Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

HINDENBURG'S STICK 455Anno (the title means that it came forty years after Rerum Novarum).Here the Church attacked sharply the system of monopoly capitalism,that 'immense concentration, not only of capital, but also of power andeconomic might in the hands of individuals'; it attacked also the'imperialism of international finance capital,' which feels at home'wherever there is booty to be had'; and said, 'the just ordering ofeconomic life cannot be entrusted to free competition.' To be sure,communism was 'godless and unjust,' and even moderate 'socialism . . .remains incompatible with the doctrine of the Catholic Church.' Hitlerwould have said: 'Down with Marxism and the international dictatorshipof the stock exchange!'Quadragesimo Anno went on to say that the 'corporate state' createdby Mussolini in Italy was an economic effort of quite a different sort. Itsubordinated economics to politics, but protected property by putting itin its place. 'A moment's reflection,' said the Pope, 'permits us torecognize the advantages of this order: peaceful co-operation of theclasses, repression of socialist organizations and efforts, regulatoryinfluence of a special administrative apparatus.' True, the Popecontinued, some feared that the state was regulating too much, that anexcessive bureaucracy would arise; to counter these dangers, Pope PiusXI asked the 'co-operation of all well-meaning people.'In the age of parliamentarian democracy the Church had tried, moreout of necessity than of desire, to exert a direct influence on this systemof power. Thus, the Center Party in Germany had grown up. The Centerwas a secular makeshift and concession to the era of parliaments; ademocratic mobilization of the Church's voting millions against thehostile forces of crown and army; a mustering of the Church's strengthin a predominantly Protestant world. When labor became a greatmovement it had a sharply distinct Catholic sector; but nevertheless,'We are workers, and all workers are our comrades,' said Giesberts, oneof the Catholic labor leaders, as though he had never heard of RerumNovarum. But there were other forces too. All 'patriotic, Christian,popular, and truly social-thinking circles of all strata, especially theintellectuals,' should band together, said Heinrich Bruning, then anunknown young Catholic politician, in 1920. 'In this point, especially, Iset my