John Paul II on Capitalism and Socialism

HT to Mark Mitchell at Front Porch Republic for this quote. [My comments are in square brackets and bold]

This is from Centesimus Annus. Here John Paul II reflects on two meanings of the word “capitalism.”

“Returning now to the initial question: can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress? [John Paul II is writing in 1991]

“The answer is obviously complex. If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a “business economy,” “market economy” or simply “free economy.” [Here John Paul II clearly endorses the market economy as a good thing. So Catholic Social Doctrine cannot simply be reduced to the critique of capitalism and the advocating of socialism. But note what comes next.] But if by “capitalism” is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality and sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative. [The pope here endorses a certain kind of capitalism, democratic capitalism, in which there are two (actually many) major power centers: government and business. When and to the extent that business begins to take over or control government we have a problem. The fewer corporations there are and the less competition there is, the fewer hands the power of business resides in. And the larger government is, the easier it is for government bureaucracy and big business to become intertwined. So the smaller the government and the greater the degree of distribution of property and the more competetion between business corporations, the more likely it is that there will be a genuine democratic capitalism. Obviously, recent trends in both the US and Canada are of great concern here. We are definitely going in a dangerous direction.]

“The Marxist solution has failed, but the realities of marginalization and exploitation remain in the world, especially the Third World, as does the reality of human alienation, especially in the more advanced countries. Against these phenomena the Church strongly raises her voice. Vast multitudes are still living in conditions of great material and moral poverty. [Marerialism is built on a false anthropology and can manifest itself negatively both in capitalist and socialist countries.] The collapse of the Communist system in so many countries certainly removes an obstacle to facing these problems in an appropriate and realistic way, but it is not enough to bring about their solution. [Communism is a kind of state capitalism that concentrates power in the hands of the party elite.] Indeed, there is a risk that a radical capitalistic ideology could spread which refuses even to consider these problems, in the a priori belief that any attempt to solve them is doomed to failure, and which blindly entrusts their solution to the free development of market forces.” [State capitalism can arise either from socialism, in which the government takes over business, or from the type of liberal fascism in which big business merges with big government through the development of a managerial bureaucracy.]

Final Comment:
Both capitalism and socialism are modern ideologies coming out of the Enlightenment, which tend toward ignoring original sin and naively embracing "scientific solutions" to all social problems. Both are therefore dangerous. The real danger of totalitarianism arises from the concentration of economic and political power in the same set of hands. This can occur through capitalistic monopolies colluding with big government or it can occur through a socialist revolution that puts all power into the hands of the party.

Christians should beware of authoritarian utopianism in whatever form it takes. In Canada, the scientific management of the totality of social life by a managerial class of bureaucrats who share the ideology of the Enlightenment suspicion of tradition and the possibility of endless progress is well-advanced. In the US it appears to be taking a quantum leap forward under Obama.