'Catholicizing' socialist political analysis

[StudentMI]

Lately I’ve been indulging a bit in socialist literature and it got me thinking. Catholicism has shown a very great ability to absorb parts of other cultures that don’t conflict with its moral teachings. Could it also absorb analytical tools and concepts from schools of thought that seem diametrically opposed to Catholicism?

Take for instance, the philosophy of historical materialism. Taken to extremes such an approach would be incompatible with Catholic moral and political teaching. However simply to recognize that the forms production takes determines to a certain extent the form of society seems unobjectionable enough.

So too does the concept of the reserve army of the unemployed, or employee ownership or things like that. Indeed one can see an advocacy of things that many may dismiss as ‘leftist’ in the encyclical Laborem exercens, or Quadragesimo anno.

Obviously care would need to be taken to avoid going too far down the Marxist rabbit hole, or any political rabbit hole for that matter. Catholic social teaching condemns both unbridled capitalism and socialism, though it could be argued that the latter was referring to the Marxist system and not other systems per se. Private property is a right, and markets are justified. But I think using these approaches could be useful.

 

[christofirst]

I am not that well versed in historical materialism, but I am reminded of the tension, and the continual need for balance, between the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. Solidarity, as I see it, potentially and often does rightly share elements with socialism when put into practice, while subsidiarity seems to be preferred and emphasized by capitalists and fiscal conservatives. The Church puts forth both principles for us to consider and accept, but finding the right balance can be a challenge.