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<\/a>As many a Catholic site<\/a> repeats in the wake of Bernie Sanders\u2019 rising political fortunes, the Church rejects socialism in its vainglorious quest to abolish private property and demolish all difference. One need only look to Rerum Novarum<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n The socialists, therefore, in setting aside the parent and setting up a State supervision, act against natural justice, and destroy the structure of the home. [\u2026]<\/p>\n And in addition to injustice, it is only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected. The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the levelling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation.\u00a0Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability\u00a0of private property. This being established, we proceed to show where the remedy sought for must be found.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The issue is, alas, not so simple. Socialism, while in certain forms undeniably anathematized by the Church, actually had a profound influence on the development of modern Catholic Social Teaching, especially as laid out in the encyclical cited above. As many an American liberal (in the classical sense) might suspect<\/a>, the culprit is (God help us), a German: Friedrich Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler<\/a>, Bishop of Mainz.<\/p>\n The cleric led a complicated and very interesting life (additional sources here<\/a> and here<\/a> with some of his collected writings here<\/a>), but what interests me in this piece is his dalliance with Lassallian Socialism<\/a>, a particularly state-enamored form of socialist thought, so much so that Marx detested it<\/a>\u00a0(because, as a responsible reader of Marx is aware, Marx was no fan of the state<\/a>). Witness New Advent <\/em>on von Ketteler and emerging German social movements:<\/p>\n In 1848 he\u00a0believed\u00a0that\u00a0social\u00a0reform had to begin with the interior\u00a0regeneration\u00a0of the\u00a0soul [here we might read \u201cbegin with the formation of conscience\u201d]. Later he was to enter more deeply into\u00a0economical\u00a0problems. When about 1863, the\u00a0Liberal\u00a0Schulze-Delitzsch\u00a0and the Socialist\u00a0Lassalle\u00a0made forcible\u00a0appeals\u00a0to the\u00a0German\u00a0workingmen, Ketteler studied their\u00a0doctrines\u00a0and even consulted\u00a0Lassalle\u00a0in an anonymous letter on a scheme of founding five small co-operative associations of workingmen.<\/p>\n In opposition to\u00a0Schulze-Delitzsch\u00a0he pointed out the futility of the remedies proposed by the\u00a0Liberals; he advocated labour associations, and even accepted the\u00a0idea\u00a0of co-operative unions to be established, not as\u00a0Lassalle\u00a0wished, by state subvention, but by generous aid from\u00a0Christian\u00a0capitalists. In a\u00a0Socialistic\u00a0meeting at Rondsdorf, 23 May, 1864,\u00a0Lassalle\u00a0paid homage to\u00a0Ketteler\u2019s\u00a0book. On his side, Ketteler, whom three\u00a0Catholic\u00a0workmen had asked in 1866 if they could conscientiously\u00a0join the \u201cworkingmen\u2019s association\u201d founded by\u00a0Lassalle, was disposed to dissuade them from so doing owing to the anti-religious\u00a0spirit\u00a0of\u00a0Lassalle\u2019s\u00a0successors; nevertheless in his reply he duly acknowledged Lassalle\u2019s\u00a0\u201crespectful recognition of the depth and\u00a0truth\u00a0of\u00a0Christianity.\u201d At this time he counted particularly upon the initiative of\u00a0Christian charity\u00a0for the organization of productive co-operative associations\u00a0destined\u00a0to restore social\u00a0justice\u00a0on a more equal scale. In 1869 he went still further: in a\u00a0sermon\u00a0preached near Offenbach, 25 July of that year, he particularized\u00a0certain\u00a0urgent\u00a0reforms\u00a0(increase of wages, shorter hours of labour, prohibition of child-labour\u00a0in factories, prohibition of\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0and young girls\u2019 labour); these claims, he thought, should be presented to the public\u00a0authorities. In Sept., 1869, at the\u00a0Fulda\u00a0conference of the\u00a0German\u00a0bishops, he showed how\u00a0necessary\u00a0for the removal of\u00a0economic\u00a0evils\u00a0was the intervention of the\u00a0Church\u00a0in the name of\u00a0faith,\u00a0morals, and\u00a0charity. He also made clear the\u00a0right\u00a0of workingmen to\u00a0legal\u00a0protection and urged that in every\u00a0diocese\u00a0some priests\u00a0should be selected to make a study of\u00a0economic\u00a0questions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While fiercely pro-conscience formation, seeing it as the root of all social change, von Ketteler refused to deny the efficacy of social action, demanding that workers receive protection from individual greed; to be frank and to use an anachronism, the bishop sounds like something of a Christian democratic socialist (and I needn\u2019t mention Pope Benedict\u2019s comments<\/a> on the subject). He led the first Corpus Christi procession through Berlin since the Reformation; he championed the freedom of the Church (and in a very diplomatic tone!) against an encroaching German state, and, yes, he had a major influence on Pope Leo XIII\u2019s Rerum Novarum<\/em>. In other words, an anti-statist, socialist-influenced, German aristocrat, who opposed the formalization of Papal Infallibility stands at the heart of a seminal 19th<\/sup>-century century expression of Catholic Social Teaching.<\/p>\n What can we learn from this? For one, we might see that Catholicism is a complicated nexus of 24 distinct Churches, not a monolith held together by one tongue and one liturgy, but actually a diverse set of traditions and expressions held together by a common and true faith (in short, we shouldn\u2019t make simple statements about the Church and its \u201cclear\u201d history). We might also question our assumptions about socialism. While I can\u2019t lay out every reason here (a grad student does need to do his homework!), Catholicism and socialism enjoy a rich and complex relationship (one might even say that Chesterton\u2019s quip<\/a>, and I\u2019m paraphrasing here, about there being \u201cnot too many capitalists, but too few\u201d sounds an awful lot like Marx\u2019 position<\/a> on the workers\u2019 owning the means of production). To act as if American liberal politics ought to be the baseline for the American Catholic is to ignore huge sections of Catholic teaching. Witness, once more, Rerum Novarum<\/em>:<\/p>\n If we turn not to things external and material, the first thing of all to secure is to save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making. It is neither just nor human so to grind men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their minds and wear out their bodies. Man\u2019s powers, like his general nature, are limited, and beyond these limits he cannot go. His strength is developed and increased by use and exercise, but only on condition of due intermission and proper rest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n