Class Struggle and the Magisterium: A New Note

Abstract

Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII has always repudiated class struggle. It offered several reasons for this. Class struggle was rejected because (1) it sought the victory of one class over another instead of a new mode of co-operation; (2) it was nourished by resentment against the powerful instead of Christian love of neighbor; (3) it easily led to violence and new forms of domination; and (4) it was often associated with an ideology that made class struggle the dynamic principle of history moving society toward the overcoming of its contradictions. This repudiation of class struggle was in keeping with the organic understanding of society upheld in Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII until the late sixties. Here society was seen as a social body, organically united, based on class levels and co-operation, in constant need of reform through the spiritual submission of all members to the norms of justice. It was the task of government to stand above the conflict of the classes, promote the common good, foster co-operation, and protect the poor from exploitation by the rich. While this teaching had strong reformist impulses, its main emphasis was on shared values and respect for authority. Political action for justice, including the struggle of workers, had to take place within this social context. Class struggle did not fit into this.Vatican Council II still upheld this teaching, even though its vision of society was more democratic and pluralistic. It perceived society in cooperative terms, now expanded to the global scale. Ultimately the distance between the rich and the poor nations, scandalous in its proportions, was to be overcome by a new sense of humanity and an outburst of generosity that would make the rich nations, on ethical grounds, find ways of sharing wealth and power and allow the poor nations to escape from their misery. NEW EMPHASIS AT MEDELLÏNIn 1968 the Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellin introduced a new note in Catholic social teaching, one that was soon to be accepted in Vatican teaching, by several national hierarchies, and eventually by Pope John Paul II. Medellin introduced a conflictual understanding of society. The section of the Medellin documents entitled "Peace" recognized that the Latin American societies were caught in the clutches of an economic system, world-wide in extension, that impover-690 at Bobst Library, New York University on June 1, 2015 tsj.sagepub.com Downloaded from CLASS STRUGGLE AND MAGISTERIUM 691 ished them. 1 The decisions affecting the economic well-being of Latin Americans were made by transnational corporations with head offices in the North, by men whose aim was to increase corporate profit and power. Even development projects sponsored by agencies of the North tended to increase the dependency of Latin America and often led to greater misery. A small class of Latin Americans, linked to the transnational corporations, greatly increased their standard of living. They often became the political actors protecting the existing order, despite the...

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