GOOD HABITS Habits, good or bad, when once formed, are hard to eradicate, Parents will realise that if the good habits of wise spending and thrift are encouraged in the children in their schooldays it will be to their benefit in later years. They should ensure therefore that the facilities offered by the School Savings Association are availed of now. READ THESE WORDS OF WISDOM “If a workman's wages be sufficient to ‘enable hits to maintain himself, his wife, and his. children in reasonable “comfort, he will not find it difficult, if he be a sensible man, to study economy; and he will not fail, by cutting down es, to put hy some little savings, cure income, Nature urge him to oy May 15, 1891 Finphasising the ideas stated in“ franfe and open H. H. Pope Leo XT, in 189r, 11. H. Pope Pius XI. sa ‘The purpose is not that these mn Deccmae slack at their work for man is horn to labour as the bird to ily, but that by theift they may ineres nd by” the ofthe same may the family burden with and “security being freed innil-tormouth uncertainty Tot. of. the protearian yy wil not omly be in. position ott life's changing, fortunes, bt ko have the reassuring confidence ‘wheal their" own livesafe cided some ttle provision wil + Temain for those whom they leave behind them. « - Pius XI, May 15, 193F- Encyclical Letter’ (Quadragesimo Anno). Full particulars of the School Thrift Scheme free on request (no postage needed) to the Secretary, Central Savings Committee, Dublin. 4 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE O COMMUNISM AND FASCISM at Paani danas Barbe Aba Chia’ :Cornlues Na Fine Cacoibice 1 NEIRINN:©O->-e 7 catNo. 1466 A Christian Alternative To Communism and Fascism By REV. CORNELIUS LUCEY, M.A. D.D., Ph.D., St, Patrick's College, Maynooth. Being an Exposition of the Principles of Christian Corporativism as advocated in the Encyclicals Rerum Novarum, Quadra- gesimo Anno and Divini Redemptoris. DUBLIN: CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY OF. IRELAND. 2Nihil Obstet: RECCAREDUS FLEMING. Gensor ‘Theol. Dept. Trepriml Poteet: 4 EDUARDUS, ‘Archiep. Dublinen., ‘Hibernise Prinas. Dublint dle Aprili 6 anno 1087. APOLOGY The title of this booklet, “A Christian Alternative to Communism,” has been chosen, we desire frankly to confess, because it was desired to keep off the cover of it the words “Corporate,” “Corporative” or “Corporativism,” which, since the rise of Totalitarianism in Italy and Germany, have as- sumed a signification displeasing to many Catholics of sound instinct. The people of Ireland are obviously so determined to have no truck with Statolatry that words which convey the idea of it to their minds repel them. In fact, however, the Corporative idea, properly understood, is highly commended in the Encyclicals Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Divini Redemptoris. The following pages are devoted to an exposition of the Corporativism of the Encyclicals, which is, of course, widely removed from the idea embraced in the words Fascism and Nazism—so widely, that one might reasonably say that Christian Corporativism is the very anti- thesis of Fascism or Nazism. This exposition of the principles of Christian Corporativism is not, therefore, to be identified as in any degree sympathetic with any political party using the word “Corporate” in its title. Christian Corporativism is the common property of all political parties insofar as they lend their aid to its realization. With these words of intro- duction, Doctor Lucey’s enlightening essay is commended most heartily to all who are desirous of understanding the goal towards which Catholic Social Action must strive,ACKNOWLEDGMENT. We are indebted to the Editor of The Irish Boclesiastical Record and to Messrs. Browne & Nolan, Ltd., for permission to reprint Doctor Lucey’s article, which originally appeared in that journal. The version we present has been slightly amended. “A Christian Alternative To Communism and Fascism” By REV. CORNELIUS LUCEY, M.A., D.D., D.Ph. IE great aim of the Catholic Social Movement is—or at least should be—the setting up in every country of Occupational Associations. The Encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno, published in 1931 to guide the world in dealing with the Social Question, makes this abundantly clear, both by direct statement and by the amount of space devoted in it to explaining these proposed associations. In them it sees cur best guarantee of an ordered national economy, of an eflective brake on State intrusion into industry, and, above all, of peace between capital and labour. They are, there fore, an antidote to the three great disorders from one or cther of which so many peoples suffer at present. They are an antidote to the absolute free-competition so much in: favour in capitalist countries, to the bureaucracy of the ‘otalitarian States and to the policy of non-co-operation or worse between the employing class and the employed class which Marixists stand for, Such associations are variously named. There is much in a name these days. You can make a movement by labelling it with a name which already has emotional asso ciations dear to the crowd, or which fixes attention on the most appealing aspect of your programme. Or you can unmake it by a malodorous name. Hence, Catholics have to be careful in christening these associations, Especially have they to be careful that the name they select will not smack too much in the popular ear of Fascism or Syndic- alism. What chance, for instance, would a movement for the setting up of such associations have in this country were we to call it Corporatism? It is only by profixing the ad~ jective ‘Christian’ and using the new noun ‘Corporativism® that we can hope to give the movement a fair start. Indeed, the man who invents @ shorter, and more catchy name in~6 ‘A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE si resent cumbrous and unattractive one will be ae sot stiiee to the cause than the writer of bundsed vere io an advantage in this lack of an internationally sccepted name, It ensures that the movement in one ‘country will not be saddled with all the sins of omission ‘and commission with which false leaders may discredit it jin some other country. Besides, it serves to emphasise the very important fact that these associations are to take on different forms according to the special genius and conditions of different countries. No one patiern is canonized. No fone system-—no matter how excellently it works in one country—can’ be transplanted in its every detail in another country and expected to flourish there equally well. The very social principle that demands corporative organization w the Principle of the Organic Structure of Society—de- mands elasticity in it, Here are some of the various names which have been applied to the associations; Vocational Groups, Vocational Corporations, Occupational Groups or Societies, Functional Groups, Guilds Joint Industriel cornet sertand pristian Corporativiem fully we have to ‘understand the conceptions of organized social life to which it is the challenge. All down the last century two beliefs of great practical importance held the field. ‘The one had to do with the proper duties of the government in a country: the other had to do with how citizens could get on best in everyday life. As regards governments, the belief was: “That government is best which governs least A. gavern rent exists in a country only to save it from neighbouring enemy-countries and to keep the peace between its own citizens at home. It, should provide an army, therefore: {t should provide a police-force; it should have courts to tenforce contrac{s made by its citizens with one another, to decide disputes, to pass sentence on delinquents; and it should have prisons for debtors and criminals. But further TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM 7 than that it should not go. Its laws should be few and far hetween. The Jess regulation, the less government inter. ferenco—except to protect property and keep the peace— the better for everybody in the long run. The second dominant belief was: ‘Free competition of individual and individual always brings the best man to the top.’ Just as the best boxer in a crowd will win out, if he can take on his opponents singly, and not all in a body, so the best farmer, or the best shopkeeper, or the best worker will come to the top in his calling, provided he is not ham» pered by a union of the people he has to deal with. Each for himself and on his own resources and the best man win —that is how we are to fight the battle of life. Liberty for every man to do what he is physically able to do is our most treasured birthright. Hence, no associations or combinations of any kind should ‘exist either between business-people, or hetween workers,’ or between consumers, or between any- body else, for that matter. Tt is because the government and the people in the different countries accepted these two beliefs and lived up to them that the nineteenth century saw no Social Services, such as, Old Age Pensions, Unemployment Assistance or National Health Insurance; no Workmen's Compensation or Factory Acts: no Prices Commissions, no Marketing Boards, no Subsidies: no Trade Unions and no Collective Bargaining. The results were disastrous. Instead of the best it was often the most unscrupulous, the most hard- hearted and the most undesirable that came to the top. As for the mass of the population, they became every day poorer, more helpless and more desperate, ever ready for revolution, since for them any change in things could not be for the worse, and might, perhaps, be for the better, In the light of this bitter experience, people gradually came to doubt the laissez-faire beliefs, Soon they went on to discard them altogether—first Australia, then England, then con- Uinental countries, then, in 1932, the U.S.A, so that, now& A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE Japan alone of the civilized States can be classed as of the cld school. But what beliefs were substituted for the discarded ones? In many cases the exact opposite beliefs. Instead of the belief that the less the government interfered with citizens the better, came the belief that the more the government in- terfered the better. And instead of the belief that individual freedom and individual effort are the key to successful living, came the belief that men can get on well only if society plans and prescribes their lives for them. A State practising these two new beliefs is called a Totelitarian State, In the Totalitarian State, the government is legally entitled to regiment the civil population just as it regiments its soldiers. It will prescribe what they are to work al, to play at, to read of, to believe in, to be in possession of, and so on. And it will dominate not only the individual citizen, but also the different associations among citizens. Thus it denies the rights of the family, the trade union, the Church, municipal bodies, and all such societies. And even when it does not suppress these societies altogether, it takes from them all their independence, making them just instruments of its own policy. As for the citizens of the Totalitarian State, their prime duty is unquestioning obedience to the government and their greatest glory to serve the community ‘They are never to act for their own private advantage, nor on their own initiative. ‘The Communist State in Russia is a Totalitarian State So, too—some may be surprised to learn it—is the Fascist State of Italy or Germany. For in all these, the State is everything, the individual citizen and any group of citizens count for nothing except in so far as they can be made useful for the State and State Policy. Communism and Fascism differ from each other, of course. They differ chiefly in three ways. Communism—and with it we may here class Socialism as a whole—does not admit private owiprship of property or class distinctions. Fascism docs. TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM 9 Communism does not encourage any associations among its citizens—the State is to be the sole society. Fascism actually creates a new type of association to deal with in- dustrial relations between its citizens, though it does so for purely political ends, It is because of these new associa- tions, which are referred to by Fascists as Corporations, that the Fascist State is often spoken of as the Corporate State. Thirdly, Communism aims at one international society that will embrace the whole world; Fascism, on the other hand, is intensely race-conscious and national. Truly a remark- able lack of family resemblance—not to. speak of family feeling—between movements so much of kin in political first priticiples! ‘The Laissez-Faire, or Liberal, conception of social life and the Totalitarian conception are opposites. But the reaction against Laissez-Faire does not necessarily lead as far as Communism or Fascism. ‘There are ever so many in- termediate positions. And most peoples prefer to halt at one ot other of these, So they are trying to effect a compromise between individual freedom and social control. The nature of that compromise they trust largely to circumstances to decide, According to Catholic principles, however, such compromise will have to be along the lines of corporative crganization if it is to be stable and perfect. What is Christian Corporativism? It is both a movement and a social philosophy. As a movement, its programme is the creation of a completely new set of public social in- stitutions, namely, occupational societies, As a social philo- sophy, it formulates and justifies 2 number of principles about social life. The most vital of these principles are the Principle of Subsidiarity and the Principle of the Organic Structure of Society. The Principle of Subsidiarity is for- mulated in the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno as: ‘Of its very nature, the true aim of all social activity should be:to help individual members of the social body, but never to destroy or absorb them.’ In other words, every society exists ¢10 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE enly to help individual men and women to do what they could never do by themselves. Hence, individual men and women are not to sacrifice their initiative and self-reliance as the Totalitarians demand. Nor yet are they to think themselves all-euffcient without society as the Liberals think. Rather are they to expect society to help them if, and only if, they are trying to help themselves. And they are to work for, and obey, the authority in society insofar as—and only insofar as—that is necessary in order that the society exis! and performs its function of helping its members. The other principle is the Principle of the Organic Structure of Society. It may be expressed thus: “The social organism is like the organism of the human body in that it must be made up of different organs to he perfect.” This simply means that our social life will not be a full one, if we have only one society (the State), or very few societies. just as our bodily life will not be a full one, if our body is without organs, such as a tongue, eyes and the like. Rather we must have in addition to the State many other societies. or social organs as we may call them—to be precise, as many cther societies as any number of citizens may have interests which they wish to prosecute in common. Each-of these societies is necessary to perform some special function for society exactly as the eye is required to see for the living hody, or the stomach to digest for it. In particular, we must have a family society for the man and woman who wish to rear up children together; we must have local council: among tlose who live in the seme area or district; we must have the Church, that is the society of those preparing for the life to come in the way Christ prescribed; we must have the occupational society, as it is called, for those who spend their time at the same calling. These five societies—that is, the four just specified and the State—are as indispensable for healthy social life as the stomach, the heart and the other ‘organs are for healthy bodily life. Each of them, therefore, is to have a certain degree of independence in acting, just as, TO, COMMUNISM AND FASCISHE ul the heart or the stomach is independent of the head in its functions. The State, for instance, should no more take on itself to do the work of other societies than the head should take on itself to digest food. The State, like the head, may. direct these other societies in their activities. But that is the limit of its competence. Of all these organizations, Occupational Society is the only one that does not exist, in some shape or other, at the moment in these countries. We say ‘at the moment) because such organisations existed in the past under the name of Guilds, All down the Middle Ages and on until the triumph of the laissez-faire philosophy, there were guilds in every Christian community. For instance, in Dublin we read of a Weavers’ Guild, a Tanners’ Guild, a Butchers’ Guild, 2 Bakers’ Guild, ete—in all, a round forty different guilds for the forty odd professions and trades flourishing in the city. Each such guild represented everybody attached to the par- ticular craft of which it was the guild, It represented all the owners, ‘or masters as they were called, all the appren tices, and all the journeymen or employees. For it was argued that all of them had a common stake in the occupation, even though belonging to it in different capacities; all were prosperous or idle according as their craft was prosperous or languishing. The guild council had pretty extensive authority in all matters pertaining to its members and their work, It enforced standards of workmanship and of raw materials used; it regulated the relations as to hours, wage- rales, ete., between the masters and their apprentices and journeymen; it proposed the prices to he charged by its mem- bers for their goods or services; and it-looked after the interests of the craft as against the other guilds and the municipality. According to Catholic thinking, much of the disorder in our present social and economic system is due to the fact that we have no organizations corresponding to these guilds. What organizations we have in industry, for instance, are all on class lines, and none on occupational lines; they are2 A CHRISTIAN ALTHANATIVE . unions of employers alone or of employses alone, buit ‘not of employers and employees together. ‘There is no’ one, therefore, to look after the interests ‘of each occupation as a whole, noone to speak to it or for it with the voice of authority—except the government, And’there is no one to stress the common link between employers and employed in each industry. The Laissez-Faire State and the Totalitarian State, whether of the extreme Fascist or the Communist pattern, have been frequently condemned in Papal utterances. The Corporative State, or rather Corporative Society, is recommended in their stead. And Corporative Society implies, above all else, as we have said, a social order, one of the regular features of which is a series of organizations, representative of the several occupations in the country, somewhat after the fashion of the guilds of the precapitalist era. Just as each citizen must belong to some family and to some municipality or county, so he must belong to some occupational group or other according to the profession or calling he follows. And he must belong to that group no matter in what capacity he is interested in the calling, no maiter, that is, whether he be employer, or shareholder, or clerk, or paid labourer in it. The necessity for having occupational organization is this: Each occupation in a country—Except a monopoly, such as rubber manufacture in this country—counts numbers of separate firms. All these firms together are expected to cater sufficiently for what the whole community requires from the occupation; for example, the various boot factories are expected to supply enough boots, the various bakeries enough bread, etc. Now it is clear that unless there is some co-ordination between these different firms, there will be overproduction, or shortage, or products of very unequal quality, or unfair competition. Hence, there is need for a planned economy of some kind. And if we want further proof of that we have only to look back on the depressions, the cut-throat competition, the limitation of output, and the x ade TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM 13 chaos generally, that marked the various industries in the days of laissez-faire individualism. Who is to put all this right and rationalize each occupation? The State has begun to-take the task on'its own shoulders. Yet the State should rot do so—in fact, it cannot do so—if for no other reason than that Ministers and officials cannot he experts in factory running, shopkeeping, and so on. The body naturally fitted to supervise each occupation is some group of individuals who possess firsthand acquaintance with the problems of the occupation and command the confidence of the different sections of people who engage in the occupation. Take, for example, tillage-farming. The function of this cccupation is (a) to provide a livelihood for the farmers and labourers engaged at it, and (b) to supply the members of the community who do not work at farming with cereals, vegetables, and such like cultivated products. The occupa- tion performs this function well when farmers get prices sufficient to remunerate themselves and their labourers for outlay and work, and when, in addition, enough crops are grown of a quality suitable to the demands of the people in cities and towns who need corn, potatoes, fruit, etc. Now since many different individuals in different farms, and specializing in different crops, are engaged in this occupation, it follows that they must have some authority to direct them. That authority is needed to plan so that just enough—not a glut and not too little—of products of the requisite qual will be grown, And it is needed to represent the occupation in the matter of pricing, grading goods, and so on. Who is better equipped to speak authoritatively on these problems than those with first-hand knowledge, namely the farmers themselves and their workingmen? The occupational union, therefore, serves a double pur- pose, First, it defends the interests of all with a stake in the calling, both as against competing occupations or the public in general, and as against the State itself. Secondly, it plans the economy of the calling as a whole in a givents A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE, area, promotes standards of efficiency within it, and knits together the different classes that live by it, In a word, it has the task of keeping its special industry or profession at that pitch of general efficiency required for the common good and for the good of the individuals engaged in it. And it serves to emphasise that employer and employee have com- mon interest in the success of each occupation. In this way. it brings them both together, and so is a corrective to the doctrine of classwar, and to the antagoniom generated between trade unions and employers’ unions. Such occupational unions do not rule out trade unions or employers’ federations. In fact, they presuppose them. For the union-couneil is best constituted when it is constituted by delegates, one part nominated by the trade union con: cerned and one part nominated by the employers’ federation concerned. A thoroughly representative joint council of this sert has two advantages. It ensures that the good of the occupation will be considered both from the point of view of the workers and of the employers, not from the point of view of the one or the other only. Secondly, it will get the confidence of every section, employer, clerk and worker alike, in a way that no other kind of council would. Con tinental Catholics sum up this demand for freedom of both workers and employers to have separate unions apart from the joint union in the slogan of: ‘The free union in the or- ganized profession? Generally speaking, local and county branches of each occupational union should exist, in addition to the central national council. This would give us a triple class of cecupational, just as we have a triple class of LN-T.A.. or LT. & G.W.U, at present, namely, district branches, and divisional branches affliated to, and under the general direction of, the central standing committee, or coun- cil, of the country as a whole. In this way the occupational union will be representative of, andain touch with, not only the different classes in the calling, but also the different TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM 15. areas and localities in which the occupation is carried on. Finally, all the occupational unions in the country should tiemselves be federated into a National Corporative Council. This council would serve to co-ordinate the various unions and restrain any one of them, or any group of them, from acting in a way dangerous to the economic interests of the cthers or of the country as a whole—a parliament of in- dustry for industry. Iz would be constituted by, perhaps, two delegates each, from the various occupational unions We have something corresponding to such interunion or- ganization in the Irish trade Unions Congress, or the Association of Chambers of Commerce, What should be the powers of the Occupational Council? The general principle is that the national occupational coun- cil of each indusiry and profession is to possess a large measure of autonomy in planning the economic life of its particular occupation, Its regulations are to he "binding on everybody engaged in the calling, and are to be recognized as such by the State. This implies, therefore, that the occu- pational councils are to be public corporations. They are not to be mere organs of the political government, but self- governing functional institutions for the various branches of social and economic life. The scope of the central council’s regulatory power will vary’in details. But, in general, the council will codify the practices of the profession, standardize the products or services which the public are to expect from the profession, and determine what action on the part of members is to be thought unprofessional. Secondly, it will consider price- fixing, at least to this extent that it will go into the costs its members have to meet and show what would he’a fair price for theit products in view of these costs, This, of course, will raise the question both of a fair rate of profit for share- holders and a fair wage-rate for workers. Thirdly, it will have power to impose the collective agreements made be- tween the labour unions and the employers’ unions on all”16 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE individual firms. And it will provide adjudication boards for all disputes about wages, working conditions and the like. Fourthly, it will lay down the conditions for membership of the occupation. Again it may be entrusted with responsibility for much of the social services now assumed by the State. In particular, Unemployment Relief, Old Age Pensions, Disability and Housing Benefits, should be undertaken by each union for its own members. What is more natural than that the out-of.work, the aged, the sick and the needy should continue to live directly from the occupation to which they have dedicated themselves as workers? ‘The funds for these could be secured partly by contributions from the members themselves and partly by a levy on the sales-income of the different units of the occupation. Lastly, the council will ensure the official representation of the interests of the pro- fession in external affairs. But if thé occupational council is to be semi-autonomous, it is not to be autocratic, In the first place, it has to respect the rights and views of its own regional and local branches. Then, too, it must be careful not to encroach upon the, funetions of the trade union, the employers’ federation, or the individual business proprietor. And from above, its powers are limited by the State. The State is superior to the occupational group just as it is superior to every other temporal society within the country. Hence it is the right and the duty of the State to supervise the activities of the group council. The extent of this supervision and inter- ference will vary according to circumstances. ‘The smoother the economic life of the community flows, the less need there will be for State action, and vice versa. The method of Staie control, too, may be left to expediency. Some favour fa State nominee as president of each occupational ‘council. Others suggest that the decisions of each council meeting be submitted to a Minister for approval, somewhat as the de- cision of a County Council here are submitted to the Minister for Local Goverfment. Others again think that the TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM Ww State should interfere directly with the occupational council culy in time of crisis, or at the request either of the occupa: tional unions themselves or of some representative section of them. Personally we would offer another suggestion. It is that all proposed legislation involving social and economic issues should be submitted to the National Corporative Chamber hefore submission to the State Legislature. And if such legislation vitally affects any single occupation, or category of ocoupations, it should be submitted to the particular occu: pational council concerned, as well. For example, legisla. tion on bread prices should be placed first before the Bakers’ Council; legislation on wheat-growing or cattle-breeding should be discussed by the Farming Council; legislation on wages and working-conditions should be submitted both to the individual occupations concerned and to the National Corporative Chamber as a whole. ‘The recommendations of these bodies, with detailed arguments for each amendment suggested, should then be attached to the text of the proposed law and sent back to the legislator. In the light of this re- port, the legislator may; if he thinks fit, redraft the proposed law to meet the suggestions tendered to him. Or he may, if he thinks fit, rejeot the advice of the couneil or councils. But should he reject the advice, it should be incumbent on him to place before the legislative assembly his reasons for doing so. The great virtue of such a device is that it ensures expert advice for the legislator. And it is advice that he can accept without having to appear to climb down from his original position. Hence, he will not lose by accepting it, as he would do at present in this country were he to modify the text of 4 Bill, in the course of the debate, at the suggestion of the opposition or some outside hody. Tt is for this reason mainly that we stress the submission of such legislation to the Cor- porative Cotincils before its introduction “in the Dail or ‘ve body. The practice would have other -advantages18 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE too. By criticising legislation before a political party has officially made every provision of its own, the occupational bodies will be more likely to steer clear of politics, more likely to see the issues involved from the angle of the pro- fessional interest than from the angle of party. prejudice. Indeed, a corporative chamber that would fulfil the functions of Second Chamber in the Legislature would not be nearly as effective, in practice, as an advisory council such as we have outlined. We have said already that it is of the essence of corpora- tive organization that it should develop differently in different countries. Nor can the constitution that governs, say, mining, govern agriculture in all its details; nor can that which governs the liberal professions govern, say, the meat trade. Elasticity of detail is to mark the organization, not only from Country to country, but from occupation to occupation. Any organization will be an occupational union which has the three following characteristics: (a) comprises all engaged in the particular calling, “(b) possesses public corporative powers, (c) has some measure of autonomy in its dealings with its members, Any organisation lacking in any of these characteristics is not an occupational union in the sense of Christian sociology, no matter what else it may be. ‘The usual definition of the occupational union is: A public institution, intermediary between private industry and the State, which exists for the purpose of promoting the common good of a profession and of those engaged in that profession. ‘The ideal of the Catholic Social Movement is that the whole adult population of a country be organized in unions of this kind. Just as each man is a registered parliamentary voter for some constituency, according to his place of resi- dence, he is to be likewise a registered voter for some’ occt- pational unit according to the calling he follows. ‘The number of such unions in any country will depend altogether on the variety of occupations in the country. And we may expect that different peoples will adopt different classifica: TO COVMUNISM AND FASCISM wo tions, for there is no hard and fast rule, in the conerete, for determining what economic pursuits are specially distinct. In Italy we find about forty-six such corporations—as they are called—generally recognized. Portugal has so far con- siderably less. Here is a list of its occupational corporations: tle Breeding, Wine Producing, Forestry, Agricultural ‘arming, Fishing and Tinned Meat, Chemical Products and Mining, Textile Industry, Electrical Enterprise, Building and Building Materials, Transport, Graphic and Printing, Bank- ing, Insurance and Credit, Touristry, Commercial Activities, Spiritual and Moral Interests, Science, Literature, etc., Sport, Civil Service and Politics, Local Government, National Defence, Public Works and Communications, Colonies. But this is only one of a number of possible schemes, even for Portugal. For instance, it is possible to have a single union for all farming interests. Or there may be three separate unions—one for tillage-farming, one for dairy-farming, and one for ranching. In this scheme—it would work admirably in this country—farmers who do mixed farming would helong to two or, perhaps, all three unions. We have said that occupational organization of this kind existed once, but passed with the decease of the Guilds. To restore it, therefore, will entail the creating of new institu. tions, But not for every occupation. Certain of the liberal professions have never wholly ceased to be guilds. They still have a supreme council of their own with regulatory, supervisory and advisory powers over’ all members. We need only instance the General Medical Council in these countries for the medical profession. It looks after the in- terests of the profession as a whole, supervises the courses of instruction for medical undergraduates, prescribes the professional etiquette of practitioners and takes disciplinary action against doctors guilty of misconduct, neglect of duty, etc, Then, again, we find in certain industrial concerns in England and America what are called Whitley Councils or Works® Councils. These are joint committees with equal20 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE representation of labour and management, to which varying degrees of control over policy, output, working conditions and the like, in the concern are granted. One of the latest of these joint boards to he formed is one for the Coal Mining Industry in England. The germ of a true occupational union is certainly present in this form of organization, Again, the British Government in recent years has set up a number of Boards to deal with special sections of the agricultural industry, for instance, a Milk Board, a Sugar Board, a Potato Board. And in this country we have a Pigs Marketing Board, composed of curers and producers (nominated by the Gov ernment, though) who fix the quota of pigs to be slaughtered. the prices to be paid, the grades to be distinguished, etc, The Catholic call for occupational unions is not a call to go back to the Medieval Guilds. The Guilds outlived their usefulness because they failed to accommodate themselves to changing methods of production and changing social out- look, The Catholic call is just for a modem counterpart of the guilds—unions suited to our present industrial, commer- cial and agricultural system. Hence, the objection. often voiced that corporativism is an attempt to land the world hack into Medievalism is utterly groundless. The Christian corporative movement suffers in democratic countries from the fact that it is confused with ihe Fascist movement, What should be remembered is that the Catholic programme was put forward long before Mussolini put Fas- cism on the map. And secondly, there is a world of difference between the Fascist Corporate State and Christian. Corpora- tive Society. In the Fascist State, the government plans the policy for each industry or profession, then nominates mem- bers of the different industries or professions to implement that policy, and so uses the corporation as a purely. political organ, The corporation, therefore, is neither democratic in its constitution nor independent in its functioning. ..It-really, represents the. government, not the, occupation. -In the Christian corporative society, on the other hand, .the, accu TO COMMUNISM AND FASCISM 21 pations are independent bodies which, though under the pro- tection of the government, work out the economic salvation of their members without reference to polities. And they are democratic institutions in the senso that their local and national councils are constituted by the free vote of the in- dividual members, and in the sense that they are compatible with democratic parliamentary government, We speak of Corporative Society, not of a Corporative State, because we wish to stress that occupational unions are not mere State executive bodies, and that we can have occupational unions under any form of government—dictatorial, republican, monarchical or democratic, For instance, the G.A.A. can manage the national pastimes, and the Medical Council can control the medical professions, no. matter what kind of government the country has. They are no part of the Govern- ment. They are simply independent bodies, recognised as ssuch by the Goverment. What we aim at are similar recog- ised bodies for every calling and activity. History and ex- perience alike bear witness that such hodies can flourish in any State—except a doctrinaire Totalitarian State. Hence, it is not the State, but social life within the State, that we are trying to reconstruct, when we propose to set up occupational unions, How are wo to go about setting up this corporative order of ours? Two ways lie open. The first is for the Govern- ment to establish a framework of such unions, complete and ‘ordered in every detail. In such a way we could have over- night complete corporative organization. This was the method adopted in Portugal and Austria, two countries pro- fessedly Catholic in their social policy. But the method has very serious drawbacks, It requires a dictatorship to be successfully adopted. It leaves the way open for too much State interference in the unions. And above all, it offers only a ready-made system where one made-to-measure is eesential. Every branch of economic activity requires orzani- zation suited to its own peculiar structure and needs. What22 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE shape that organization is to take cannot be devised before- hand, nor copied’ from elsewhere, without grave risk of straight-jacketting the occupation in question. The other and better way is by corporativiem of associa- tion. Here the unions are established one at a time, accord- ing to needs and opportunities, and not all simultaneously. Secondly, the initiative in establishing them is taken by the workers and employers themselves. The only part the State has to play in the process is to encourage the movement and to confer on each council the necessary legal standing once it is sufficiently developed. Voluntary corporativism of this kind has two great advantages over dictated corporativism Jt ensures that the constitution best suited to each occupation will have been hammered out, And secondly, it strengthens the authority of the professional council because members are more inclined to collaborate with a self-imposed system than with one, imposed by State decree. Hence our greatest service to the corporative movement must be the populariza- tion of the ideals of the movement among employers and employees. Our propaganda would, of course, be immensely strengthened if we could professionalize some one occupa- tion and point the moral of its success to the others. Christian Corporativism has nothing to do with party politics. It is equally at home under all forms of government. And it is certain to be stunted if any government body inter- feres too actively to promote it. Hence, our greatest dis- service to the movement would be to link it up with any political party, new or old. Nor should we even demand of our political representatives that they declare themselves openly in favour of it. “ Rightly understood, the movement towards organising our different avocations has as little to do with party politics as te movement towards organising the theatre, or temperance, or hiking. All that is required of the State is that it will not suppress the movement anid that it will recognise any occupational bodies that are freely set up. TO COMMUNISM AND FASCIS® 23 Is it too utopian to expect that the movement will take in this country? It is until we rid ourselves of the idea that it is a political movement. It is until we can convince the workers among us that it will not weaken their trade unions, and until we can convince the employers among us that it does not mean handing over control of their concerns to an outside organisation of some kind. It is until we have edu- cated our people in the Christian social philosophy from which the movement draws inspiration. It is until we have made our people realise that there is no other way to social reform than along this path of re-building the occupational vnion. Can we do all this? Surely we can. But it will take a whole-hearted effort on the part of our priests and our pub- licists. There is little sign of any trend towards corpora- tivism in our industries or among our trade union leaders and employers. Perhaps it is because so far we have confined too much of our propaganda for the Christian Social Prin- ples to such questions as Just Wages, Private Ownership and the like. We have not insisted enough that these ques- tions cannot be isolated and treated singly. Yet the very Lacyclicals from which we, cull our teaching on these problems insist that there can be no adequate solution for any of them without the reconstruction of our economic life on an occupational basis, Here is what the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, which treats ex projesso of “The Recon- struction of the Social Order, states:— ‘The aim of social policy must be the reestablishment of voca- tional groups. There cannot be question of any perfect eure (for the class-strugale) unloss . . . well-organized members of the social body be constituted vocational groups, amely, claiming the allegiance of men, not according to the position they occupy in the labour-mariet, but according to the diverse functions they exerciss in society. Vor it is natural that just as those who dwell in closo proximity constitute townships, so those who practice the same trade or profession, in the economic field or any other, form corporate groups. ‘Thete groups with powers of self-government are considered by many to be, if not essential ~ to civil society, at least natural to it24 A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE Without corporative organisation of our economic life we cannot hope to have a healthy social order. No amount of goodwill on the part of employers or employees will secure all it is designed to secure. But we must not deceive ourselves and think that if once we establish these unions everything will go right. ‘That is not so. These unions are but the machinery that will enable men to live together in social peace if they have the goodwill to work the machinery well. It is absolutely necessary that the members of the union should be imbued with a strong Christian spirit, a sense of justice and a devotion to the general welfare. Without such an inspiration—in an atmosphere of selfishness and materialism and contempt for the moral law—the unions could be the instruments of disorder as much as of order. In other words, to be perfect the corporative union must not only exist, but must act perfectly. It is not fool-proof in its working. No institution in the social life is. Hence the Holy Father adds in his Encyclical that if we are to expect the coxporative organisation to bring us to sorial peace and prospérity we must necessarily reform men’s manners and morals as well. Personal sanctification is indispensable in the officials and members of the groups. Here are the words of Quadragesimo Anno: “If we examine matters more dili- gently and more thoroughly, we shall perceive clearly that this Ionged-for social reconstruction must be preceded by a renewal of the Christian spirit from waich so many people engaged in industry have at times lamentably departed. 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