Personal Reflections of Laborem Exercens

In John Paul II’s encyclical Laborem Exercens, the pope sought to continue an organic development of the main themes of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. He tried to make as clear as possible that a “development of the church’s teaching” is necessary to grasp the degree to which the world faces the “social question” as a primary problem. He cited the conflict between socialism and capitalism as the harbinger of the denigration of human dignity by the de-humanizing of society and the individual. He saw the Church as a “framework” of resolutions to the conflict through her teaching “which has remained unchanged throughout the centuries within the context of different historical experiences.”

His primary deviation from Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum’s understanding of the problem was his emphasis on capitalism as a more specific problem than socialism, due to its more specific and materialist attack on values. Whereas the previous encyclical saw socialism as the primary culprit for the degeneration of the individual, Laborem Exercens notes that “one cannot exclude the socialization” of certain facets of life, particularly means of production. This is not to remove the right to private property, but to encourage, by gradual process, a deeper understanding of labor as having priority over capital. John Paul II cited St. Thomas to back his claim:

“The church’s teaching has always expressed the strong and deep conviction that man’s work concerns not only the economy but also, and especially, personal values. The economic system itself and the production process benefit precisely when these personal values are fully respected. In the mind of St. Thomas Aquinas, this is the principal reason in favor of private ownership of the means of production.”

In light of this understand, John Paul pointed to the spiritual context of work, not only the mundane. The entire human being, “body and spirit,” participates in the activity of human work, and is guided by the virtues of faith, hope and charity. Only by integration of body and spirit can humanity reach its maximum capacity to “help all people to come closer, through work, to God.”