2. THE WORKING CLASSES

The rise of atheistic and anarchical socialism has put fear into Church and State.  But it is the "voice of God!"

Atheistic socialism must be opposed by Christian social action rather than by sterile condemnations that would also strike at its "valid postulates."

We must fight the Marxist propaganda seducing the working class through an analysis of the social problems and their moral and religious implications and through initiatives that answer the real and legitimate needs of farmers, workers, and proletarians.  It is a work of justice and social vindication inspired by charity and accomplished harmoniously by all classes.  To save the working class is to save the people.

"The causes of socialism

For some time now, society has been prey to anarchical forces.  Now that every authority has been shaken, social and family ties loosened, the religious principles sanctifying human sufferings denied, made fun of or ignored, society is daily becoming more and more a wild jungle where everyone does his own thing and looks after himself, where the good of one becomes the evil and privation of another.  And thus is fulfilled and realized the savage program contained in the aphorism of the Scottish philosopher: "Homo homini lupus" (man is a wolf to man).

From this comes the fever for immediate gain, the anxious acquisition of power, the envy of other people's well-being.  It is this that drives one to supplant others, to cheat them, to remove every inhibition or obstacle standing in the way of one's cravings and pleasures. This is the sole goal of an atheistic and materialistic society.

As if these terrible evils were not enough, now we have the pangs of economic hardships, painful for all but unbearable for the common people.  With the loss of the consolations of the faith and of Christian hope and with the achievement of new rights and the awareness of their power, these poor people feet more starkly than ever the emptiness they live in and thus become gullible and fervent followers of all things new.

To this great economic crisis and moral decline we must add the power of big capital, which is so powerful and overwhelming in the present social and industrial setup as to draw off a very large percentage

of the profits from labor without risk or effort.  It can be compared to a gigantic tree which, with its thousand tentacles and thick branches, robs of nourishment, air, and light the smaller plants that are withering at its feet.  Here you have the causes for the rise and expansion of socialism.

Socialism has recruited its converts from the shops, the fields, and the universities, from  the nobility and the common people, from the common people especially.  In just a few years, socialism has become an imposing army.  All the simple folk, all the oppressed and the unfortunate feel attracted to it by the hope of something better, just like all those insubordinate and restless people who want to change the present order of things at any cost.  Joining these as allies or associates are the people ‑- and they are perhaps the most dangerous and certainly the most respectable ‑- who feel a deep compassion for the unfortunate and experience a revolting and loathing disgust for the corruption that penetrates and permeates all governmental bodies up to the very top.  These people cannot tolerate, without protesting, the social injustices, the well-fed laziness of the few, and the poverty of the workers, as well as the wealth, power, and unworthiness found together in one individual. ¹

"Personal experience"

What I am about to tell you is the fruit of personal experience.  I did not learn these things from reading books but from seeing with my own eyes so many social wounds and so much misery, over which I poured the balm of faith and the alms of charity.

In the early years of my priesthood, during the months I was not teaching, I served in various towns in my native diocese and had the opportunity to observe at close quarters the life of farmers in its different forms and varying degrees of well-being, as well as the farm contracts with their economic and moral consequences. 

I used to walk among those rich fields ‑- the property of a wealthy gentleman known for his display of civic charity ‑- made fertile by hard-working people, a number of whom suffered from pellagra.  I went into their damp, shutterless hovels with a heavy heart. 

I was also pastor in a suburb of Como for several years.  Among my parishioners there were several thousand silk workers, weavers, spinners,

and dyers.  During those years,  I was able to observe at close range the miserable condition of these workers, miserable in itself and because of its potential dangers.  Every political or financial crisis, however distant, which slowed or halted industrial activity ‑- what an effect that had on their lives!  How deeply they were affected by every small event -- for example, by a sickness or an accident that kept them from daily work!  In addition to these brief interruptions ‑- each of them taking a loaf of bread from their poor tables ‑- there were from time to time those great industrial crises when there was no work at all.  The result was sheer misery, hunger at its worst, barely disguised for a while by credit at the local store or a salary advance from the employer.  There followed a mad rush of men looking for jobs and of women pleading for help. 

Oh, the sadness of the days when, as I climbed the rickety stairs to visit sick workers, I failed to hear the dry, rhythmic clack of the loom.  They were sad in every way because disorder and dishonor often came into the family with poverty.  As I observed all their sufferings and heard their complaints ‑- knowing as I did the tireless employers who were wrongly accused of exploiting the poor, and that kind, charitable landowner whose field hands were infected with pellagra ‑- I came to the conclusion that the evil lay not so much in the will of individuals as in the way work was organized and that it would be good for everyone if more equitable conditions could be created. ²

"The basic principles of socialism"

If labor gives value to capital, why should it not have a greater share in its profits, enough at least to assure a decent, secure, and healthy livelihood for the workers?  If labor is a physical law and a moral duty, why should it not become a legal right?  If education is a duty, why is the worker not given time for it by fixing the age of his employment and limiting the hours of work?  If hygiene is a social obligation, why are certain jobs poisoning and shortening people's lives permitted without due preventive measures?  Why is the worker not insured against eventual accidents and why is not some dignified provision made for his helpless old age?

This is what I used to think, and this what many of you must have

thought on seeing and touching the social miseries.

Now, those demands, happily translated into law by Parliament recently, contain certain basic principles of socialism.

In these principles there is some truth and justice, which all people of good will should accept and try to carry out as best they can.  In fact, truth and justice do not change character by the fact that they are espoused also by the wicked or are mixed in with evil.  Besides, in so doing, we remove from what is evil and false its greatest power of spreading, a power founded on the fact that what is evil and false is served up along with the truth, thus giving the appearance of justice.

So we must not be fooled by names or appearances.

We must calmly examine the basic principles of socialism.  With the confidence that comes from possessing the truth, we must set Catholic social action against socialist action, for Catholic social action is society's tonic and medicine. ³

"The economic question gives rise to moral, political and religious problems"

In itself, modern socialism is an economic question.  However, as in all questions that touch human beings individually or collectively, the economic question intertwines with other questions and so changes nature and form.  A human being is one.  Everything having to do with this inseparable oneness gets intertwined, intermingled, and integrated in such wise as to reflect the many different aspects under which a person may be viewed.

The social question, essentially an economic one, becomes in its immediate consequences a moral, political, and religious question.

In fact, the formula common to socialism, communism, and collectivism ‑- the three main branches into which socialists split up ‑- is this: all that produces wealth (namely, capital, lands, and instruments of labor) is the property of the State, which distributes its benefits with perfect equality, according to some; or according to individual needs, according to others.

Now, when put into practice, this social formula will wound human nature at its very roots and in what is dearest to it, namely, religion, family, and individual freedom.

Though basically economic, modern socialism cannot ignore religion because all theoretical and practical questions affecting people

are closely connected.

It is true that socialists, either out of real indifference or for tactical reasons, never, or hardly ever, talk of religion.  Sometimes they even invoke the example of Jesus Christ and of the first Christians: Jesus Christ as the precursor of their teachings and the first Christians as those who first practiced them.  But all this must not fool us about their real feelings for religion.  Their revolutionary background and their altogether materialistic scientific underpinning make them intrinsically irreligious.  At the top of the page of his newspaper, Blanqui had these words: "Ni Dieu, ni maître" (neither God nor teacher), and these two ideas pervade the whole socialistic ideology. ⁴

"To point out the causes and find appropriate remedies "

The present state of the social question and the progressive dissemination throughout our city, towns, and countryside, of ideas that are either purely socialistic or akin to them should make your work even in the social field more active, more suited to the needs.

Now, such work, to really succeed and be effective and not worsen the evil we want to cure, calls for prudence, serenity of spirit, fair-mindedness, sure knowledge, and awareness of what we must oppose as well as of what we may properly accept.

So, dearest brothers, go to your books and get ready to refute (using their very jargon) the sophistry with which the books, newspapers, and speakers of the socialist propaganda are filling the minds of workers and farmers.

With the recommendations I have just given you, I have wanted to show you how to go about this task.  They are meant to give you encouragement and guidance.

Not everything the socialists say is bad, as I have shown you.  The effectiveness of their propaganda is found precisely in a deplorable situation, that is, in the spiraling misery of the majority of people amidst a real upsurge of industrial and farm production that should signal increased wealth.  Hence, you must take pains to point out the causes underlying this situation and find appropriate remedies for it, accepting and recommending the ones that work, without asking who thought them up or who is espousing them.

In this way, you will in fact show that what is really good in socialism

either conforms to the teachings of the Gospel and can be put into practice without destroying society or is actually useless and not commensurate with its stated goals. ⁵

"Modern ways of doing good to one's neighbor"

Every care must be devoted to the societies, varied in their form and purpose, flourishing among us, so that the spirit of association may increase and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, supply what the weakness of the individual cannot, and remedy the unexpected blows of misfortune: "A brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city." Rather than opposing this new spirit of association that is spreading and reaching everywhere, you must keep promoting it and make every effort to direct it into the right channels when inexperience or bad advice seem to be diverting it. 

You must also support and champion social welfare and mutual aid societies.  Social welfare and mutual aid societies are two modern ways of doing good to one's neighbor.  They combine the benefits of charity and those of education because, by taking part in the beneficent activity, the beneficiaries acquire the habit of thinking of the future, of being provident and foresighted.

One of the scourges of the countryside is usury, practiced under the guise of an advance offer of food, seed, or money for the purchase of animals, etc., to be repaid later at a high interest or in kind through a given quantity of products, something even more profitable for the creditor.

Now, most and the best of the poor peasants' produce ends up enriching the suppliers.  The peasants, compelled by necessity or misfortune to resort to them, see their meager profits go up in smoke in a very short time and have little or no chance to recover and balance their budget.  Against this situation one of the most effective tools is found in the cooperative societies for production and consumption and in mutual insurance companies that have had much success in Italy and elsewhere.  Most of all, the Catholic rural banks provide the little farmers with the small amounts of capital they need at a reasonable rate of interest.

Recommend these institutions and promote them to the best of your ability wherever they exist.  Encourage upright and intelligent people to take part in them.  His Excellency Von Ketteler, the illustrious

bishop of Mainz (who first studied the labor question from the Catholic point of view), correctly observed: in the past the rich endowed the Church with convents and public charitable institutions; today they could do something more pleasing to God if they headed organizations of workers, producers, consumers, and cooperatives in order to improve their conditions, because a work of benevolence is indeed an act of charity. ⁶

"I have set up agricultural professorships in my seminaries "

Some of you have already acted as mediators in smoothing out the frequent conflicts between employers and workers.  During my pastoral visitations, I myself, together with you, did what I could to eliminate certain customs and impositions of the past.

Follow this policy with prudence and firmness and, as far as you can help it, do not allow abuses and immoral practices to make the life of workers and of the poor even more arduous and burdensome than it is.  You can secure other benefits for the peasants by inquiring for them about the new agricultural inventions and methods that are meant to greatly increase the produce of the farms, almost without cost or major effort (...).

During these last twenty years I have seen many parish properties in my diocese, formerly hardly productive, transformed into vineyards and fertile fields through the praiseworthy initiatives of the pastors.  Following their example, whole tracts of land were recovered and made productive by more intense and functional cultivation.  I should like to see this work now being done by a few become everyone's task in the future.  To this end I have set up agricultural professorships in my seminaries so that the young clergy will have the necessary knowledge to give the people entrusted to their care bread for their bodies as well as for their souls.

In the meantime, it should not be hard for anyone, who so desires, to learn from books those few notions one needs to be able to give the peasants ‑- too often attached to old habits ‑- suitable recommendations and practical advice that are easily understood and put into practice and are really the results of long years of study and costly research.  The Agricultural Seminars are also very useful for this purpose and I strongly recommend them. ⁷

"Do work of social justice"

I have briefly outlined some of the economic needs of our farms and the corresponding remedies found to be effective in many places.  But the evil is multi-faceted and the remedies have to be adapted and modified according to times, places and persons and always applied with great prudence and never for partisan reasons.  You must never forget that you are the spiritual fathers of all the souls entrusted to your care.  Your intervention in affairs outside of church, which you might undertake for the common good, must not stir up anger or partisanship but unite everybody in the holy desire to do good on behalf of the poor.

Fundamental principles of modem socialism are the following: limitation of the hours of work, the minimum wage for workers as fixed by law, the right to strike, and so on.  Now, all these principles, taken in the abstract, are good and in no way contradict either divine or human laws.  These principles are like those regarding arbitration, pensions for the incapacitated, protection for working women and children, and safe working conditions, all of which have already been translated into law even in our country and will surely bear much good fruit (...).

However, beloved co-workers, your efforts will be more useful and practical if applied not to matters of a general nature but to the particular and local problems you have before you every day.  In a word, you will help and advise the poor, work with others to extirpate abuses and injustices, and teach the uninformed many useful and beautiful things (...).

The evil that afflicts society is not purely economic, as the socialists assert, but also moral: moral, above all.  This evil is found not just in the way society is organized but even more so in the individuals themselves.

So, my beloved pastors, when you call people's attention to the observance of evangelical love and the precepts of our faith, you are doing the work of social justice, because the well-being of society is found first of all in a religious and moral rebirth of individuals.  The rest will follow automatically. ⁸

"A marvelous encyclical"

As minister of peace among peoples and Vicar of a God of love who became Father of the poor and the abandoned, the Pope has the most loving consideration, the most delicate concern for the poor and abandoned, without distinction of race, customs, or religion, because they are in the greatest need of help and protection.

Unfortunately, the working class fits this description.  A worker is a valuable instrument in somebody else's hand, a force creating somebody else's wealth.  But in our day and age he sometimes lacks the very necessities for survival.  And while at least half of a nation's commercial and industrial development and of its economic well-being is due to him, the worker is not allowed to share in it.  This explains the bitter hostility between landowners and workers, the frightening discontent of the working class, incited in international circles by political passions.  We see this discontent in today's strikes and partial uprisings, which, however, could, in a moment, flare up into a huge conflagration (...).

The Pope quite clearly points out the various responsibilities in this question.  He denounces the destructive doctrines in this matter and indicates the means to be used.  I dare not try to summarize this document, magnificent among the many magnificent documents emanating from our present Holy Father's wisdom and love.  Leo XIII does not limit himself to preaching charity to the rich and resignation to the workers.  In his admirable Encyclical there is much more.  With his penetrating gaze, he has carefully examined the labor question and understood that if the fires of revolt are burning among the working class, it is not entirely its fault.  Unjust laws and greed have made a work-slave out of the laborer, who is struggling with the present, is disheartened by the future, and is wearing himself out in order to earn a piece of bread that is not even enough to satisfy his hunger. ⁹

"It is a work of justice that we must begin"

The child, weighed down from his earliest years under the burden of work, grows up sad and tired.  The woman, busy from early in the morning to late at night, no longer has time to take care of her little family, which therefore grows up without love and morality. 

It is a work of justice that we must begin if we want to restore confidence to the working class and, with confidence, peace and tranquillity itself.

Workers have duties, but they have rights, too!  Society must make sure that their rights are respected, unless we prefer to let the workers provide for themselves through violence (...).

Catholics have the duty to study the social question and get deeply involved in it.  Unbent either by age or by length of battle, the Holy Father sets the example for us to follow.

This is a new field of action he entrusts to the zeal and initiative of his children.  It is a question of doing the opposite of what the revolution does.  The latter did whatever it could to turn the masses ‑- the workers especially ‑- away from the Church.  We must now guide them back to the Church!  I insist: we must strengthen the minds and hearts of people with the great truths of the Gospel. 

Whether we like it or not, this is the only remedy for the present evils and the one defense against impending greater perils.  Let there be, if you wish, a steady progress of machines, industries, discoveries, and the conquests of science! 

It is only right that people, by dint of their hard work, make progress and try to improve their lives as much as possible.  I rejoice over this wholeheartedly.  In the last analysis, all this redounds to the greater honor and glory of the work of God. ¹⁰

"A mission of peace and social rebirth"

We men of the Church ask only that the Gospel be called upon to lead these economic and industrial transformations; that the sincere practice of its teachings purify and ennoble material progress and thus prevent the fomenting amongst the masses of the brutal instincts that are the source of discord and fratricidal struggles. 

Such a mission of peace and social revival clearly belongs to us men of the Church as possessors of God's mandate and resources.

If all of my clergy would only understand this!  In our day it is practically impossible to lead the working class back to the Church if we do not keep in constant touch with it outside of the church!  We must come out of church, my Venerable Brothers, if we wish to carry on a fruitful apostolate within the church.  We have no choice but to be men

of our times.

Certain new or revived forms of propaganda successfully employed by our adversaries should not scare us.  We must live the life of the people and reach them with the press, associations, committees, mutual aid societies, public conferences, conventions, workers' circles, oratories for the young, and with all kinds of public and private charitable institutions.

We must forcefully oppose their biased ideas.  But, with equal enthusiasm, we must support their interests and encourage their legitimate aspirations, being always careful not to deceive them with empty promises or incite them to despise the rich or the employers.  Rather, let us do our best to bring these two classes together and put them on friendly terms with each other.  After the example of Catholics in other countries, let us be the leaders of today's movements and work hard rather than grumble on the sidelines.

My dear ones, the world marches on.  Let us not stand back because of formalistic concerns or out of a false sense of prudence.  If we don't work with them, they will work without us and against us!  Let's not forget that! ¹¹

"Harmony among all classes"

My beloved people of Piacenza, it is with heartrending sorrow that I address my word to you this time!

My sincere and deep love for you, which in good times and in bad has never diminished during the twenty-three years of my episcopal ministry, gives me the right to speak to you like a father to his children.

I wept  and prayed for all of you during these days!  I wish I could have been at the side of each one of you to help you in your needs, to speak to you words of comfort and hope, and to restore your spirit to the peace lost because of the sufferings and unrest of the moment!

The economic difficulties, the higher cost of living, and the lack of jobs have all deprived you of that customary tranquility of life that has always been the pride of our city.  You were not wrong to rebel against these evils.

But since your grievances have now been satisfied and the municipal and political authorities have done what they could to take care of the most urgent needs and have promised you even greater concessions

for the future, any further resistance would only increase the enormous harm already done and the already great number of victims.

My dear sons and daughters!  Think of the terrible consequences of an urban revolt.  Think of the dead and wounded, of the families deprived of their dear ones for whatever reason; and let peace return, I implore you in the name of God.

Peace and harmony among all the classes of citizens is the surest way to remedy a situation that all of us, without exception, deplore.

In this sad hour, I find comfort in the thought that the voice of your Shepherd, whom you have always listened to, will enter your hearts even this time and bring them peace. ¹²

"The work of assistance to the rice-field workers"

In the memorable meeting of the Catholic Associations held in the Bishop's residence on July 4 of this year, I proposed, as a perpetual remembrance, in agreement with my venerable and zealous confrere from Bobbio, the establishment of a committee to assist the young boys and girls who, during some months of the year, usually because of poverty, emigrate in swarms from my Diocese to the plains of Piedmont and Lombardy to harvest and husk rice.

The proposal was warmly received by all.  Prominent people from both the Diocese of Piacenza and the neighboring dioceses of Bobbio, Lodi, and Pavia promptly and generously volunteered to help.

We are dealing, as everyone understands, with a magnificent and extremely important charitable work.  In fact, those poor unfortunates encounter many very serious moral and physical dangers and evils easy to imagine.  We must urgently find remedies and take measures so that they will not fall victim to greedy speculators, will be able to keep the Lord's Day, be protected from immoral designs, and be better paid for their labor, in short, that they will find defense, protection, and comfort also when far from their families.

To achieve this wonderful goal, we must, first of all, find out how many in each parish are the young boys and girls in these conditions.

Please fill out the enclosed form as accurately as possible and send

it back to me with your signature. ¹³