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Medieval Paternalism
and Progressivist Neo-Slavery
By Professor Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira
What should be thought of the quotes below?
"Whereas the interest in and tendency toward maximum
productivity continue to be dominant and absolute, private
property has ceased to be a projection of the individual,
a kind of necessary support of his individuality in the world
of things, to become - this is something Christians especially
should keep in mind - a negative conditioner of his individuality.
In fact one may affirm, as authoritative lawyers of certainly
not anti-Christian inspiration have, that today it is no longer
the proprietor who owns the property but the property that
possesses the proprietor."
Whoever professes this strange philosophy
does not just reduce man to the condition of a wage earner
nor even the slave of another man; instead, he makes him the
slave of a bureaucratic and mechanical production system -
a system endowed with a power similar to that which an owner
has over his possessions.
"Let us consider the field of penal
law. On one hand, today we are witnessing a profound change
in the way of measuring the gravity of certain infractions.
On the other hand, we are seeing a growing increase, that
may appear censurable of prosecution of actions that were
considered criminally irrelevant in the past.
"The most serious offenses are no longer
crimes committed against the individual or his property, but
those that touch upon social values in any way. Consequently
the need is felt to sanction penally every behavior which
manifests an attempt not so much against an individual or
the social order, understood in the old meaning of the absence
of clashes between individuals, but rather as an attempt against
the attainment of that purposefulness that has now past from
the individual and society to the State. Every crime indeed
is a crime in-as-much as it is a political crime."
Anyone who thinks like this believes that
individuals do not have rights of their own and that the State
is the exclusive holder of all rights. ...
"Man's physical health ... is no
longer merely a very personal asset of the individual, but
rather an asset of the collectivity, so much so that its well-being
is guaranteed by the Constitution."
In the perspective of the previous texts
one sees well where this one can lead. For if, indeed, the
individual has no rights, the State's right over the public
health absolutely supersedes any shadow of right the individual
may have over his own health. Consequently, this principle
could lead forthwith to slavery.
Who holds these opinions so terribly imbued
with the spirit of the slave state? Some fanatic adherent
of the despotic monarchy that ruled the Orient in the past?
Or is it some cruel feudal lord as depicted by some popular
history book influenced by fairytale fantasy?
No. They belong to one of those progressivist
Catholics who live to malign, by labeling them as tyrannical,
the best and most persistent Christian traditions of the Middle
Ages. They are the opinions of Mr. Gian Paolo Meucci, judge
and professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Florence,
Italy, who contributes to newspapers and magazines like Il
Popolo, L'Italia and Testimonianze. Prof. Meucci
wrote, the chapter "Verso lo Stato di domani" (Toward
the State of tomorrow), for the controversial book Dialogo
alla Prova (Dialogue put to Test) (Mario Gozzini, ed.,
Mezzo Secolo, Vallechi Editore, Florence, 1964), on which
Italian Catholics and communists collaborated.
Thus so many progressivists who decrying
what they call medieval paternalism as a system incompatible
with human dignity end up carrying their idolatry of the state
to the point of advocating the reestablishment of a slavery
typical of peoples prior to the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Regarding medieval paternalism, this is what
Leo XIII said about workers in industry and commerce: "History
attests what excellent results were brought about by the artificers'
guilds of olden times. They were the means of affording not
only many advantages to the workmen, but in no small degree
of promoting the advancement of art, as numerous monuments
remain to bear witness. Such unions should be suited to the
requirements of this our age - an age of wider education,
of different habits, and of far more numerous requirements
in daily life. It is gratifying to know that there are actually
in existence not a few associations of this nature, consisting
either of workmen alone, or of workmen and employers together,
but it were greatly to be desired that they should become
more numerous and more efficient. We have spoken of them more
than once, yet it will be well to explain here how notably
they are needed, to show that they exist of their own right,
and what should be their organization and their mode of action."
(Encyclical Rerum Novarum).
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As one can see, this great pontiff thought
that medieval guilds should still exist in our days, although
with the necessary adaptations.
We feel much more at ease in the company
of that great pope in his praise of those medieval bodies,
which guarantee the rights of both employers and employees,
than in the wake of the advocates of contemporary totalitarian
slavery.
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