In the previous posting on this subject we looked at the evidence — such as it was — that we
could dig up to support the contention that the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis
approved of socialism in any form.
Admittedly, the evidence we found was remarkably weak, not to say
unconvincing, but we had to do the work ourselves as the individuals making the
claim were a trifle shy about providing their own evidence.
Lewis was not,
however, the only authority (or presumed authority) trotted out to support the
claim that socialism and Christianity are somehow compatible. This is despite two centuries of
condemnations that appear to leave little room for doubt, e.g.,
 |
| Eugene V. Debs, Democratic Socialist |
If Socialism, like
all errors, contains some truth (which, moreover, the Supreme Pontiffs have
never denied), it is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar
to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism,
Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a
good Catholic and a true socialist. (Quadragesimo
Anno, § 120.)
Thus, although
the current rage (in every sense) for “democratic socialism” (or any other
kind) seems to have come out of left field (so to speak), the problem has been
around for quite a spell — and that’s just the “democratic” version of
socialism, presumed to be entirely New & Improved by so many of its
adherents.
The democratic
socialist movement in America originated in the three socialist parties
co-founded by Eugene Victor Debs (1855-1926), Social Democracy of America
(1897), Social Democratic Party of America (1898), and the Socialist Party of
America (1901). Despite Debs’s
remarkable performance in the 1912 presidential race, however, the movement did
not pick up steam until the so-called global “Great Recession” of the late
2000s and early 2010s.
 |
| Karl Marx, Scientific Socialist |
Democracy and
socialism have always been linked, of course . . . although the definition of
democracy used doesn’t exactly conform to what Alexis de Tocqueville saw in
America in the 1830s just before socialism hit its stride. Modern socialism actually began in the early
nineteenth century as “the Democratic Religion,” a materialist replacement not
for capitalism, but for traditional faiths.
Modern socialism
first appeared in reaction to the totalitarian excesses of the French
Revolution. It was promoted as a
replacement for outdated traditional Christianity, both Catholic and
Protestant, which seemed incapable of dealing with the problems that arose with
the rise of nationalism and the Industrial Revolution.
Atheistic
“scientific socialism,” which Karl Marx (1818-1883) called “communism” to
distinguish it from forms of socialism tainted by religion, only made its
appearance a generation later. Friedrich
Engels (1820-1895) stated that he and Marx were forced to use the older term
for their system because the followers of Robert Owen (1771-1858) had coopted
the word socialism for their system intended to replace organized
religion.
 |
| Robert Owen, Utopian Socialist |
And Owen made
perfectly clear of what the socialist program consisted. On July 4, 1826 in New Harmony, Indiana, he
delivered his talk, “A Declaration of Mental Independence,” in which he
identified the three great evils of the then-modern world as private property,
organized religion, and marriage, all of which (according to Owen) had been
invented by the few to oppress the many. (Oakley C. Johnson, Robert Owen in the United States.
New York: Humanities Press for the American Institute for Marxist
Studies, 1970, 67-72.)
Whatever its
roots, the latest phase of the movement got its primary impetus from the
growing uncertainty many people today have about the future. Especially in the United States, millennials
were confronted with a rapidly rising cost of education and a greatly
diminished “jobs market” — the latter an interesting concept in itself.
In search of
something, anything, that would guarantee them the security they believed they
had been promised and that was their due, millennials flocked to the standard
of democratic socialism. Official
membership of the Democratic Socialists of America increased 900% from 2005 to
2015.
In religious
society, particularly in the Catholic Church, the election of Pope Francis in
2013 seemed almost as if Heaven itself was handing down a mandate for
democratic socialism. Francis was now
head of an organization wracked by scandal and saddled with what many perceived
as outdated and inadequate responses to the evils afflicting the modern world .
. . the original justification for the development of socialism in the early
nineteenth century. His initial
statements as reported in the media appeared to endorse democratic socialism in
all but name as his proposed solution to the problems of Church and State.
But is that an
accurate assessment of the official teaching of the Catholic Church regarding
socialism? That is what we will look at
in the next posting on this subject.
#30#
