Jesus Was A Socialist
There's a great deal of pent-up demand
for a candidate who articulates Americans' frustrations with the status quo.
Trump exploited those frustrations with a campaign based on racism,
intolerance, and xenophobia.
By Peter Dreier, Contributor
E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of
Politics, Occidental College
Dec
25, 2016, 05:18 PM EST
|Updated Dec
26, 2017
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As
people around the world celebrate Christmas, it is worth remembering that Jesus
was a socialist. Of course, he was born long before the rise of industrial
capitalism in the 19th century, but his radical ideas have influenced many
critics of capitalism, including many prominent socialists and even Pope
Francis.
Pope
Francis has consistently criticized the human and spiritual damage caused by
global capitalism, widening inequality, and corporate sweatshops. Last week, he
blamed the "god of money" for the extremist violence that is taking
place around the world. A ruthless global economy, he argued, leads
marginalized people to violence.
In
2013, he released a remarkable 84-page document in which he attacked unfettered
capitalism as "a new tyranny," criticized the "idolatry of
money," and urged politicians to guarantee all citizens "dignified
work, education and healthcare."
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"Today
we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality.
Such an economy kills," Pope Francis wrote. "How can it be that it is
not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is
news when the stock market loses two points?"
During
the last year, as Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign gained
momentum, the word "socialism" generated lots of media attention
because Sanders described himself as a "democratic socialist." In
November, Americans elected a staunch capitalist, Donald Trump, as president,
but a majority of Americans - and even many of those who voted for Trump -
disagree with his policy ideas.
Few
Americans call themselves socialists, but many of them share socialists'
critiques of American-style capitalism, including the widening gap between the
rich and the rest, the greed of the super-rich, the undue influence of Wall
Street and big business in politics, and the persistence of widespread poverty
and hunger in our affluent society.
The
idea of Christian socialism has a long and proud tradition. As capitalism
emerged in the mid-1800s, many of its fiercest critics based their ideas on
Jesus' teachings.
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"No
one can serve two masters," Jesus says in Matthew 6:24. "Either he
will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." I
In
Luke 12:15, Jesus says, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of
greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his
possessions.'"
Jesus
not only urged people to be kind to others in their everyday lives. He was also
talking about those in government who ruled over others, including the priests
who ruled Judea for Rome and the rulers of the Roman empire.
Pope
Leo XIII (1810-1903) -- often called the "workers' pope" -- echoed
similar ideas. His 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum ("On the
Condition of Labor") focused attention on the dehumanizing conditions in
which many workers labored. He affirmed workers' rights to just wages, rest,
and fair treatment, to form unions, and to strike if necessary. He called on governments
to promote a more equal distribution of resources and said, in particular, that
the poor "have a claim to special consideration." He did not espouse
socialism, but his attacks on capitalism for its endorsement of greed, its
concentration of wealth, and its mistreatment of workers had a major influence
on the emerging socialist movement in Europe and America.
Francis
Bellamy (1855-1931), an American Baptist minister, was a leading Christian
socialist. Like Pope Leo, he championed the rights of working people and a more
equal distribution of wealth and income, which he believed reflected Jesus'
teachings. In 1891, Bellamy was fired from his Boston pulpit for preaching
against the evils of capitalism and describing Jesus as a socialist. But he's
best known as the author of the "Pledge of Allegiance," which he
wrote in 1892 as an antidote to Gilded Age greed, misguided materialism, and
hyper-individualism, reflected in those radical words "with liberty and
justice for all." (Ironically, Bellamy did not include the words
"under God" in the original Pledge. They were added by Congress in
1953 at the height of the Cold War).
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Many
of America's leading socialists -- including labor leader Eugene Debs,
settlement house founder Jane Addams, Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch, and Helen
Keller -- rooted their views in their Christian faith, which became known as
"social gospel." Indeed, many of the leaders of America's socialist
movement, including Norman Thomas (1884-1968) -- who ran for president five
times on the Socialist Party ticket and was often called "America's
conscience" -- were Protestant clergy.
Throughout
American history, some of the nation's most influential activists and thinkers,
such as philosopher John Dewey, sociologist W.E.B. DuBois, scientist Albert
Einstein, poet Katherine Lee Bates (who wrote "America the
Beautiful"), muckraking writer Upton Sinclair, labor leaders A. Philip
Randolph and Walter Reuther, civil rights crusader Martin Luther King,
feminists Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Gloria Steinem, Planned Parenthood
founder Margaret Sanger, and Dorothy Day (founder of the Catholic Worker
movement) embraced democratic socialism.
In
the early 1900s, socialists led the movements for women's suffrage, child labor
laws, consumer protection laws and the progressive income tax. In 1911, Victor
Berger, a socialist congressman from Milwaukee, sponsored the first bill to
create "old age pensions." The bill didn't get very far, but two
decades later, in the midst of the Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
persuaded Congress to enact Social Security. Even then, some critics denounced
it as un-American. But today, most Americans, even conservatives, believe that
Social Security is a good idea. What had once seemed radical has become common
sense.
Much
of FDR's other New Deal legislation -- the minimum wage, workers' right to form
unions and public works programs to create jobs for the unemployed -- was first
espoused by American socialists. Socialists have long pushed for a universal
health insurance plan, which helped create the momentum for stepping-stone
measures such as Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.
Socialists
were in the forefront of the civil rights movement from the founding of the
NAACP in 1909 through the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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King
believed that America needed a "radical redistribution of economic and
political power." In October 1964, he called for a "gigantic Marshall
Plan" for the poor -- black and white. Later that year, after he he
traveled to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, he told friends that the U.S.
could learn much from Scandinavian "democratic socialism." In fact,
he told his staff, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and
maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."
During
the Cold War, many Americans confused democratic socialism with communism. In
fact, democratic socialists opposed the totalitarian governments of the Soviet
Union, China and their satellites. That's because democratic socialism is about
democracy -- giving ordinary people a greater voice in both politics and the
workplace.
Sanders'
version of democratic socialism is akin to what most people around the world
call "social democracy," which seeks to make capitalism more humane.
This
is why Sanders often said that the U.S. should learn from Sweden, Norway and
Denmark -- countries with greater equality, a higher standard of living for
working families, better schools, free universities, less poverty, a cleaner
environment, higher voter turnout, stronger unions, universal health insurance,
and a much wider safety net
Sounds
anti-business? Forbes magazine ranked Denmark as the #1 country for business. The United States
ranked #18.
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European
social democracies put greater emphasis on government enterprise, but even most
Americans favor government-run police departments, fire departments, national
parks, municipally-owned utilities, local subway systems and public state
universities.
Today's
democratic socialists believe in private enterprise but think it should be
subject to rules that guarantee businesses act responsibly. Banks shouldn't
engage in reckless predatory lending. Energy corporations shouldn't endanger
and planet and public health by emitting too much pollution. Companies should
be required to guarantee that consumer products (like cars and toys) are safe
and that companies pay decent wages and provide safe workplaces.
Democratic
socialism also means reducing the political influence of the super rich and big
corporations, increasing taxes of the wealthy to help pay for expanded public
services like child care, public transit, and higher education, reducing
barriers to voting, and strengthening regulations of business to require them
to be more socially responsible in terms of their employees, consumers and the
environment. That means a higher minimum wage, paid sick days and paid
vacations, and safer workplaces.
A
poll earlier this year found that among Americans under 50, a majority are
critical of capitalism. Although the word "socialism" has often been
demonized, public opinion
polls show that a vast majority of Americans
agree with these ideas. For example, 74% think corporations have too much
influence; 73% favor tougher regulation of Wall Street; 60% believe that
"our economic system unfairly favors the wealthy;" 85% want an
overhaul of our campaign finance system to reduce the influence of money in
politics; 58% support breaking up big banks; 79% think the wealthy don't pay
their fair share of taxes; 85% favor paid family leave; 80% of Democrats and
half the public support single-payer Medicare for all; 75% of Americans
(including 53% of Republicans) support an increase in the federal minimum wage
to $12.50, while 63% favor a $15 minimum wage; well over 70% support workers'
rights to unionize; and 92% want a society with far less income disparity.
There's
a great deal of pent-up demand for a candidate who articulates Americans'
frustrations with the status quo. Trump exploited those frustrations with a
campaign based on racism, intolerance, and xenophobia. But a candidate who can
channel those frustrations in a way that inspires hope rather than fear can
build on the long tradition of Christian socialism and social democracy.
Peter Dreier is professor of politics at Occidental College and author
of The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall
of Fame (Nation Books, 2012).
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