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Unlike @SohrabAhmari I'm a mad man. So since he won't make a thread about Rerum Novarum I will. What follows is a summary of it from "Proclaiming Justice and Peace," edited by Michael Walsh and Brian Davies.
Paras. 1-2: In modern industrial society the conditions under which employees have to work is deteriorating, and they no longer have either the old guild system or religion to defend their interests.
Paras. 3-4: Socialism proposes as a cure the abolition of private property. This would lead, they believe, to an equitable distribution of wealth. But to do so would be to rob the workers of their freedom to use their wages as they wish.
Paras. 5-9: Such action is also unjust because there is a right to private property which arises out of human nature: people make the earth their own by their labour, which brings it to fruitfulness.
Paras. 10-14: Property is necessary to enable the head of the household to provide for his family- [including] an inheritance. The state must not interfere with this duty. The socialist doctrine of common ownership therefore, harms the very people it is intended to help.
Paras. 15-17: Inequalities in society are unavoidable, but this should not lead to conflict: differentiation of roles is inevitable. Just as there are duties laid upon employees, so there are upon employers, who must render what is just to their work force.
Paras. 18-25: Wealth indeed brings with it great spiritual dangers; it is one thing to rightfully to have wealth, it is another rightfully to use it. ...[T]he poor and unfortunate seem to be especially favoured by God. Both sorts of people are bound together as children of God.
Paras. 26-32: The Church commits itself to the reform of society, for society can only be healed by Christian life and teaching. The Church has also founded many institutions whose purpose it is directly to help the poor.
Paras. 33-36: The state has the duty to foster prosperity both public and private, to care for every class of citizen-even though not in the same way for all-and should have particular care for unpropertied workers.
Paras. 37-39: The state can intervene only when the public interest, or the interest of a particular class, is being harmed. There are a number of examples of this, but especial regard must be had for the protection by the State of the poor, of the weak, and of private property.
Paras. 40-47: The state should also intervene to prevent strikes by removing the causes of conflict, in particular by improving the conditions of labour. It should ensure, where necessary, a just wage...
Paras. 40-47: ...-that is to say, one which allows workers not only to support their families but also to save money for the purposes of acquiring private property. Taxation must not be so high that this acquisition of property proves impossible.
Paras. 48-58: Workers and employers can do a good deal by founding associations such as mutual benefit societies, but most especially by founding workers' associations. The state cannot forbid the establishment of these private societies b/c they spring from a natural right...
Paras. 48-61: [Some such organizations are not consistent with Christian principles and so Catholics have founded their own. These should be self governing with fitting constitutions and should encourage the fulfillment of religious duties and work to improve working conditions.]
