A Mountain of Skulls

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  Radio talk show host Michael Savage said it best.  I wish I had said it first.  Class warfare, which calls for "economic fairness" and the redistribution of wealth, always ends up the same way, in a mountain of skulls.  This is the legacy of Marxism in all it's forms (Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Liberal Progressivism).  The fundamental failure of America's education systems is to distinguish that these economic theories are all variants of the same economic premise invented by Karl Marx.  Call it what you like.  Call is Socialism if you fancy.  That's what the Soviets did.  As far as the Soviets were concerned, there never was such a thing as communism in their country.  The "evil empire" they created was officially called the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" or "USSR."  The word "communist" never entered their vocabulary, except as an abstract ideal they were working toward, but did not currently exist under their Socialist state.  Or you can call it Fascism of you like.  Benito Mussolini, who I suspect knew a thing or two about it, defined fascism simply as the joint ownership of industry by both the state and private corporations.  You can call it Liberalism or Progressivism if that makes you feel better.  Because when you dig down into the rhetoric used by liberal college professors, Democratic Party hacks and the mainstream media elites, it all sounds strikingly familiar.  It is the same dirty water, drawn from the same polluted well, simply packaged in a different kind of bucket.  It's class warfare and wealth redistribution, which equals Marxism, which inevitably results in the same thing -- a mountain of skulls.

The highest officially documented death tolls under Marxist regimes occurred in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, in the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong, and in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The estimates of the number of innocent civilians (non-combatants) killed by these three regimes alone number about 70 million.  This does not include smaller Marxist regimes such as North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. These also have their records of mass murder.  (Speaking of Cuba, I have a personal stake here as my own family was driven out of Cuba by Gerardo Machado in 1929, after my great-grandfather, a major sugar cane producer, was shot in the back by one of Machado's henchmen.  Yes, The Catholic Knight is all too familiar with the evils of Marxism on a personal family level.)  This is something that every Roman Catholic MUST UNDERSTAND.  Marxist rhetoric such as class warfare, economic "justice" and wealth redistribution ALWAYS results in DEATH - always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS!!!  The only thing that varies is how much death and how often.

Our Lady of Fatima warned us of this.  This was the core of her message.  By turning to the government for the solution to man's problems, instead of Christ and his Church, the end result would be the ruin of the souls, the tyranny of the state and ultimately a mountain of skulls.

Marxism is about wealth redistribution, and it starts with class warfare.  It is the forbidden fruit of the modern world.  One bite of it and your faith begins to die.  That's not to say that Capitalism is the answer.  I'm not defending Capitalism, because we all know that terrible injustices have been committed (and still continue) under Capitalism.  Regular readers of this blog know The Catholic Knight is a Distributist, which means I believe in the free market -- a truly free market -- free of monopolies both public and private.  Capitalism is about unregulated market forces, and this in turn results in monopolies, which in turn result in the tyranny of the corporate class.  Notice I didn't say "tyranny of the rich."  That's because the rich are not to blame.  There is nothing wrong or immoral about being rich.  In fact, the world needs rich people, and so does the Church, because it is through the rich that wealth is naturally distributed, both in the form of wages and charity.  When money is in the hands of people -- even rich people -- one of two things tends to happen to it.  Either the rich person decides to get richer, which in turn requires him to invest some of his money in employees and contractors (i.e. wages and contracts), or else he decides to give some away in the form of charity.  Oftentimes however, elements of both scenarios happen simultaneously.  Sorry, that's just how the real world works, in spite of what you've been told.  The Church in turn encourages both charity and capital development, allowing the rich the opportunity to acquire more wealth if they are so inclined, while at the same time giving them the opportunity to help others both in the form of creating jobs and charitable contributions to the poor.  It's not a perfect system, because people aren't perfect, but it does work pretty well, and it has worked for nearly two-thousand years.

The problem comes when two extreme forms of thought enter the scene.  The first extreme is Capitalism, which is actually a perversion of the free market, not a product of it.  Under Capitalism, free market businessmen are permitted to form corporations.  A corporation is a legal entity that exists solely on paper and is afforded many of the "rights" given to a human being.  It allows businessmen to "work" for the corporation, in the same way an employee might work for an employer.  Remember, however, the corporation does not really exist.  It is simply a legal entity created on paper with no real existence outside of the law.  Those working for the corporation may now do whatever they wish, claiming they are doing it in the name of the corporation as an employee, and that it is really the corporation that directs their actions.  This arrangement opens the door to all sorts of immorality and unethical business practices.  The corporation can acquire an ungodly amount of wealth, beyond what any single human being can possibly need, desire or consume.  It can legally marry (mergers) and produce children (subsidiaries), having all the legal rights of a human being, though it is not human and cannot be prosecuted for it's illegal activities.  Furthermore, there is one thing the corporation can do that no human being can do, and that is live forever!  Yes, the corporation is immortal.  It lives on from one generation to the next, and yet it has no soul.  It is a legal "person" created by the state, at the request of businessmen, for the purpose of engaging in activities that they themselves would never do as private individual entrepreneurs.  In addition to this, these corporations regularly engage in the practice of lobbying for tax breaks and political favors.  Some have called this Corporatism, but regardless of what you call it, it is the hallmark of Capitalism.  G.K. Chesterton once said: "Too much capitalism does not mean too many capitalists, but too few capitalists."  By this he meant that Capitalism does not produce a free market, even though it chants "free market" as it's mantra.  What Capitalists really mean by "free market" is a market free for big corporations to trample the rights of small business and labor.  A real free market is not Capitalism, but rather a market where men are not permitted to form artificial persons (monopolistic corporations) in law designed to gain control of the government and trample the rights of their fellow man.  Rather, a truly free market is a market where everybody has an equal opportunity to make a business or trade for himself.   It's a market where one can pick from hundreds of different shoe manufacturers not just a couple dozen.  It's a market where one can choose to shop at dozens of general store outlets, not just a one or two (at the most) super-centers. It's a market where any man (or woman) can take his life savings, buy a storefront, and with good business practices, have a pretty good shot at making a living.  It's a market where any man (or woman) can use the same life savings, buy a few acres of land and start growing a crop to sell at the local general stores, once again making a fair living in the process.  A truly free market is a market where everyone is free to enter the market, use it, and make a living at doing it.  That is the free market.  The philosophy behind it is called "Distributism" and it's biggest promoter is the Roman Catholic Church.  It is the system that Western civilization was built on, before it was taken over and ruined by the godless ideologies of Capitalism and Marxism.

Socialism in turn is the knee jerk reaction to Capitalism, just as Karl Marx predicted and advocated.  Both are godless systems.  The biggest promoters of Capitalism in history were atheists, and the same can be said of Marxism in all it's forms (Socialism, Fascism, Communism, Liberalism or Progressivism).  Capitalism, in the name of the "free market" robs the people of a truly free market, and then the people react with class warfare.  This is the bait people -- pay attention.  Politicians and elitist advocates of Marxism begin a campaign of class warfare, blaming the "rich" and the supposed "free market" (as understood by Capitalism) for their problems.  The call to "fairness" and "justice" is bantered to rally the people into a political revolution, designed to rob the monopolies and corporations of their property, and transfer it into the hands of the state, either partially (as in Fascism) or totally (as in Socialism), with the promise that this will result in greater wealth for the common man.  Sadly, from a purely historical perspective, we know it is all LIES.  It NEVER happens this way.  Instead, what really happens is this.  Once the civil authorities are given the power to seize private property and redistribute wealth, they go through the country taking every one's private property, capturing (and usually killing) anyone who they think might be a threat to the program, and then doling out a meager stipend to the common man, which is usually just barely enough to live on, if even that.  Once the state owns everything, either totally or partially, it becomes the ultimate monopoly, unable to be challenged by any small entrepreneur under penalty of law.  The Utopian promise of the communist state, where everybody owns everything in common, an no government is needed anymore, fails to materialize.  Instead of sharing the wealth, the misery is spread equally, except among those in charge of spreading the misery, who in turn become the beneficiary of government favors.  Communism, as envisioned by Marx, never materializes because people are involved, and people are inherently corrupt by our fallen sinful nature.

This fallen sinful nature causes human beings to do horrible and unspeakable things to their fellow man.  In a Capitalist system where corporations are given power to do all sorts of unethical things in the name of their bogus "free market" mantra, the oppression of the masses will soon follow.  In a Marxist system where the state is given the power to seize all private property, either partially or totally, the result is again the oppression of the masses.  The difference between them is this.  When corporations kill people (and yes, they do occasionally kill people), they must do so quietly and in stealth.  They can never let the number of deaths get too high, for fear they may get found out.  Instead they prefer to use Capitalist-driven governments to kill people for them, to do their bidding, in the name of some abstract ideal, such as "defending freedom" or "establishing democracy."  However, when Socialist states kill people, they are much less discrete.  They rummage through the population, selecting anyone who might possibly present a threat to their Socialist system, and kill them without regard as enemies of the state.  Sorry, this is just the historical fact, and there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe it couldn't happen here in the United States.  It's already happened as close as Cuba.  Europe has already seen it happen more than once. Only the United States and Canada have been spared -- so far.  However, the rhetoric exists here too, and we are only just a few steps away, at any given moment, from watching the cycle repeat itself on American soil.

Roman Catholics WAKE UP!  When we look at Marxists such as Michael Moore, and Capitalists such as Sean Hannity, debating each other on FoxNews, we have to understand that neither of these "Catholics" represent the authentic economic teaching of the Catholic Church.  Michael Moore perverts it, and Sean Hannity has no idea what it is.  Both of these men are pied pipers leading the children of the Catholic Church into destruction.  Don't fall for it!  Look to the teachings of Rome for the answers.  The popes have written extensively on this topic.  The economic teaching of the Catholic Church is centered around the freedom to buy, use and sell property, coupled with the mandate for charitable giving TO THE CHURCH and not to the state.  Only the Church, and privately run charitable organizations, are competent to handle and redistribute the wealth of the people in the form of food, clothing, shelter and medical care.  The state is completely and totally incompetent in this area, as evidenced by history.  That's not to say the state doesn't have a role in society.  The Church teaches quite the opposite.  The state has a positive mandate to provide law and order, basic infrastructure, and defend God-given human rights.  It may even have a role in coordination of private and religious charity to maximize it's impact in areas where it is needed the most.  It does not, however, have a mandate to become our nanny, and replace the role of the Church and private charity.  I have written extensively on this subject HERE in my article entitled "Social Justice vs. Socialism," and if you want to learn more about Distributism you can start with a free online periodical called The Distributist Review.  I have also provided great links to Distributist books in the margins of this article.