Category: Book 2

America is all shot to pieces
since the little shots
are no longer able
to become big shots.
When the little shots
are not satisfied
to remain little shots
and try to become
big shots,
then the big shots
are not satisfied
to remain big shots
and try to become
bigger shots.
And when the big shots
become bigger shots
then the little shots
become littler shots.
And when the little shots
become littler shots
because the big shots
become bigger shots
then the little shots
get mad at the big shots.
And when the little shots
get mad at the big shots
because the big shots
by becoming bigger shots
make the little shots
littler shots
they shoot the big shots
full of little shots.
But by shooting the big shots
full of little shots
the little shots
do not become big shots;
they make everything all shot.
And I don’t like
to see the little shots
shoot the big shots
full of little shots;
that is why
I am trying to shoot
both the big shots
and the little shots
full of hot shots.

A Modern Plague

Glenn Frank,
president of Wisconsin University,
says:
“What ails modern society
is the separation of the spiritual from the
material.”
Pope Pius XI
calls this separation
“a modern plague,”
or to speak more plainly “a pest.”
This separation of the spiritual from the
material
is what we call “secularism.”
Everything has been secularized,
everything has been divorced from religion.
We have divorced religion from education,
we have divorced religion from politics,
we have divorced religion from business.

Secularism

When religion has nothing to do with
education,
education is only information,
plenty of facts
and no understanding.
When religion has nothing to do with
politics,
politics is only factionalism–
“Let’s turn the rascals out
so our good friends can get in.”
When religion has nothing to do with
business
business is only commercialism.
And when religion has nothing to do with
either education, politics or business,
you have the religion of business taking the
place of the business of religion.

Spiritualizing

Our modern educators,
our modern politicians,
our modern business men
have taken religion from everything
and have put commercia1ism into everything.
And now we have to take commercialism out
of everything
and to put religion into everything.
The way to take commercialism out of
everything
and to put religion into everything
is not through political action.
The way to take commercialism out of
everything
and to put religion into everything
is through Catholic Action.

Business-Like

Catholic Action is action by Catholics
for Catholics and non-Catholics.
Catholic Action is action by Catholic laymen
in co-operation with the clergy.
Catholic laymen and women have told
the clergy,
“Mind your own business
and don’t butt into our business.”
So Catholic clergymen
have ceased to mind the layman’s business
and the laymen have made a mess
of their own business.
And Catholic clergymen have tried to mind
their business
with a business-like technique
borrowed from business-minded people.

The Forgotten Man

The forgotten man has been forgotten
because clergymen have forgotten
to rub shoulders with the forgotten man.
And clergymen have forgotten
to rub shoulders with the forgotten man
because clergymen have forgotten
to use logic to find what is practical.
And because clergymen have forgotten
to use logic to find what is practical
they have failed to give us a sociology
that has something to do with theology.
If there was a sociology
that had something to do with theology
it was the sociology of St. Francis of Assisi,
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Thomas More.
But the sociology of St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Thomas More.
was an Utopian sociology,
and clergymen are not interested in Utopias,
not even Christian Utopias.

Rome or Moscow

And because clergymen are not interested
in the sociology of St. Francis of Assisi,
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Thomas More,
the forgotten man is becoming interested
in the sociology of Karl Marx, Lenin
and Stalin.
And because clergymen are not interested
in a technique of leadership
the forgotten man is becoming interested
in a technique of dictatorship.
And because clergymen are not interested
in Dynamic Catholic Action
the forgotten man is becoming interested
in Dynamic Bolshevik Action.

I Was Told

I was told
by a young Puerto Rican
that the president
of his school’s study club
was a Communist,
and that in the meetings
of the school’s study club
the Communist president
did most of the talking
and that the school teacher
was an interested listener
to the Communist president
of the school’s study club.
I was told
by the dean of a Catholic college
that Catholic professors
of Catholic colleges
have neither
the knowledge nor the courage
to bring Catholic social thought
to the man of the street.

Looking For Light

So while Catholic professors
of Catholic colleges
do not have
enough knowledge or courage
to bring Catholic social thought
to the man of the street,
Communist propagandists
yet in their ‘teens
find enough knowledge or courage
to bring Communist social thought
to the men of the school
The schools used to teach:
“If you want peace
prepare for war”;
we prepared for war
and are still looking for peace.
The schools used to teach:
“If you want prosperity
save your money”;
people saved their money,
and we are still looking for prosperity.
The modern man looks for thought
so he can have light,
and is unable to find it
in our modern schools.

Shouting With Rotarians

According to Glenn Frank,
president of the University of Wisconsin.
“Schools reflect the environment, ,
they do not create it.”
According to Professor Meiklejohn,
of the same university,
students go to school
not to be educated,
but to be business men.
Shortly after their graduation
school graduates can be heard
shouting with Rotarians:
“Service for profits,
Time is money,
Cash and carry,
Keep smiling,
Business is business,
Watch your step,
How is the rush?
How are you making out?
How is the world treating you?
The law of supply and demand,
Competition is the life of trade,
Your dollar is your best friend.”

A Protestant Agitator

Catholic teachers
teaching in Catholic or public schools
who do not know how to present
Catholic social thought
either to the men on the street
or to the pupils in the schools
will be interested to learn
that a Protestant agitator
well known in Union Square
is presenting the Thomistic doctrine
of the Common Good
to the men of the street
in the streets of Harlem.
H. Hergenhan, such is his name,
does not believe
in the rugged individualism
of capitalism
or in the rugged nationalism
of Fascism
or in the rugged collectivism
of Bolshevism.

The Common Good

He believes in the gentle personalism
of gentlemen who are gentle,
gentleness that finds its roots
in the common doctrine
of the Common Good.
H. Hergenhan believes
that the doctrine of the Common Good
is common
to humanists who are human,
to Jews who are orthodox,
to Protestants who are Christian
and to Catholics who are Catholic.
The Common Good movement
is not a movement that divides,
it is a movement that unites.
The Common Good movement
is not a new deal,
it is an old game.
The Common Good movement
is not a revolution to the left,
it is a revolution to the right.

Tawney’s Book

When in 1891 Pope Leo XIII
wrote his encyclical
on the condition of labor
he emphasized the lack of ethics
in modern society.
When in 1899 Thorstein Veblen
wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class
he emphasized the same thing.
R. H. Tawney, then an Oxford student,
learned that when the Canon Law,
that is to say, the law of the Church,
was the law of the land
there were high ethics in society.
So R. H. Tawney decided to study
how society has passed down
from the high ethics of the Canon Law
to the no ethics of today.
What R. H. Tawney found out
about the history of ethics
of the last five hundred years
is embodied in his book,
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.

Catholic Social Research

“When a system fails to feed the poor
it is time to look out
for one that does,”
says Archbishop Keating of Liverpool.
And because Archbishop Keating realized
that our modern social order
fails to feed the poor
he founded in Oxford
a Catholic Labor College.
And the Catholic Labor College
conducted in Oxford
has been going on
for the last twenty-five years.
At its last general meeting
Cardinal Bourne declared
that we are badly in need
of Catholic social research.
If there had been more Catholic social
research
Catholics would not now
pass the buck
to the politicians.

School of Social Studies

To found a School of Social Studies,
such was the aim
of Father Patrick Sheely, S.J.
In a School of Social Studies
we would be able to learn
why things are what they are.
In a School of Social Studies
we would be able to learn
how things would be
if they were as they should be.
In a School of Social Studies
we would be able to learn
how a path can be made
from things as they are
to things as they should be.
A School of Social Studies
would give us Catholic Action
based on Catholic Thought
realized in Catholic Institutions.

Putting Patches

Having no School of Social Studies,
we don’t know how to pass
from things as they are
to things as they should be.
Having no School of Social Studies
we have no Catholic social program
based on Catholic social thought.
Having no School of Social Studies,
we try to put patches
to the existing social order
and call it a New Deal.
Having no School of Social Studies.
we let college professors
carry on costly experiments
at the expense of the taxpayers.
Having no School of Social Studies,
we are not occupied
in reconstructing the social order
as the Holy Father wants us to be.

I Agree

I agree with seven Bishops,
three of whom are Archbishops,
that the Communist criticism
of modern rugged individualism
is a sound criticism.
I agree with seven Bishops,
three of whom are Archbishops,
that the main social aim
of the Communist Party
is a sound social aim.
I agree with seven Bishops,
three of whom are Archbishops,
that the Communists are not sound
when they advocate class struggle
in order to realize
their sound social aim.
I agree with the Apostolic Delegate
when he advocates the practice
of the Seven Corporal and Seven Spiritual
Works of Mercy
as the best practical means
of making man human to man.

Personal Sacrifice

To be our brother’s keeper
is what God wants us to do.
To feed the hungry
at a personal sacrifice
is what God wants us to do.
To clothe the naked
at a personal sacrifice
is what God wants us to do.
To shelter the homeless
at a personal sacrifice
is what God wants us to do.
To instruct the ignorant
at a personal sacrifice
is what God wants us to do.
To serve man for God’s sake
is what God wants us to do.

Reconstruction

The Holy Father asks us
to reconstruct the social order.
The social order was once reconstructed
after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Irish scholars were the leaders
in the reconstruction of the social order
after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Through Round-Table Discussions
scattered all over Europe
as far as Constantinople
the Irish scholars
brought thought to the people.
Through Houses of Hospitality
the Irish scholars
exemplified Christian charity.
Through Fanning Communes
the Irish scholars
made workers out of scholars
and scholars out of workers.

Dear Father:

Dr. C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce,
suggested some time ago
the establishment in Washington
of a “Laboratory for Leadership in
Public Affairs.”
H. McCall, assistant to Secretary Roper,
says that “youth movements
have occupied
dominant and aggressive positions
in the social and governmental changes
that have taken place
throughout the world
since the World War.”
H. McCall proposes
the establishment in Washington
“of a forum
for study and training
in public affairs.”

Colleges and universities
have failed
to give their students
a technique of leadership
based on scholarship.

And because colleges and universities
have failed
to make leaders out of their students,
politicians propose
to make bureaucrats out of them.
College professors
have become so academic
that their students
refuse to be scholarly minded
and consent to be politically minded.
College professors
have failed
to train their students
in a technique of leadership,
so their students wish to be trained
in a technique of dictatorship.
In Cuba, Germany, China, Mexico, Italy,
Russia, dictators have found
their greatest support
among college students
eager for action.
Academic college professors
are interested in thought,
not in action.
So we have on one hand
thought without action
and on the other hand
action without thought.

People go to Washington
asking the Federal Government
to solve their economic problems,
while the Federal Government
was never intended
to solve men’s economic problems.
Catholic Action
based on Catholic thought
is the Catholic solution
of men’s economic problems.
To impart Catholic thought
and train in Catholic Action,
such is the function
of Catholic universities.
Some way ought to be found
to send Catholic workers
to Catholic universities
or to bring Catholic universities
to Catholic workers.
When Catholic scholars
and Catholic workers
become acquainted with each other
Catholic workers
win cease to be politically minded
and begin to be scholarly minded.
When Catholic scholars
are dynamic
and not academic
and Catholic workers
are scholars
and not politicians
we will have dynamic Catholic Action.
Yours for dynamic Catholic Action.

PETER MAURIN

Not a Liberal

They say that I am a radical.
If I am a radical
then I am not a liberal.
The future will be different
if we make the present different.
But to make the present different
one must give up old tricks
and start to play new tricks.
But to give up old tricks
and start to play new tricks
one must be a fanatic.
Liberals are so liberal about everything
that they refuse to be fanatical
about anything.
And not being able to be fanatical
about anything,
liberals cannot be liberators.
They can only be liberals.
Liberals refuse to be
religious, philosophical or economic fanatics
and consent to be
the worst kind of fanatics,
liberal fanatics.

Not a Conservative

If I am a radical,
then I am not a conservative.
Conservatives try to believe
that things are good enough
to be let alone.
But things are not good enough
to be let alone.
Conservatives try to believe
that the world is getting better
every day in every way.
But the world is not getting better
every day in every way.
The world is getting worse
every day in every way
and the world is getting worse
every day in every way
because the world is upside down.
And conservatives do not know
how to take the upside down
and to put it right side up.
When conservatives and radicals
will come to an understanding
they will take the upside down
and they will put it right side up.

A Radical Change

The order of the day
is to talk about the social order.
Conservatives would like
to keep it from changing
but they don’t know how.
Liberals try to patch it
and call it a New Deal.
Socialists want a change,
but a gradual change.
Communists want a change,
an immediate change,
but a Socialist change.
Communists in Russia
do not build Communism,
they build Socialism.
Communists want to pass
from capitalism to Socialism
and from Socialism to Communism.
I want a change,
and a radical change.
I want a change
from an acquisitive society
to a functional society,
from a society of go-getters
to a society of go-givers.

When Bankers Rule

Modern society has made the bank account
the standard of values.
When the bank account
becomes the standard of values
the banker has the power.
When the banker has the power
the technician has to supervise
the making of profits.
When the banker has the power
the politician
has to assure law and order
in the profit-making system.
When the banker has the power
the educator trains students
in the technique of profit making.
When the banker has the power
the clergyman is expected
to bless the profit-making system
or to join the unemployed.
When the banker has the power
the Sermon on the Mount
is declared unpractical.
When the banker has the power
we have an acquisitive,
not a functional society.

When Christ Is King

When the Sermon on the Mount
is the standard of values
then Christ is the Leader.
When Christ is the Leader
the priest is the mediator.
When Christ is the Leader
the educator
trains the minds of the pupils
so that they may understand
the message of the priest.
When Christ is the Leader
the politician
assures law and order
according to the priest’s teachings.
When Christ is the Leader
the technician
devises ways and means
for the economical production
and distribution of goods.
When Christ is the Leader
the administrator administrates
according to the directions
from the technicians.
When Christ is the Leader
we have a functional,
not an acquisitive society.

Rebellion Is Rebellion

Boloney is boloney,
no matter how you slice it,
and rebellion is rebellion
no matter when it happens,
whether it is
the religious rebellion
of the 16th century
or the political rebellion
of the 18th century,
or the economic rebellion
of the 20th century.
Someone said
that the Catholic Church
stands for rum, Romanism and rebellion.
But the Catholic Church
does not stand for rum, Romanism and
rebellion.
The Catholic Church stands
for Rome, Reunion, and Reconstruction.
The Catholic Church stands,
as Rome used to stand,
for law and order.
The Catholic Church stands
for the reunion
of our separated brothers.
The Catholic Church stands
for the reconstruction,
not the patching up,
of the social order.

Constructing the Social Order

The Holy Father asks us
to reconstruct the social order.
The social order was constructed
by the first Christians
through the daily practice
of the Seven Corporal
and Seven Spiritual
Works of Mercy.
To feed the hungry
at a personal sacrifice,
to clothe the naked
at a personal sacrifice,
to shelter the homeless
at a personal sacrifice,
to instruct the ignorant
at a personal sacrifice;
such were the works
of the first Christians
in times of persecution.

The Catholic Worker proposes fighting
Communism
the way the first Christians
fought pagan Romanism,
through the works of mercy.
The Catholic Worker proposes fighting
Communism
the way the Irish scholars
fought pagan feudalism,
through Round-Table Discussions,
Houses of Hospitality,
Farming Communes.
The Communists do not build Communism,
they build Socia1ism.
The Catholic Worker
does not build Catholic Socialism,
it builds Catholic Communism.
The Catholic Worker
builds Catholic Communism
the way the first Christians
and the Irish scholars
built Catholic Communism.
The Catholic Worker believes
that there is no better Communism
than Catholic Communism,
and that there is no better way
to build Catholic Communism
than by building Catholic Communes.
Catholic Communes
are not a new thing,
they are an old thing.
Catholic Communes are so old
that Catholics have forgotten them.
Communists have not invented anything,
not even the name Commune.
The Communist ideal
is the Common Good ideal–
the ideal of St. Thomas More,
the ideal of St. Thomas Aquinas,
the ideal of the Irish scholars,
the ideal of the first Christians.
The doctrine of the Common Good
of St. Thomas Aquinas
is still a Catholic doctrine.
We don’t need a new doctrine,
we need an old technique.
We need the old technique
of the first Christians
and the Irish scholars.
What was good for the first Christians
and the Irish scholars
ought to be good enough for us.
What was practical for them
ought to be practical for us.

Not Communists

There is nothing wrong
with Communism,
but there is something wrong
with Bolshevism.
The wrong thing with Bolshevism is
that Bolshevists
are not Communists;
they are Socialists.
For if the Bolshevists
were Communists,
they would build Communism.
And the Bolshevists
do not build Communism;
they build Socialism;
they build State Socialism.
The Bolshevists probably hope
that the State
“will wither away,”
and that they will be able to pass
from State Socialism
to Communism without State.

Two Reds

Some time ago
I was discussing in Harlem
with a Russian Red
and an Irish Red.
And the Russian Red
understood me sooner
than the Irish Red.
Having understood
what I was saying,
the Russian Red
started to explain
to his friend, the Irish Red,
what I was talking about.
When the Russian Red
had finished explaining,
the Irish Red
turned toward me
and said that while he agreed
with most of what I said
he still believed
that the Catholic Church
was not the friend
of the working-men.
Many Catholics
are much disappointed
when Wall Street corporations
or political organizations
or Catholic associations
fail to provide them
with economic security.

Looking for a Boss

A Catholic working-man
once said to me:
“There is only one thing
between me and the Reds,
and that is a good job.”
Everybody is looking for a boss,
and nobody wants
to be his own boss.
And because everybody
looks for a boss
the Reds want the State
to be the boss of everybody.
Because everybody
consents to play
somebody else’s game
for the sake of a pay-envelope
the Reds try to find the way
to assure a pay-envelope
to everybody
so as to force everybody
to act like everybody.
But nothing will be changed
when the Reds
will force everybody
to act like everybody,
since nobody is nobody
when everybody
tries to keep up with everybody.

America and Russia

American Republicans
want their friends
on the public payroll,
but only their friends.
American Democrats
want their friends
on the public payroll,
but only their friends.
But the Reds want everybody
on the public payroll,
not only their friends.
The American idea
is to keep the Government
out of business
and to put everybody
into business.
The Russian idea
is to put the Government
into business
and to keep everybody
out of business.
But business
is only business,
whether it is
the State business
or private business;
and I am trying
to make it my business
to put all business
out of business,
including the State business,
which is a big business.

Red and Green

Our business managers
have made such a mess of things
that people are inclined
to see Red.

And when people see Red
it is useless
to present to them
the Red, White and Blue,
because they can no longer see
the White and the Blue
of the Red, White and Blue;
all they can see is Red.
The only way
to keep people
from seeing Red
is to make them
see Green.
The only way
to prevent
a Red Revolution
is to promote
a Green Revolution.
The only way
to keep people
from looking up
to Red Russia
of the twentieth century
is to make them look up
to Green Ireland.
of the seventh century.

Thousand Years Ago

When Irish were Irish
a thousand years ago,
the Irish were scholars.
And when the Irish were scholars
the Irish were Greek scholars.
And when the Irish were Greek scholars
the Irish spoke Greek
as well as Irish.
And when the Irish spoke Greek
as well as Irish.
Greek was Irish
to the Irish.
Greek was Irish
to the Irish
and now
Irish is Greek
to the Irish.
Irish is Greek
to the Irish now
and Hebrew is Chinese
to the Jews.

Social Missionaries

A School of Social Studies
would be the training ground
for Social Missionaries,
priests, laymen and women.
As Al Smith said:
“The social problem
is not a problem
for politicians,
business men,
and lawyers.”
The social problem
is a problem
for Social Missionaries.
The task of Social Missionaries
is not to help people
to adjust themselves
to the existing environment.
The task of Social Missionaries
is to teach people
the difficult art
of creating order
out of chaos.
To be a Social Missionary
requires social-mindedness,
historical-mindedness
and practical idealism.

Study Clubs

Social Missionaries
would be official leaders
of Study Clubs.
The conduct of a Study Club
does not require
a fluent speaker.
As Bishop O’Hara said:
“The purpose of Study Clubs
is to make people articulate;
and lectures do not help
to make people articulate.”
Social Missionaries
would be able
to impart their knowledge
through easy conversations.
Easy conversations
about things that matter
would keep people
from going to the movies,
from talking politics,
from cheap wisecracking.
Easy conversation
about things that matter
would enable Catholics
to understand Catholicism,
to give an account of their faith,
and to make non-Catholics
curious about Catholicism.

Works of Mercy

The best kind of apologetics
is the kind of apologetics
people do not have
to apologize for.
In the first centuries
of Christianity
pagans said about Christians:
“See how they love each other.”
The love for God and neighbor
was the characteristic
of the first Christians.
This love was expressed
through the daily practice
of the Works of Mercy.
To feed the hungry,
to clothe the naked,
to shelter the homeless,
to instruct the ignorant
at a personal sacrifice
was considered
by the first Christians
as the right thing to do.
Surplus goods
were considered
to be superfluous,
and therefore
to be used
to help the needy members
of the Mystical Body.

Self-Employing Centers

The remedy for unemployment
is employment,
and there is no better employment
than self-employment.
Self-Employing Centers
are small shops
where repairs can be made
and workers can be found
to do work outside.
With the Self-Employing Centers
could be connected
Houses of Hospitality
where the self-employing workers
could find shelter.
This complicated world
is too complicated
to be dealt with
in an efficient manner
by specialized technicians.
Specialized technicians
knowing more and more
about less and less
do not know
how to simplify
a complicated world.
We need fewer specialists
and more encyclopedists,
fewer masters of one trade
and more jacks-of-all trades.

[The following is an analysis by Peter Maurin of definitions given by John Strachey (Communist), Lawrence Dennis (Fascist), Norman Thomas (Socialist) and Stanley High (Democrat) of their respective beliefs. (February, 1935)]

What Communists Say They Believe

Communists believe
that the capitalist system
has reached the point
where it does no longer work.
Communists believe
that when the workers
come to the realization
of the downfall of capitalism
they will no longer tolerate it.
Communists believe
that the capitalist class
will resort to all means
that may be in its power
to maintain its existence.
Communists believe
that the Communist Party
knows how to assure
the production and distribution
in an orderly manner
according to a predesigned plan.

What Fascists Say They Believe

Fascists believe
in a national economy
for the protection
of national and private interests.
Fascists believe
in the regulation of industries
so as to assure
a wage for the worker
and a dividend for the investor.
Fascists believe
in class collaboration
under State supervision.
Fascists believe
in the co-operation
of employers’ unions
and workers’ unions.

What Socialists Say They Believe

Socialists believe
in a gradual realization
of a classless society.
Socialists believe
in the social ownership
of natural resources
and the means of production
and distribution.
Socialists believe
in a transition period
under democratic management
between two economic systems,
the system of production for use
and the one of production for profits.
Socialists believe
in freedom of the press,
freedom of assemblage,
freedom of worship.

What Democrats Say They Believe

Democrats believe
in universal suffrage,
universal education,
freedom of opportunity.
Democrats believe
in the right of the rich
to become richer
and of the poor
to try to become rich.
Democrats believe
in labor unions
and financial corporations.
Democrats believe
in the law of supply and demand.

What the Catholic Worker Believes

The Catholic Worker believes
in the gentle personalism
of traditional Catholicism.
The Catholic Worker believes
in the personal obligation
of looking after
the needs of our brother.
The Catholic Worker believes
in the daily practice
of the Works of Mercy.
The Catholic Worker believes
in Houses of Hospitality
for the immediate relief
of those who are in need.
The Catholic Worker believes
in the establishment
of Farming Communes
where each one works
according to his ability
and gets
according to his need.
The Catholic Worker believes
in creating a new society
within the shell of the old
with the philosophy of the new,
which is not a new philosophy
but a very old philosophy,
a philosophy so old
that it looks like new.

Share Your Wealth

What we give to the poor
for Christ’s sake
is what we carry with us
when we die.
As Jean Jacques Rousseau says:
“When man dies
he carries
in his clutched hands
only that
which he has given away.”

The Wisdom of Giving

To give money to the poor
is to enable the poor to buy.
To enable the poor to buy
is to improve the market.
To improve the market
is to help business.
To help business
is to reduce unemployment.
To reduce unemployment
is to reduce crime.
To reduce crime
is to reduce taxation.
So why not give to the poor
for business’ sake.
for humanity’s sake,
for God’s sake?

The Communist Party

The criticism of bourgeois capitalism
by the Communist Party
is the criticism
of Victor Considerant
used by Marx and Engels
in the Communist Manifesto.
The definition of Communism
of the Communist Manifesto
is the definition
of Proudhon
borrowed by Marx and Engels.
The technique of class struggle
is the technique
advocated by Marx and Engels.
The technique of proletarian dictatorship
is the technique
advocated by Lenin.

The Catholic Worker

The Catholic Worker criticism
of bourgeois society
is the criticism
of St. Thomas More.
The Catholic Worker aims
are the aims
of St. Thomas Aquinas
in his doctrine
of the Common Good.
The Catholic Worker means
are the daily practice
of the Works of Mercy
and the fostering
of Farming Communes
where scholars
become workers
and workers
become scholars.

1200–Guild System

In 1200 A. D.
there was no capitalist system,
there was the guild system.
The doctrine of the guilds
was the doctrine
of the Common Good.
People used to say, as they do now,
“What can I do for you?”
but they meant what they said.
Now they say one thing
and they mean another.
They did not look for markets,
they let the markets
look for them.

1400–Middle Men

Around 1400 A. D.
appears the middle man.
He offers to buy the goods
and to find a market.
The guildsman
thinks about the money
offered for his goods
and forgets the Common Good.
And the middle man
is not interested
in selling useful goods
but in making money
on any kind of goods.
And the consumer
never meets the producer
and the producer
ceases to think
in terms of service
and begins to think
in terms of profits.

1600–Banker

Before John Calvin
people were not allowed
to lend money at interest.
John Calvin decided
to legalize
money lending at interest
in spite of the teachings
of the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.
Protestant countries
tried to keep up
with John Calvin
and money-lending at interest
became the general practice.
And money ceased to be
a means of exchange
and began to be
a means to make money.
So people lent money on time
and started to think of time
in terms of money
and said to each other,
“Time is money.”

1700–Manufacturer

With the discovery of steam
the factory system
made its appearance.
To take drudgery out of the home
was supposed to be
the aim of the manufacturer.
So the guildsman
left his shop
and went to the factory.
But the profit-making manufacturer
found it more profitable
to employ women
than to employ men.
So the women left the home
and went to the factory.
Soon the children
followed the women
in the factory.
So the men have to stay at home
while the women and children
work in the factory.

1800–Economist

Since Adam Smith,
who published his book in 1776,
we have been told
that competition
is the life of trade
and that it is a case
of the survival of the fittest.
So since 1776
looking for markets
has engaged men’s activities.
And since trade follows the flag,
industrial nations
have also become
imperialist nations.
The fight for markets
between two industrial nations,
England and Germany,
was the main cause
of the World War.

1914–World War

As President Wilson said,
the World War
was a commercial war.
But a commercial war
had to be idealized,
so it was called
a War for Democracy.
But the War for Democracy
did not bring Democracy,
it brought
Bolshevism in Russia,
Fascism in Italy.
Nazism in Germany.

1929–World Depression

After the World War
people tried to believe
that a New Era
had dawned upon the world.
People thought
that they had found a solution
to the problem
of mass distribution.
People thought
that the time had come
of a two-car garage,
a chicken in every pot
and a sign “To Let”
in front of every poorhouse.
And everybody
wanted to cash in
on the future prosperity.
So stock promoters got busy
and stocked people with stocks
till they got stuck.

1933–New Deal

We were told in 1929
that business would go on
as usual.
We were told in 1930
that the economic system
was fundamentally sound.
We were told in 1931
that prosperity
was just around the corner.
We were told in 1932
that the depression was fought
on one hundred fronts.
We were told in 1933
that five million men
would be employed
by Labor Day.
And in 1934
people went crazy
for the NRA.
And in 1935
the NRA is scrapped
and economic recovery
is a long way off.

1933–The Catholic Worker

The aim of the Catholic Worker
is to create order
out of chaos.
The aim of the Catholic Worker
is to help the unemployed
to employ themselves.
The aim of the Catholic Worker
is to make an impression
on the depression
through expression.
The aim of the Catholic Worker
is to create a new society
within the shell of the old
with the philosophy of the new.
which is not a new philosophy.
but a very old philosophy,
a philosophy so old
that it looks like new.

No Recourse

Politicians used to say:
“We make prosperity
through our wise policies.”
Business men used to say:
“We make prosperity
through our private enterprise.”
The workers did not seem
to have anything to do
about the matter.
They were either
put to work
or thrown out
of employment.
And when unemployment came
the workers had no recourse
against the professed
makers of prosperity–
politicians
and business men.

Politics Is Politics

A politician is an artist in the art
of following the wind
of public opinion.
He who follows the wind
of public opinion
does not follow
his own judgment.
And he who does not follow
his own judgment
cannot lead people
out of the beaten path.
He is like the
the tail end of the dog
trying to lead the head.
When people stand back
of politicians
and politicians
stand back of the people,
people and politicians
go around in a circle
and get nowhere.

Maker of Deals

A business man
is a maker of deals.
He wants to close
a profitable deal
in the shortest possible time.
To close a profitable deal
in the shortest possible time
he tells you
what a good bargain
you are getting.
And while he tells you
what a good bargain
you are getting
he is always thinking
what a good bargain
he is getting.
He appeals
to the selfishness in you
to satisfy
the selfishness in him.

Business Is Selfishness

Because everybody
is naturally selfish
business men say
that business
must be based
on selfishness.
But when business
is based on selfishness
everybody is busy
becoming more selfish.
And when everybody is busy
becoming more selfish
we have classes and clashes.

Teaching Subjects

Our business managers
don’t know how to manage
the things they try to manage
because they don’t understand
the things they try to manage.
So they turn to college professors
in the hope of understanding
the things they try to manage.
But college professors
do not profess anything;
they only teach subjects.
As teachers of subjects
college professors
may enable people
to master subjects.
But mastering subjects
has never enabled anyone
to master situations.

Specialization

A few years ago,
I asked a college professor
to give me
the formulation
of those universal concepts
embodied
in the universal message
of universal universities
that will enable
the common man
to create
a universal economy.
And I was told
by the college professor:
“That is not my subject.”
Colleges and universities
give to the students
plenty of facts
but very little understanding.
They turn out specialists
knowing more and more
about less and less.

Christianity Untried

Chesterton says:
“The Christian ideal
has not been tried
and found wanting.
It has been found difficult
and left untried.”
Christianity has not been tried
because people thought
it was impractical.
And men have tried everything
except Christianity.
And everything
that men have tried
has failed.

St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More believed
in the Common Law.
The Common Law
that St. Thomas More
believed in
was rooted
in Canon Law.
Henry VIII believed
that since he was king
he was the Law.
St. Thomas More
did not believe
in Henry VIII’s
interpretation
of Common Law.
The Common Law
as it exists
in today’s England
has little relation
to Canon Law.

Judge Cardozo

Judge Cardozo said
that Common Law
as it exists today
in the United States
does not make sense.
Judge Cardozo proposed
to discard Common Law
and go back
to Roman Law.
If modem Common Law
is bad,
modern Roman Law
is worse.
“To grab and to hold”
is the aim
of Roman Law.
“Divide to rule”
is the motto
of the Roman Law-minded Lawyers.

Arthur Penty

In a book entitled:
A Guildsman’s
Interpretation of History
Arthur Penty
has a chapter
on the revival
of Roman Law.
The revival
of Roman Law
in the 13th century
brought about the disputes
between Kings and Popes.
The Kings
are on the go.
The Pope
is still on the job.
He writes encyclicals,
but business men
and politicians
pay little attention
to what he has to say.
In the meantime,
we are worrying
about what Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini
will do to us.

Catholic Bourgeois

A bourgeois is a man
who tries to be somebody,
by trying to be like everybody,
which makes him a nobody.
Catholic bourgeois
try to be
like non-Catholic bourgeois
and think they are
just as good
as non-Catholic bourgeois.
Right after the war
Catholic bourgeois
tried to believe
what non-Catholic bourgeois
tried to believe,
that the time had come
in America
for a two-car garage
a chicken in every pot
and a sign “To Let”
in front of every poorhouse.
And Catholic colleges
as well as non-Catholic colleges
turned out stock promoters,
stock brokers
and stock salesmen
who stocked people with stocks
till they got stuck.

Shouting With Rotarians

Modern colleges
give you
a bit of this,
a bit of that,
a bit of something else
and a degree.
The act of giving a degree
is called a Commencement.
And after the Commencement
the student commences
to look for a job.

College Graduates

Sociology is not a science,
it is an art.
The art of sociology
is the art
of creating order
out of chaos.
Bourgeois colleges
turn out college graduates
into a changing world
without ever telling them
how to keep it from changing
or how to change it
so as to make it fit
for college graduates.
College graduates
think in terms of jobs,
not in terms of work.
Since the world is upside down,
taking the side down
and putting it up
should be the task
of college graduates.
But college graduates
would rather
play somebody else’s game
in a position
than to create order
out of chaos.

An Unhappy Lot

But the job providers
are not on the job
and college graduates
are disappointed.
They have degrees,
but their degrees
do not give them jobs.
They have been told
that the road to success
is a college education.
They have a college education
and they do not know
what to do,
with themselves.
The overproduction
of college graduates
is a fertile ground
for social demagogues.
The unemployed college graduates
are getting sore
at their parents
for sending them into colleges
which have not prepared them
for a changing world.
And they ask themselves
if their educators
know what it is
to be educated.

Houses of Hospitality

In the New Masses
a Communist cartoonist represents
a line of college graduates
receiving their degrees
from the Alma Mater
and joining a soup line
on the other side of the square.
Social reconstruction
will be the result
of social indoctrination.
But unemployed college graduates
cannot be indoctrinated
without first being fed,
as well as clothed,
as well as sheltered.
Houses of Hospitality
for unemployed college graduates
are a pressing need.

Indoctrination

In Houses of Hospitality
unemployed college graduates
will be fed, clothed, sheltered,
as well as indoctrinated.
Unemployed college graduates
must be told
why the things are
what they are,
how the things would be
if they were
as they should be
and how a path
can be made
from the things
as they are
to the things
as they should be.
Unemployed college graduates
must be told
how to create
a new society
within the shell of the old
with the philosophy of the new,
which is not a new philosophy,
but a very old philosophy,
a philosophy so old
that it looks like new.

On Farming Communes

When unemployed college graduates
will have been indoctrinated
they will be moved
to Farming Communes.
On Farming Communes
unemployed college graduates
will be taught
how to build their houses,
how to gather their fuel,
how to raise their food,
how to make their furniture;
that is to say,
how to employ themselves.
Unemployed college graduates
must be taught
how to use their hands.
Unemployed college graduates
have time
on their hands.
And while time is on the hands
of college graduates
their heads don’t function
as they should function.
On Farming Communes
unemployed college graduates
will learn to use
both their hands
and their heads.

The training of social workers
enables them to help people
to adjust themselves
to the existing environment.
The training of social workers
does not enable them
to help people
to change the environment.
Social workers
must become social-minded
before they can be critics
of the existing environment
and free creative agents
of the new environment.
In Houses of Hospitality
social workers can acquire
that art of human contacts
and that social-mindedness
or understanding of social forces
which will make them critical
of the existing environment
and the free creative agents
of a new environment.