Whether Pope Leo XIII really issued Rerum Novarum in part to refute the theories of the agrarian
socialist Henry George is a debatable point . . . at least until we can get to
the Vatican archives and do a little more research. It is not, however, debatable that Henry
George and a number of his modern followers believe that the pope singled out
George for criticism.
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| Henry George |
George certainly believed that he had been targeted, and
unfairly, at that. He fired off a
30,000-word “open letter” to Pope Leo XIII explaining exactly why he, George,
was right, and the pope was wrong. In
light of this, it is a baffling puzzle why certain Catholic intellectuals
insist to this day that there is no conflict between georgism and Catholic
social teaching.
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| Fr. John A. Ryan |
One possible answer is the work of Msgr. John A. Ryan, whose
innovative theories have been formative in many people’s understanding of
Catholic social teaching, despite the fact that his theories appear to contain
significant errors. Ryan, however, was
able to “sanitize” George’s theories, and even managed to insert them into the
1919 American bishops’ program for social reconstruction.
Ryan later became very active in support of FDR, becoming
known as “Monsignor New Deal” and “the Right Reverend New Dealer.” This was over the objections of many bishops
and Catholic intellectuals such as Dr. Franz H. Mueller, the solidarist, who
were concerned about the inroads Ryan’s proposals made on private property, and
the degree of State control involved. The
Central Bureau of the Catholic Central Union of America expressed grave
reservations over the role that Ryan gave to the State, e.g., labor camps, State ownership of industry, confiscatory
taxation on the model of George’s “single tax,” and so on.
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| Pius XI |
Just as there is evidence that Rerum Novarum was issued to refute George, there are hints that Quadragesimo Anno was issued to refute
Ryan. Ryan’s influence has strongly
affected the “social credit” movement as well as distributism and georgism.
This is why CESJ’s Capital Homesteading proposal recommends
that tax reform and monetary reform go hand in hand, being based on the three
principles of economic justice (Participation, Distribution, and Social
Justice), and the four pillars of an economically just society:
·
A limited economic role for the State,
·
Free and open markets as the best means for
determining just wages, just prices, and just profits,
·
Restoration of the rights of private property,
especially in corporate equity, and
·
Widespread direct ownership of capital.
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