Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Session 03
Rerum Novarum
On the Condition of Labor
Leo XIII
1891
§ More than the content of RN, what is more significant about RN is that it was the first time that
a pope has spoken in such a solemn way, by way of encyclical, to address the social problems of
his time.
§ This encyclical was meant to be a major intervention in defense of the poor. This meant that
social issues were no longer secondary to the mission of the church. It is not optional.
§ RN became the authoritative doctrinal base for the development of CST.
§ The encyclical gave encouragement to the clergy and laity who were actively trying to get the
Church involved with social issues.
§ The effect of the encyclical was not immediate. It was not immediately received by its targeted
audience and it was hardly read in some parts of the world. Where it was read, it received
resistance and was even a scandal for some.
§ The reason for the resistance to the document was the fact that the pope had challenged the
current assumption that the laws of economics were like the laws of nature and these should not
be questioned.
§ In RN the pope criticized the two extremes of liberal capitalism and socialism.
§ The pope sought to find a middle way between the individualism of capitalism that leads to
exploitation of the weak by the powerful and the collectivism of socialism that threatens the
individual freedoms of persons.
§ The pope also makes a critique of socialism for its subordination of individual liberty in favor of
the social well-being without respect of individual rights and religious welfare.
§ In speaking out against the exploitation of workers in RN, the pope officially committed the
Church to a rejection of a central thesis of liberal capitalism that labor is a commodity that can
be bought at market prices determined by the laws of supply and demand rather than the human
needs of the workers
§ Also, the pope questioned the inviolability of the wage contract. He rejected the assumption that
the obligation of the employer is fulfilled as long as he pays the agreed wage. The pope invoked
the principle of human dignity to protest the treatment of human labor as a commodity.
§ The pope gave his own recommendations regarding the problems involving the relations
between labor and capital.
Main ideas:
A. Protesting the situation of the poor and workers
• Workers are exploited by greedy employers #6
• The means of production are owned by a rich few while non-owning workers work almost in
a state of slavery #6
2
• Private property is necessary for sustaining the family. It is a most sacred law of nature
that the father of a family see that his offspring are provided with all the necessities of life,
and nature even prompts him to desire to provide and to furnish his children, who, in fact
reflect and in a sense continue his person, with the means of decently protecting themselves
against harsh fortune in the uncertainties of life. He can do this surely in no other way than
by owning fruitful goods to transmit by inheritance to his children. #20
• Warning against the state from replacing the duty of parents for the welfare of
families. The state can come to the aid of families in need and protect them when there is a
violation of mutual rights within the family but the government may not replace the parents.
• Without right to private property the incentives to ingenuity and skill will disappear
and the fountain of wealth will dry up #22
• Conclusion: the fundamental principle of Socialism which would make all possessions
public property is to be utterly rejected because it injures the very ones whom it seeks to
help, contravenes the natural rights of individual persons, and throws the functions of the
State and public peace into confusion. Let it be regarded, therefore, as established that in
seeking help for the masses this principle before all is to be considered as basic, namely, that
private ownership must be preserved inviolate. #23
that the one class of society is of itself hostile to the other, as if nature had set rich and poor
against each other to fight fiercely in implacable war. This is so abhorrent to reason and
truth that the exact opposite is true; for just as in the human body the different members
harmonize with one another, whence arises that disposition of parts and proportion in the
human figure rightly called symmetry, so likewise nature has commanded in the case of the
State that the two classes mentioned should agree harmoniously and should properly form
equally balanced counterparts to each other. Each needs the other completely: neither capital
can do without labor, nor labor without capital. #28
• The Church can form unity between rich and poor by reminding them of their duties
and right:
a. Workers/Poor
i. Rights: private property, poor must be cared for, possess the fruits of their
labor, rights of families, freedom of action, right to work, just wage (enough
to support a family), join workers associations (which uphold religious
values) (#5, 9, 48, 55, 62, 63, 69)
ii. Duties: To work well, not to harm property of employers, to refrain from
violence, to be careful with their associations #30
b. Employers/Wealthy
i. Rights: private property, no crushing taxes, private societies (#8, 9 36, 72)
ii. Duties: Not to treat workers as slaves, uphold dignity of workers, let workers
attend to their religious and family obligations, not to impose more work than
a person can endure, pay a just wage, not to tamper with the savings of
workers, give to the poor after needs are met (31-32, 36)
• RN clearly promotes class harmony
• It is incontestable that the wealth of nations originates from no other source than
from the labor of workers. Equity therefore commands that public authority show
proper concern for the worker so that from what he contributes to the common good
he may receive what will enable him, housed, clothed, and secure, to live his life
without hardship. (51)
• Intervene when necessary to prevent harm to individuals or the common good.
Intervention must not go beyond what is necessary. (52, 53)
• Special consideration must be given to the weak and the poor. For the nation, as
it were, of the rich, is guarded by its own defenses and is in less need of
governmental protection, whereas the suffering multitude, without the means to
protect itself, relies especially on the protection of the State. (54)
• Uphold the rights of private property and enable all to posses private property (55,
65)
• Uphold the rights of association of workers.
G. Working Conditions
o Working hours must take into consideration the difficulty of the work and the necessity
to care for the health and strength of the worker
o Women and children must not be made to do the work for men
o Children must not be made to work in such a way that they will be harmed. Work for
women must consider her responsibilities to her family.
o Time for rest must be provided
H. Wages
o Wages must provide for the needs of the workers, not simply based on free consent.
“Let it be granted then that worker and employer may enter freely into agreements and,
in particular, concerning the amount of the wage; yet there is always underlying such
agreements an element of natural justice, and one greater and more ancient than the free
consent of contracting parties, namely, that the wage shall not be less than enough to
support a worker who is thrifty and upright. If, compelled by necessity or moved by
fear of a worse evil, a worker accepts a harder condition, which although against
his will he must accept because an employer or contractor imposes it, he certainly
submits to force, against which justice cries out in protest.” (63)
Some limitations of Leo XIII’s approach to the problems of labor and capital in RN
o Although RN advocated changes in the economic order (protection of workers from
exploitation, better distribution of private property), there is a strong preference in the
document that these changes be initiated from the top down, by the very people who are
benefiting from the present unjust situation.
o Overemphasis on inequality (14, 30, 32)
o Leo XIII was not ready to encouraged workers to engage in confrontation to fight for
their rights. He considers strikes and work stoppages as an evil. A strike “inflicts damage
not only upon employers and upon the workers themselves, but also injures trade and
commerce and the general interests of the State; and, since it is usually not far removed
from violence and rioting, it very frequently jeopardizes public peace.”(56). Leo XIII did
not yet recognize strikes as a legitimate means to protect workers’ rights.
6
o Leo XIII defended the rights of workers to form associations (69). He recognizes that
associations of workers are better protected from exploitation (2). However, Leo XIII’s
ideas about these associations are so broad and vague that they can refer also to
sodalities and religious organizations. There a preference that these associations give
chief attention to religious duties and morality (77)
o Catholics were urged to join associations for Catholics only so as to preserve their faith
(74). This weakened the solidarity of workers and weakened the influence of Catholic
workers’ associations from influencing other groups.
o The attitude of Leo XIII toward trade unions was influenced by two concerns: to protect
the right of individuals to form free associations in the protection of personal interests
(affirm the right to form trade unions) and to maintain social stability and public order.
He opposed any movement that would radically change the social structures of society
from below.
o Leo XIII feared revolution and the anarchy it would bring about. Two events support this
fear.
• During the previous one hundred years before RN, the Church had suffered the
effects of the drastic changes brought about by the French Revolution. The
church not only lost property and power; many clerics and religious were put to
death.
• The Church experienced the limitation of papal power in Italy when the Roman
republic was established in 1848.
o Leo XIII’s approach to socialism was not nuanced. He associated all forms of socialism
with revolution and political extremism. He perceived socialism in general as a threat to
the stability of society. He was also quite concerned with the exclusion of religion from
public life, which he feared would happen in a socialist society.
o RN challenged the prevailing situation of exploitation of workers but the document’s
deep concern for stability and public order limited the means and the extent of the
structural change that it recommended.
o Leo would encourage Catholics to work for political change but only by legal means. If
political and social changes cannot be achieved without social disorder, Leo expected
Catholics to simply tolerate the unjust situation and wait for their just reward in the next
life.
Questions:
• Where can we see the tension between the concern for the poor and oppressed in society and
the desire to avoid disorder and confrontation?
• Is there a gap between what we preach about justice and what we are willing to do?
• Do we see this gap also within the church and her institutions?
• Do we preach a kind of spirituality that gives more attention to the rewards of the afterlife
than to the concerns of justice in the present life?