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Session 03
Rerum Novarum
On the Condition of Labor
Leo XIII
1891

Significance of RN/contribution to CST:

§ 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
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B. Rejection of Socialism and collectivization.

• RN does not distinguish between various types of socialists; it does not even mention
communists by name. RN gives a general rejection of socialism and collectivism.
• The situation of suffering and injustice is used by socialists to propose government
ownership of all private property and means of production in order to bring equity and
cooperation among classes. RN rejects collectivization through government ownership of all
property, as proposed by socialists; it is not a solution to the unjust relations between
workers and employers/owners. Everybody has a right to private property. # 7

Arguments in defense of private property and against State ownership

• Without private property the worker will not be able to improve the conditions of his
life and his family. Workers earn wages in order is to procure property for themselves and
to retain it by individual right as theirs and as their very own. When the worker places his
energy and his labor at the disposal of another, he does so for the purpose of getting the
means necessary for livelihood. He seeks in return for the work done, accordingly, a true
and full right not only to demand his wage but to dispose of it as he sees fit. Therefore,
inasmuch as the Socialists seek to transfer the goods of private persons to the community at
large, they make the lot of all wage earners worse, because in abolishing the freedom to
dispose of wages they take away from them by this very act the hope and the opportunity of
increasing their property and of securing advantages for themselves. #9
Natural law arguments:
• Appeal to gift of human reason: Man is given reason in order that he may be able to use
his abilities to provide for himself from the fruits of nature given by God. It is in his power
to choose the things which he considers best adapted to benefit him not only in the present
but also in the future. Whence it follows that dominion not only over the fruits of the earth,
but also over the earth itself, ought to rest in man, since he sees that things necessary for the
future are furnished him out of the produce of the earth. #12
• God gave earth to all but left limits of ownership to be decided by man, but even with
private property it should serve the common good. The fact that God gave the whole
human race the earth to use and enjoy cannot indeed in any manner serve as an objection
against private possessions. For God is said to have given the earth to mankind in common,
not because He intended indiscriminate ownership of it by all, but because He assigned no
part to anyone in ownership, leaving the limits of private possessions to be fixed by the
industry of men and the institutions of peoples. Yet, however, the earth may be apportioned
among private owners; it does not cease to serve the common interest of all, inasmuch as no
living being is sustained except by what the fields bring forth. #14
• Through private property man is able to posses the investment of self he puts onto his
labor and enjoy the fruits of his labor. Private possessions are clearly in accord with
nature. The earth indeed produces in great abundance the things to preserve and, especially,
to perfect life, but of itself it could not produce them without human cultivation and care.
Moreover, since man expends his mental energy and his bodily strength in procuring the
goods of nature, by this very act he appropriates that part of physical nature to himself which
he has cultivated. On it he leaves impressed, as it were, a kind of image of his person, so that
it must be altogether just that he should possess that part as his very own and that no one in
any way should be permitted to violate his right. #15
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• 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

C. The Role of the Church

• The Church has a right to speak on social issues. We approach the subject with
confidence and surely by Our right, for the question under consideration is certainly one for
which no satisfactory solution will be found unless religion and the Church have been called
upon to aid. Moreover, since the safeguarding of religion and of all things within the
jurisdiction of the Church is primarily Our stewardship, silence on Our part might be
regarded as failure in Our duty.#24-25
• Through the use of Gospel principles the Church can help reconcile and unify the
classes (25, 33, 41)
• The Church can educate people to act justly (40, 42).
• The Church provides directly for the well being of non-owning workers. (43)

D. Relations among classes in society

• Complete equality among classes and individuals in society is impossible and against
nature. Inequality is a condition of human existence. Therefore, let it be laid down in the
first place that a condition of human existence must be borne with, namely, that in civil
society the lowest cannot be made equal to the highest. Socialists, of course, agitate the
contrary, but all struggling against nature is vain. There are truly very great and very many
natural differences among men. Neither the talents, nor the skill, nor the health, nor the
capacities of all are the same, and unequal fortune follows of itself upon necessary
inequality in respect to these endowments. And clearly this condition of things is adapted to
benefit both individuals and the community; for to carry on its affairs community life
requires varied aptitudes and diverse services, and to perform these diverse services men are
impelled most by differences in individual property holdings. #26
• Human suffering cannot be removed from life. Human promises to remove all
suffering are false. #28
• Class conflict is not inevitable nor is it part of nature. Capital and labor need each
other. It is a capital evil with respect to the question We are discussing to take for granted
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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

E. Right use of Money

• Wealth can be a hindrance to eternal life #34
• Just ownership of money is distinct from just use of money.
• To own private property is natural but it must serve the common good.
Those who have more have the responsibility to share with those who have less.
Whoever has received from the bounty of God a greater share of goods, whether
corporeal and external, or of the soul, has received them for this purpose, namely,
that he employ them for his own perfection and, likewise, as a servant of Divine
Providence, for the benefit of others. “Therefore, he that hath talent, let him
constantly see to it that he be not silent; he that hath an abundance of goods, let
him be on the watch that he grow not slothful in the generosity of mercy; he that
hath a trade whereby he supports himself, let him be especially eager to share
with his neighbor the use and benefit thereof.” 36
• Human dignity is based on a person’s virtue not on his possessions #37
• The rich should not be proud for God favors the poor # 37

F. Role of Public Authority and Law

• Defend and foster the rights of families (21)
• Support the common good (41)
• Public authority ought to exercise due care in safe-guarding the well-being and the
interests of non-owning workers. (49)
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• 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.
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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?