort, and sincere

motive have gone into the remaking and the remolding of a

less harsh and a more harmonious American industrial soci-

ety. A quick review of what has been attempted and/or
accomplished both by public authority and private group

organization may be of interest. The idea suggested by Pius

XI, toward which we must still strive, may then be better

appreciated and better understood.



Partial Interim Progress 29

SOCIAL LEGISLATION

In making any reference to social legislation, the commen-

tator seems ever to run the risk of an accusation of partisan

politics. So confused, as a matter of fact, are the minds of

many, even of devout and ardent Catholics, in regard to the

role that the government may play in the economic life of a

nation that there are still some among us who look upon any

piece of legislation that deals with social betterment on a

large and wide scale as “socialistic.”

To avoid such criticism as far as possible, we will single out

no specific federal or state laws which have been enacted in

the United States in the past two or three decades. But rather

will we point to what is popularly called the Bishop’s Pro-

gram of 1919.

In that year, following World War I, an official committee

of the hierarchy of the United States formulated a program

of social objectives. It contained eleven points, concrete and

concise, the content of which evidently had its source in the

encyclical of Leo XIII. The bishops set forth as necessary and

salutary planks of reform in our social and industrial life the

following proposals:

1. Minimum-wage legislation.

2. Insurance against unemployment, sickness, disability,

and old age.

3. A sixteen year minimum-age limit for working chil-
dren.

4. The legal enforcement of the right of labor to organize.



30 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

5. Continuation of the National War Labor Board, for

these and other purposes affecting the relations of em-

ployers and employees.

6. A national employment service.

7. Public housing for working classes.

8. No general reduction of wartime wages and a long-

distance program of increasing them, not only for the

benefit of labor, but also in order to bring about that

general prosperity which cannot be maintained without

a wide distribution of purchasing power among the

masses.

9. Prevention of excessive profits and incomes through a

regulation of rates which allows the owners of public

utilities only a fair return on their actual investment,

and through progressive taxes on inheritance and in-

come and excess profits.

10. Participation of labor in management and a wider dis-

tribution of ownership through co-operative enterprises

and worker ownership in the stock of corporations.

11. Effective control of monopolies, even by the method

of government competition if that should prove neces-

sary.

The simple yet startling fact concerning these eleven pro-

posals is this: Prescinding from proposal 10, every one of

them, in whole or in part, has since been enacted into perma-

nent legislation or employed as a temporary measure by the

Congress and by many separate state legislatures.

The bishops were not heretical in 1919 when they identified



Partial Interim Progress 31

the fulfillment of the social needs of the people with Catholic

social thought by advocating specific and concrete proposals

—

and urged that the aims be attained through legislation. Nor

did they depart from the mind of the Vicar of Christ when

in 1940 a similar committee published and promulgated one

of the most forceful interpretations of Pius XI’s encyclical

Quadragesimo Anno which still stands as a treasure in the

American literature of Catholic social teaching.*

GROWTH OF TRADE UNIONISM

A second feature of our social progress since the publication
of Quadragesimo Anno has been the marked growth in

number, power, and prestige of the workers’ organizations

known as the trade-unions. The American working people

have Leo XIII to thank for that much more than they realize.

It was a tense moment in history when Leo XIII disdained

the displeasure of the powerfully wealthy and disregarded

the stubborn resistance of the rulers of many nations to pro-

claim that the right to free assembly and association in pur-

suit of legitimate aims is inherent in human nature.

Many governments were afraid of uprisings by the com-

mon people if the legal restrictions and restraints that had

been laid upon them were to be modified.

Employers, entrenched behind the bulwark of their eco-

nomic citadels, trembled at the thought of organized revolt

against the bonds of tyranny which they had placed upon the

people.

In spite of all that, the dauntless pope proclaimed to the

world that even the lowliest of the working people had a

right, by nature and by divine decree, to organize and unite

in associations to protect their human interests.

*The Church and Social Order, S. L Greenslade, Macmillan Co.



32 The Pope Talks About Labor Relations

Pius XI did not retreat one step from the position previ-

ously taken by Leo XIII. He was well aware that in certain

instances communists and socialists and individuals of evil

intent had gained control of workers’ organizations. In spite

of the inability or unwillingness of some workers in some

places to gain and maintain democratic control of their own

organizations, Pius XI never hesitated to champion the prin-

ciple of true trade-unionism.

In his encyclical Atheistic Communism, promulgated

March 19, 1937, he included a noteworthy comment and ex-

hortation which not only reiterated the right of working

people to form and to join labor unions but also sharply criti-

cized some Catholic employers. The words of the Holy

Father are:

(95) “Therefore, We turn again in a special way to you,
Christian employers and industrialists, whose problem is

often so difficult for the reason that you are saddled with

the heavy heritage of an unjust economic regime whose

ruinous influences have been felt through many genera-

tions.

“We bid you be mindful of your responsibility. It is un-

fortunately true that the manner of acting in certain Cath-

olic circles has done much to shake the faith of the working

classes in the religion of Jesus Christ. These groups have

refused to understand that Christian charity demands the

recognition of certain rights due to the working man,

which the Church has explicitly acknowledged.

“What is to be thought of the action of those Catholic

employers who in one place have succeeded in preventing

the reading of our encyclical On Reconstructing the

Social Order in their local churches ? Or of those Catholic



Partial Interim Progress 33

industrialists who even to this day have shown themselves

hostile to a labor movement that We Ourselves recom-
mend? Is it not deplorable that the right of private prop-

erty defended by the Church should so often have been

abused to defraud the workingman of his wages and his

social rights?”

Pius XII, now gloriously reigning as Christ’s Vicar,

staunchly defying the demands of age and illness which his

years impose upon him, has re-echoed time and again the

sentiments and convictions of his predecessors. In many im-

portant messages he has broadened the base of the social point

of view of the Vatican, presenting pertinent observations and

comments on practically every major social issue of the day.

He has emphasized the critical analyses of Pius XI in re-

gard to the abuses of modern capitalism and the diabolical

evil of communism. Recently on two solemn occasions he has

uttered dire warnings to the world of the dangers that accom-

pany what he has called “the technical concept of society.” His

Holiness is rightfully apprehensive lest human values, as God

created them and implanted them in the hearts of men—those
values which reflect the real dignity of man—be swallowed
up and absorbed in the mad rush for mechanical achievement

and scientific progress upon which modern capitalism is built.

On a number of occasions the sovereign pontiff has ap-

proved and blessed the efforts of the working people through

their labor organizations to reach the rightful status and

position in industrial society and in national life to which

they are entitled. Still recognizing the concentration of power

vested in corporate enterprises, His Holiness aptly desig-

nates modern labor unions by the significant title “Organiza-

tions of Self-Defense.”



34 The Pope Talhjs About Labor Relations

It is common knowledge that American labor unions, in

general, are far from the Christian workers’ organizations

advocated by Pope Leo XIII and encouraged by his suc-

cessors. So, too, does our whole secular modern society fall

short of the ideal of human living envisioned in the en-

cyclicals. There is a touch of the Pharisee in some of labor’s

critics when they put forth their double standard of morality

—namely, their demand for “perfection” in the unions, and
tolerance of shortcomings for all other groups.

It cannot be denied that the right of organization and the

right to self-defense are abused by union officials in many

instances. The abuse of a right, however, according to papal

teaching, can never destroy the right itself.

So it is with the right to property, to free speech, to wor-

ship. So, too, is it with the right to organize. We must con-

stantly be on guard to correct abuses; any attempt to an-

nihilate a true human right, however, will but lead to even

greater abuses of some different type.

FOUR SOCIAL TOOLS AVAILABLE TO
WORKINGMEN

In the present stage of our social development and of our

capitalistic system, the working people in the United States

are in possession of four means or agencies which they can

employ to protect the rights which are theirs as human be-

ings. The first two of these are economic in nature—namely,
collective bargaining and the contract. The third is relatively

new, although it reflects the simple exercise of civic right—

that of organized political action. The fourth provision for

protection is an extraordinary means but is nonetheless,

under certain circumstances, a necessary and justifiable

human activity. It is the economic weapon of the strike.



Partial Interim Progress 35

None of these media of expression and active participation

in social action should be rightfully designated as anything

more than normal and necessary functions of a social group

in a democracy. We will consider each of the four points in
turn, in the light of Catholic social principles.



SIX

39Ugf)t to <^rgant?e

3A ou will not find the words “collective bargaining” in the

3? encyclicals. Neither will you find the terms A.F.L.,
C.I.O., National Association of Manufacturers, or Chamber

of Commerce. They are all in there, however, in one way or

another.

The social encyclicals do present a defense of the princi-

ples of free and voluntary associations and the right of citi-

zens to form such associations for legitimate purposes. You

will also find a plea for a national social policy to be estab-

lished and sustained by public authority.

Labor organizations, business corporations, and employ-

ers’ associations partake of the nature of free private unions

exemplifying the natural right and, insofar as they are

touched by legislation, the legal right, which the popes claim

belong to all citizens. Pius XI, referring specifically to labor

unions, put it this way:

(32) “With respect to the founding of these societies, the

encyclical On the Condition of Workers most fittingly

declared that workers’ associations ought to be so con-



Right to Organize 37

stituted and so governed as to furnish the most suitable

and most convenient means to attain the object proposed,

which consists in this, that the individual members of the

association secure, so far as is possible, an increase in the

goods of body

,

of soul

,

and of property . Yet it is clear that

moral and religious perfection ought to be regarded as

their principal goal, and that their social organization as

such ought above all to be directed completely by this

goal.”

For “when the regulations of associations are founded

upon religion, the way is easy toward establishing

the mutual relations of the members, so that peaceful

living together and prosperity will result.”

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

(34) “These counsels and instructions of Leo XIII were

put into effect,” Pius XI goes on to say, “differently in

different places according to varied local conditions. . . .

Some devoted themselves to the defense of the rights and

legitimate interests of their members in the labor market;

others took over the work of providing mutual economic

aid; finally, still others gave all their attention to the ful-

fillment of religious and moral duties and other obliga-

tions of like nature.

i

(35) “Where either the laws of a country, or certain spe-

cial economic institutions, or that deplorable dissension

of minds and hearts so widespread in contemporary so-

ciety, have prevented Catholics from founding purely

Catholic labor unions .... under these conditions, Catho-

lics seem almost forced to join secular labor unions.”



38 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

THE BISHOP DECIDES

“These units, however, should always profess justice

and equity and give Catholic members full freedom to

care for their own conscience and to obey the laws of the

Church. It is clearly the office of bishops, when they know

that these associations are, on account of circumstances,

necessary and are not dangerous to religion, to approve

of Catholic workers’ joining them, keeping before their

eyes, however, the principles and precautions laid down

by Our predecessor, Pius X of holy memory.*
“Among these precautions the first and chief is this:

Side by side with these unions there should always be as-

sociations zealously engaged in imbuing and forming

their members in the teaching of religion and morality so

that they in turn may be able to permeate the unions

with that good spirit which should direct them in all their

activity. As a result, the religious associations will bear

good fruit even beyond the circle of their own mem-

bership.”

It is clear from what Pius XI tells us here that it is the

office of the bishops of the country to approve or disapprove

of Catholic workers’ joining the modern type of American

labor union. That the American hierarchy has given such a

tacit consent in general arid, in some cases, a positive and

enthusiastic support and encouragement to the A. F. L. and

C.I.O. cannot be questioned. Even when the C.I.O. was a

battleground of communism and anti-communism, no

episcopal voice was raised condemning the organization it-

self.

Pius X, Encyclical, Singulari QuadartP, Sept. 24, 1912.



Right to Organize 39

SAME OBLIGATION FOR EMPLOYERS

What is seldom, if ever, pointed out is the parallel thought

that the paragraphs quoted above are just as pertinent to

and just as binding upon employers’ associations as they are

upon any labor union. Catholic employers have the same

obligation to strive to have their organizations, whatever

form or type they be, conform to the principle of “moral and

religious perfection [as] their principal goal,” to strive man-

fully that their organizations “profess justice and equity, and

give Catholic members full freedom to care for their own

conscience and obey the laws of the Church.”

There is equal necessity to set up other associations “side

by side with these associations zealously engaged in imbuing

and forming their members in the teaching of religion and

morality so that they in turn may be able to permeate [them]

with that good spirit which should direct them in all their

activity.”

The exhortation and the mandate so to act are equally

binding on both employer and worker and for the same

reason—as a protection to faith and morals against the en-
vironment of secularism in which they are compelled to carry

on their economic activities in modern life.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Of these economic activities one of greatest importance,

common to the two parties, is that of collective bargaining.

This feature of American industrial life, and the laws which

surround it, evolved logically from the very development of

our economic system.

Men unite and establish a business enterprise, whether in-

corporated or not, for the legitimate purpose of gaining a



40 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

living and supporting their families by trade or commerce.

They make their organization as strong as possible in every

way. When such a concern expands to a sizable extent, it

becomes a normal necessity for the employees to band to-

gether in a similar way, to form a labor union and to nego-

tiate a contract not merely as individuals but also collectively

through representatives of their own choosing. When the

bargaining is carried on in this way it is called collective bar-

gaining rather than individual bargaining. The meaning of

the term is as simple as that; the process, however, runs the

gamut of all the varied relationships which exist between

employer and employee.

All one has to do to realize the need for such a medium

for contract-making is to look at some of the giant corpora-

tions in the United States and the army of workers employed

by them. Fifty-eight of these economic giants in such indus-

tries as steel, automobiles, oil, communications, and so

forth, have corporate assets of one billion dollars or more.

All one need do to realize the value, to the worker, of col-

lective bargaining is to imagine the economic strength which

one isolated employee would have in dealing with any one

of these corporations.
m

NATIONAL POLICY

Collective bargaining is not only the most stabilizing influ-

ence in our whole Big-Business-Big-Union economy but

fortunately, and gratifyingly, it is also the national policy of

the United States, and so established by Congress. Efforts

have been made to reverse this policy, or at least channel it

more in the direction of individual bargaining, and in some

sections of our country, particularly in the South, these efforts



Right to Organize 41

have been successful. This tendency is not a socially healthy

one, and it should be checked. As we shall see a little later,

the trend to collective bargaining is in the direction of a

sounder social order as envisioned by Pius XI in Quadra-

gesimo Anno.

Many problems often attributed to collective bargaining

are actually results of the clash of conflicting philosophies

—

individualism and social industrial relations—rather than any
inherent evil or weakness in the principle of collective bar-

gaining. They will be ironed out more quickly and smoothly

as the primary principle of the right of workers to organize is

universally accepted and as the error of individualism recedes

from our national consciousness.
/

INDUSTRY-WIDE BARGAINING

Specific difficulties in regard to what is called industry-wide

bargaining in contrast to local bargaining will become less

acute when the simple fact is recognized that collective bar-

gaining must follow the pattern of the industry and of the

economic structure of a nation. If the corporation is spread

out from Boston to Baton Rouge, or from New York to San
Francisco, it stands to reason that the employees of such an

industry, if they are to have full and adequate protection of

their rights, must seek a contract which will afford them

proper protection according to the circumstances. Modifica-

tions of that contract to fit some local circumstance can be

and are made.

PAPAL INTEREST

The popes, in keeping with the principles of justice, char-

ity, and the correct social viewpoint of organization which

they teach, are concerned about collective bargaining. The



42 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

specific application of the papal principles, however, must al-

ways be made in accord with social conditions, particular

circumstances, and the stage of social development within a

nation. In the present status of industrial relations in our

American capitalistic system, the principle of collective bar-

gaining is the national policy; and without doubt adequate

justification for it can be found in the social encyclicals of

the popes.

9

.



SEVEN

Cfje Contract anb political Action

utCoR the purpose of exercising proper influence in the

Jp establishment of national social-economic policies,

there is no doubt in our mind that the American worker, both

as a citizen and as a member of society, is entitled to engage

in concerted, organized political action. To guarantee a just

contract he has every right, natural and legal, to make use of

the economic instrument of collective bargaining. We will

consider each of these subjects briefly. First, a few comments

on:

THE CONTRACT

One of the first and most fundamental objectives put forth

in the social encyclicals by the sovereign pontiffs is that of

minimizing and, if possible, abolishing both the reality arid

the spirit of class conflict. No feature of modern capitalistic

industrial relations holds greater hope of accomplishing that

purpose than does the collective bargaining contract. This is

true for a number of reasons.



44 The Pope Talkj About Labor Relations

First, it places the agreement arrived at bn the plane of strict

justice—commonly called commutative justice. That is the
primary meaning of a contract. It binds both sides solemnly

to honor, in conscience, the terms of their agreement. In

principle, this also could be true of a contract between a giant

corporation and the individual worker. The collective bar-

gaining contract, however, moves away from the spirit and

weaknesses of individualism, creates in the mind of the em-

ployee the realization of the need he has of unity and soli-

darity with his fellow employees, and tends to equalize the

power and position of the respective bargaining parties.

The result is a maturing stability in the relationship be-

tween the corporation and its employees. A mutual effort to
arrive at proper classification of various types of workers is

fostered. Standards on essential issues such as seniority, wages,

security, grievance procedures, welfare benefits, and similar

items in industrial life are established.

Secondly, the contract freezes conditions of employment so

that both employer and union can play their proper roles

with greater accuracy, competence, and efficiency. The longer

the duration of the*contract—with stipulation for an interim
re-opening on contingent issues—the nearer we come to the
attaining of that element of order which all the encyclicals

consider of primary importance, namely, the development of

permanent and harmonious social order.

CLASS CONFLICT

The basic cause of real conflict in the capitalistic system,

according to Pius XI—and as interpreted by the classic scholar
Nell-Breuning—lies in the fact that the modern economic
order by its structure, if not by nature, must look upon the



The Contract and Political Action 45

worker as a commodity. This papal observation has nothing

to do with the attitude or disposition of any individual em-

ployer. It is simply stated as a fact of present-day economic

life.

The defect, and it is a deep and stubborn one, can be

remedied only when a philosophy of social values will take

precedence over the philosophy which makes profits the pri-

mary goal of enterprise. One need not be clairvoyant to see

that such a transformation is not going to take place in the

immediate future. So long as the capitalistic system remains

what it is, this feature of the system will remain and will

continue to be the basic cause of conflict.

We live in the down-to-earth existence of a stubborn pres-

ent, and the prospect for early solution of the conflict is dim.

There is and will continue to be a conflict of interest between

the employer class and the working class in economic life.

The simple stating of this fact proves the one who expresses

it neither guilty of causing the conflict nor of condoning the

condition. As Nell-Breuning remarks, “to buy [labor] cheap

and to sell [the product] dear adds up to conflict.” The owner

endeavors to keep his costs at a minimum. The worker en-

deavors to have his wages raised to the maximum needed for

the support of a family. In reality, the two items and elements

are in conflict not because God created human beings that

way but because our current economic system elevates the

non-human element, capital, to an undue position of dom-

inance; as a result labor is reduced to the status of a coni'

modity . Class conflict follows as a natural consequence.*

The first obligation and responsibility of both parties and

of all concerned, including government and the public, is to

*
J. Messner: Social Ethics



46 The Pope Talkj About Labor Relations

reconstruct the form and functioning of the economic order

so that the primary defect itself will be remedied. For the

purpose of bringing about the desired changes, Pius XI sug-

gests a pattern of principles, popularly called the industry

council system, which we will outline briefly a little later on.

In the meantime—in spite of this basic difliculty and under
the compulsion of tolerating what cannot be changed imme-

diately—it is still a primary social obligation of both manage-
ment and workers to develop as far as possible the programs

and policies which will reduce to a minimum the spirit of

conflict and induce and encourage more efficient relations. No

more practical and efficient instrument in the furthering of

this objective has been devised to date than that of the col-

lective bargaining contract.

This phase of management-labor conflict must be looked

at from a twofold viewpoint: first, before the contract is

signed and, secondly, after the agreement has been reached.

The primary fact to be recognized is that American indus-

trial society, American enterprise, is a system of free inter-

change of thought and action. If we are to have a free society

this elementary feature can neither be denied nor ignored.

On each side of the bargaining table sit free, responsible

human beings. There is a conflict of interests, and there will

be a clash of opinions and convictions. There is nothing in-

trinsically evil, immoral, or illegal in that situation. It is as

natural as the surf that beats against the resisting shore.

The real crux of the conflict is not that reasonable men may

sit around a table and differ, even vehemently, in the presen-

tation of opposing facts and the respective evaluation of

them. So long as each side is seeking truth in honesty and

candor, the end product can be an adequate, if not always a

satisfactory, compromise and solution of differences. It is



The Contract and Political Action 47

when dishonesty, uncontrolled emotions, prejudice, or pas-

sion clog the atmosphere that injustice and injury may result.

Before a contract is signed it is the right—yes, the duty—of
the respective parties to engage in verbal battle, based on

presentation of argument and sound reason, to protect the

rights and the interests of those whom they represent.

However, once the parties put their signatures to an agree-

ment that document should be as sacred and binding as

though the signatories had written their names in their own

blood. It is both sin and crime to violate it.

It is a solemn and a serious obligation of each party to that

agreement to accept it as a mutual pledge of honor, to co-

operate in the proper and harmonious execution of its terms.

Whatever spirit of conflict may-have been engendered in the

negotiations and prior discussions, animosity should fade

with the firm grip of a virile handshake.

There is nothing more necessary in American life than the

carrying out of the industrial contract in the terms of team-

work. When this basic concept is recognized and respected

we will hear less talk of class conflict. The faithful observance

of the contract is the first line of defense in our domestic eco-

nomic order.

POLITICAL ACTION

There is nothing in either the Constitution of the United

States of America or in the social encyclicals of the Catholic

Church which would deny to working people the right to

engage in legitimate civic activities of every kind. There is no

such thing as an “economic” man. The idea that a working

man is merely a working man, and nothing else, went out of

vogue with the hoop skirt and the high-wheeled bicycle.

Every citizen of this nation, regardless of race, creed, or



48 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

color, whether he be a property owner or not, educated or

ignorant, is a citizen of equal rank with any other.

It is the unquestionable right of workers to nominate for

office, and to work for the election of, candidates who under-

stand the problems of the working people and, in the interest

of the common good, make use of their legitimate influence to

advance the cause of social justice.

The fact that trade unions engage in political action in a

concerted and unified way gives to those who may support

an individualistic philosophy no right to deny such political

action to the worker. Organized management has engaged in

such activity from time immemorial.

As stated previously, an essential element of good social

order is that of a public, national, social, and economic policy

which will have as its primary aim the protection and promo-

tion of the common good. There is no provision in the nature

of society, or of constitutional government, nor is there any

prohibition put forth by the Church which would deny to

working people a full and rightful representation in the for-

mation and execution of such a national policy. In a demo-

cratic form of government, such as we see for America, the

surest and the most efficient means of obtaining proper

representation for the working people is along the paths of

political action. What form of political action is the most

prudent one for them to adopt must be left to the trade

unionists’ own decision. We merely wish to state that the

principle itself can be justified, and to predict that civic and

social benefits may be anticipated if proper use is made of

such action.



I

EIGHT

W$i Strike

^|Khe sight of mature men and women, bearing placards,

parading before some plant or office building, is not a

pleasant one. There is something primitive about it—some-
thing that does not measure up to the true dignity of man.

Human beings should not be compelled to undergo experi-

ences of this kind just as they should not be subjected to en-

during poverty.

Unpleasant and disturbing to all concerned as it may be,

the sight of a picket line nevertheless proclaims boldly to the

world that the American worker is free; unshackled; not

subject to the whims of any dictator, political or economic.

Essentially, when the proper moral conditions are fulfilled,

the strike is a publicized protest against injustice.

The first thought to enter the mind of an observer, unfa-

miliar with the intricacies of collective bargaining negotia-

tions and modern industrial relations, might be, “Why

doesn’t the government compel these people to come to an

agreement? Why not insist upon compulsory arbitration?”
There are many reasons which prompt management, unions,



/50 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

the government itself, and the real experts on the subject to

disavow compulsory arbitration as the ordinary means of

settling labor disputes. We will indicate four such sound
reasons.

(1) Except in times of great emergency or crisis, it is futile

to expect the government to perform the function of writing

a labor contract. If it were to usurp that role it would soon

spell the end of a free economic system. Even our limited ex-

perience with compulsory arbitration in wartime has clearly

indicated the dangers inherent in such an approach to the

problem. Deprive the citizens of freedom in economic activ-

ity, and in due time the curtailment of other essential free-

doms would inevitably follow.

(2) Compulsory arbitration can never get to the root of

the dispute—namely, the grievance that brought on the dis-
agreement in the first instance. There can be no harmonious

and mutual acceptance of a superimposed solution so long as

the grievance itself still rankles in the minds and hearts of

those affected.

(3) It is a psychologically established fact that whenever

either or both parties to a contract negotiation feel that it is

to their advantage to await a compulsory decision, the whole

process of collective bargaining tends to bog down.

(4) Since the abolition of slavery, it is contrary to our tra-

ditional concept of freedom to compel even one single worker

to surrender himself, against his will, to work for the private

profit of any other co-equal citizen.

The time may come when we feel that the only possible

last resort to maintain order and security of the nation rests



The Strike 51

in compulsory arbitration. It is the common opinion of most

experts in the field that, if and when we might adopt such a

policy with the hope of avoiding the evils attached to the

strike, we shall be but substituting one evil for another—the
second more harmful than the first.

CONCESSION TO REALITY

Pius XI presented a remedy for this type of social disorder,

as well as for many other tangent evils and abuses, based on

the principles of sound reason and the very nature of man and

society. In the next section of this book we will discuss some

phases of the papal suggestion. At present we must accept

conditions as they actually exist; and we must seek temporary

remedies and reliefs in the light of Catholic social teaching

insofar as it can be applied to modern circumstances.

The Church does not and will not condemn the strike as

an economic weapon under existing capitalistic conditions.

She does not advocate or encourage the practice of work stop-

pages; she has laid down some stringent conditions in regard

to the moral implications involved. If and when the ethical

conditions are fulfilled, however, the moral theologians not

only justify the right of workers to engage in strike action,

but might even envision certain circumstances in which it

would be the moral and social obligation of employees so to

act.

MORAL ASPECTS OF THE STRIKE

The conditions for a justified strike are five in number:

(1) The issue must revolve around justice or at least be a

question of equity; (2) the strike action must be'the last

resort, after all other means for an amicable settlement have

been exhausted; (3) the means used to attain the end de-



52 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

sired must be moral and licit; (4) the good that is hoped for

must at least equal the evil that may be anticipated; (5)

there must be a solid hope of success before the risk of harm

involved may be undertaken.

Whether on all occasions, when strikes occur, these five

conditions are fulfilled, does not come within the scope of our

present writing. If the strike is to be justified from the moral

angle, however, these ethical standards must be seriously

weighed. They place a strict obligation upon the conscience

of those who are responsible for the strike. A strike-leader
who deliberately disregards these ethical standards is guilty

of the damage consequent upon his decision to call a strike.

Only a complete and comprehensive study of all the facts

and circumstances leading up to a strike can determine the

guilt of either union or management.

“Something new must be added” if we are ever to see the

day when the strike will disappear from the American indus-

trial picture. Many experienced people, as the American

bishops noted in one of their annual messages, are of the con-

viction that Pius XI actually offered that “something extra”

when he presented for world-wide consideration what is

today known as the industry council system. The concept is

too comprehensive for a detailed account of it in a short space.

Even a sketchy outline, however, can give sufficient indication

of the approach and content of the papal proposal to recog-

nize the soundness of the principles offered and the validity

of the argument advanced. We will attempt now to give a
brief explanation of what the thought-provoking ideal em-

braces.*

# Spotlight on Social Order (See: page 63)



NINE

&n Snbustrp Council Cconomp

-

<7|Khe key thought in the papal proposal for an industry

council or guild system of industrial relations is the sub-

stitution of mutual co-operation for the “class-against-class”

spirit which has traditionally characterized the modern cap-

italistic economy. It is readily conceded that this aim cannot

be even partially attained unless the philosophic concept of

the common good is respected as a norm of human action.

The ideal presented presupposes that the virtues of justice

and charity are still within the scope and normal aims of

human living.

It is a futile ambition to expect human aspirations to be

fulfilled, human values to be properly acknowledged, and

human goals to be reached merely by setting up a gigantic

network of intricate scientific mechanism for material

production. If the human aspects of life must be made sub-

ordinate to the material and mechanistic, the hope of recon-

structing human society along truly human lines becomes

dimmer. The technical processes of production will continue

to submerge the human equations involved.



54 The Pope Td\s About Labor Relations

THE POPE IS NOT A TECHNICAL ADVISOR

It is neither the role nor the responsibility of the Vicar of

Christ to advise or instruct the leaders of modern capitalism

in the art of industrial engineering. The sovereign pontiff has

but one part to play in economic life. His role is that of the

universal teacher who points out to human beings the proper

principles of human living as God Himself, the Creator of all

life, has made manifest these secrets of life itself.

As stated previously, it is possible, in a short space, to give

but the sketchiest outline of the papal proposal in regard to

an industry council economy. In brief, the concept contains

or implies the following truths and considerations:

(1) Human society is made up of human personalities,

each one an image and likeness of God, designed and des-

tined by the Creator to live in one brotherhood of man under

the Fatherhood of God.

(2) The total goods of earth were created not as goals of

greed for individuals, but as means to sustain human families.

(3) Men were created to live in peace and harmony, not in

fratricidal war—be it military, political, or economic. Men
cannot achieve or even attempt to fulfill that divine aim unless

they recognize the fact that there is a common good which

cannot be sacrificed to satisfy the selfishness of the individual.

(4) In every nation, the government itself is the agency

primarily entrusted with the responsibility for promoting and

protecting the common good. It is neither the right nor the

duty of government, however, to usurp functions which can

be efficiently and adequately performed by individuals and

by social groups. The citizens must be granted the fullest pos-

sible freedom to develop the social, economic, cultural, and

spiritual characteristics of the nation.

(5) A basic responsibility of government is to set national



An Industry Council Economy 55

social goals, to remove obstacles, to encourage private initia-

tive, and to protect the exercise of natural and legal rights by

both individual citizens and socially organized groups.

(6) The citizens, on their part, in order to enjoy the full

measure of freedom and to avoid infringement by public

authority,- must think and live and act in accord with the

principles of a sound philosophy from which they derive the

knowledge necessary to such living in the first place.

A chief cause of modern confusion has been the distortion

of certain functions by both government and private enter-

prise. Pius XI complains bitterly of both. The resultant dis-

order is due principally to an ignorance of, and consequendy

the improper exercise of, social responsibilities.

The disregard of their social obligations by citizens in the

past has brought on an excess of governmental interference

in the present. With the hope of restoring human society to

some semblance of social sanity, the Vicars of Christ have

issued their papal warnings. The messages for the most part

point out the proper principles which must be followed if

social order is to be restored. Among the major points are the

following:

(1) The citizens of every nation have not only the right

but the duty to organize social groups for the necessary and

legitimate purpose of establishing a truly organic and organ-

ized human society. These rights and duties are neither

given by government nor can they be abolished by govern-

ment. They are inherent in the human nature which God

created.

(2) The norm which must be followed to maintain social

order in domestic society (the family), God Himself set down

by instituting the very form of marriage.

(3) Though leaving the form of government to be freely



56 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

chosen by the citizens, the Creator divinely decreed the con-

cept of authority as an essential note of social order in civic

society.

The end product designed and desired for both domestic

and civic society is perfection of each individual member in

the exercise of his rights and obligations. Everything that God

created in the universe was intended as a temporary means

whereby each human being might the more easily and the

more efficaciously arrive at his final goal which is eternal life

with God Himself.

INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

By nature, the Creator left to the initiative of men the cor-

rect and harmonious development of economic life. Progress

is not to be made, however, by indulgence in human selfish-

ness. On the other hand, progress will not come from govern-

ment edicts which regiment citizens into a human supply

line to provide goods and services for the nation.

The unique feature of papal thought in regard to economic

life is based on the concept that industrial society is a vital and

integral part of all human society. The production of goods

should fall into some sort of natural categories. Those en-

gaged in any particular industry should consider themselves

as members of a specific form of society. Such segments of

society have been called “vocational groups.” We in America
translate the term into “industry councils.” A primary func-
tion of every individual in each industry should be to advance

the common good by participation in that specific industry.

INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY

Of utmost importance in this concept advanced in the papal

encyclicals is the fact that these vocational groups or industry



An Industry Council Economy 57

councils have a right to a quasi-autonomy. They have a right

to be self-governing, self-disciplining segments of society, de-

pendent upon government and public authority only insofar

as they must conform to a sound, legally-adopted national

policy, instituted to protect and advance the common good.

There is nothing in American industrial life which actually

corresponds to this concept There are what have been called

“approximations”—a general trend toward a more co-opera-
tive spirit between management and unions, the establish-

ment of some bi-partite councils in a few specific industries,

the setting up of commissions by a few international unions

to decide jurisdictional disputes, the appointment of perma-

nent arbitrators in a number of union-management contracts,

etc. Instances such as these indicate tendencies toward the

industry council philosophy.

For an authentic industry council system as envisioned in

papal thought, however, it would be necessary to have each

major industry, at least, become part of a national network of

industries functioning in accord with the social principles pro-

posed.

From the economic angle, the system would be a free

enterprise system

\

Prices, for instance, would be determined

by free competition, operating in accord with sound economic

and social principles. Factors of a purely economic nature

would be determined by the economists.

Prevention of economic activity from impairing social

values, and direction of these activities toward the common

good, would be the responsibility of the industry council,

made up of management and worker representatives, guided

by a national social policy.

The council itself would have the status of a public institu-

tion juridically established by statute.



58 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

These four essential elements stand out:

(a) Complete and independent organization of both work-

ers and employers in the industry, but joined in a higher form

of unity in the council.

(b) The mutual objective of the common good &s the im-

mediate aim of the bi-lateral assemblies.

(c) An intra-industry authority, democratically established,

to set up standards (for instance, of fair competition) and to

enforce the self-imposed regulations.

(d) A quasi-autonomy, yet subject to the restrictions of
the public interest as spelled out in the national social policy

of public authority.

The underlying assumption in this daring proposal is that

the parties in industrial life must either learn to live har-

moniously under a self-imposed discipline, or forfeit the

right to a freedom which can deteriorate into a spirit and

tolerance of anarchy. There must be order in economic life

as in domestic and civic life. There can be no order if the con-

cepts of organization, subsidiarity, authority, and the com-

mon good are scoffed at and spurned.

Authority in economic activities, for instance, will be exer-

cised by an exclusive and dangerous dependence upon po-

litical power, or the concept will be voluntarily accepted as

an inherent element of industrial society itself.

In its simplest form the problem of order in industrial life

can be reduced to those two alternatives. The one tends to

fascism of some kind, the other to the protection of social

freedom through the recognition of the quasi-autonomous

nature of industrial society and the responsibilities that go

with it.



An Industry Council Economy 59

The greater the spirit and reality of self-government ac-

cepted by the various segments of society, the less is the need

for either emergency or permanent over-all restrictive legisla-

tion. The principle is simple enough. Too many, however,

are still affected by the myopia of individualism.

NEED OF A HIGHER UNITY

No real rights, natural or legal, are denied to the partici-

pants in this philosophy of industrial society. The right of

organization is not only condoned but encouraged. Both man-

agement and workers should be organized into appropriate

units, but the process of organizing should not stop merely at

that point. A necessary and higher form of unity should be
established for the very purpose of neutralizing the spirit of

conflict which the separately organized units tend to create. It

is the social responsibility of both groups, the pope contends,

not merely to seek their own particular good, but to join in

common endeavor, co-operative enterprise, and mutual good

will in the pursuit of a higher good, common to industry and

to the nation as a whole.

RECOGNITION OF REALITY

This ideal holds but faint hope if a relentless pursuit of

profits, with all human values made subordinate to that aim,

must be looked upon as the inevitable be-all and end-all of

life.

It cannot be attained if each industrialist and each labor

leader is to be the sole and exclusive judge of the common

good, with nothing more than some patchwork of supple-

mentary legislation to correct abuses that have become intol-

erable.



60 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

Little hope for an achievement of the goal of real social

order, of a truly human and progressive harmony in indus-

trial relations, can be entertained if the fallacy of “a workman

is a commodity” is retained in the capitalistic system. The

weaknesses, ignorance, and malice of erring mortals, how-

ever, can never be honestly advanced as a proof against the

soundness or the value of the papal propositions.

'



TEN

“&e=actton” tosL Action

can write encyclicals,” said Pape Pius XII to Canon

3j Cardijn, “I can speak over the radio, I can write about
social doctrine, but I cannot go into the factories, into the

shops, into the offices, into the mines . . . nor can bishops do

this, nor priests, for these places are closed to them. There-

fore the Church needs thousands and thousands of militant

lay missionaries . . . who are representative of the Church

in their working environment.” #

We need but pick up our daily paper to note at a glance the
condition of present-day society. Every edition is an indirect

confirmation of the validity of the papal lament. The voice of

the Vatican falls upon deaf ears, indeed. It was so in the days

of Leo XIII, in the days of Pius XI—and so it is today.
Pius XI was not unaware of the apathy, skepticism, and

even cynicism which were to greet the papal proposals in his

day and after. But he ceded no ground to pessimism. Antici-

pating unfavorable reactions from the worldly-minded, he

reproved the doubting Thomases even before their criticisms

could be expressed.

Commenting upon the pioneer effort of his predecessor of

* tiguorian, April, 1954



62 The Pope Tal\s About Labor Relations

holy memory, Leo XIII, (which was less specific and less dar-

ing than his own suggestions) Pius XI, in a few preliminary

remarks to the main themes of his encyclical, declared with

characteristic bluntness:

(14) . . there were some who were not a little disturbed;

and so it happened that the teaching of Leo XIII, so noble

and so utterly new to worldly ears, was held suspect by

some, even among Catholics, and to certain ones it even

gave offense. . . . The slow of heart disdained to study this

new social philosophy, and the timid feared to scale so

lofty a height. There were some also who stood, indeed, in

awe at its splendor but regarded it as a kind of imaginary

ideal of perfection more desirable than attainable.”

Undeterred by the reluctance, resistance, and resentment

previously encountered—even on the part of some prominent
Catholics—the intrepid pontiff did not hesitate to amplify his
disagreement with those who could summon up not one

thought or word of appreciation for the masterly message of

his predecessor.

In a spirit of holy indignation, in what may well be looked

upon as a stinging rebuke from the papal pen, he wrote:

(39) “On the basis of the long period of experience, it can-

not be rash to say that Leo’s encyclical has proved itself the

Magna Charta upon which all Christian activity in the

social field ought to be based, as on a foundation. And

those who would seem to hold in little esteem this papal

encyclical and its commemoration either blaspheme what

they know not, or understand nothing of what they are

only superficially acquainted with, or if they do under-

stand, convict themselves formally of injustice and ingrati-

tude.”



“Re-action” vs. Action 63

- In these forthright statements from the pen of Pius XI, we

can find no word of comfort or commendation for those who

would apathetically rest content with “things as they are.”

Of a certainty there is no indication that Catholic social action

consists merely in a vehement denunciation of communism.

The sovereign pontiffs expect us to know and to put into

practice, according to our competence, the thoughts, prin-

ciples, and ideals which they have enunciated and declared

as the true and necessary Catholic social doctrine.

It was more than sixty years ago that the fiery message of

Leo XIII first burst upon a turbulent world. Twenty-five

years have passed since Pius XI caught up the torch and re-

echoed and expanded the warnings and the words of wisdom

of his illustrious predecessor.

The world has seen many changes in the passing of those

years. The souls and hearts of men, however, are still much

in need of the strength, the light, and the inspiration that

stems from Vatican Hill. Many still have eyes that see not and
ears that hear not. The Catholic faithful in America can ill

afford to be numbered among them.

NOTE: For a more complete and comprehensive study of papal teaching on
industrial society and the industry council system, read Spotlight on Social
Order, a full-length book, recently edited by Father Smith. Christopher Press,

Rochester, N.Y., 241 pages, $3.







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