The A.B.C. of Politics .sx THE GRADUALISM OF THE REVOLUTION .sx by Rosine de Bounevialle .sx AS with Ian Smith , the verbal opposition of Mrs Thatcher to the prevailing 'winds of change' in their respective countries has conferred heroic status in the annals of Right-wingism everywhere .sx They are both worshipped as political martyrs who did their best against impossible odds .sx Anyone holding a contrary view is dismissed as a prejudiced crank or , more gently , as one overdoing the conspiracy theory of history through misplaced zeal .sx The present writer figures in both categories , but remains of the same opinion still !sx .sx " It is all of a piece , " as the cook said in some forgotten thriller .sx The mysterious Power that purports to establish universal hegemony in defiance of the Creator's Word and will for fallen humanity's salvation and celestial destiny has pursued that aim by much the same method since our first parents' expulsion from Eden .sx Always the ultimate attainment has been periodically frustrated , not by contemporaneous society but by the wrath of God .sx So gradual and devious have been the recurring campaigns of successive pawns of the Devil in pursuit of his aspiration to world domination that nearly always " the little victims play , " ignoring the evidence of approaching doom and disregarding any divinely inspired prophets sent to warn them .sx Emerging Pattern .sx In 1529 England was still a Catholic kingdom , despite Luther , Calvin or whoever else set up as the latest light of the world .sx Then the pattern began once more to emerge .sx The ambitions of a lustful , profligate king and a cold-hearted wanton opened Pandora's box .sx In pursuit of his desires , Henry VIII forgot that he , like Pilate , would have no power if it " was not given him from above .sx " With his abrogation of the power given to the Vicar of Christ on earth , he made the monarchy subservient , in the first instance , to the receivers of the wealth stolen from the Church , and subsequently to the bankers of those same receivers .sx He murdered , more or less legally , the only two far-sighted enough to visualise the end result of his abrogation :sx John Fisher , Bishop of Rochester , and Thomas More , erstwhile Chancellor of England .sx The unity of Christendom was shattered into myriad sects .sx Faith and charity were in eclipse and even hope died at last .sx If all the bishops had seen what the dire result their 'patriotic' obedience ( if that is what it was ) would have , would they have taken that first step on the long shuffle to the new paganism ?sx Alas , they saw no harm in accepting their king as head of the Church in England .sx When in due time the Church in England became the Church of England , it was too late .sx The lay Catholics of England and the 'hedge' priests died for their faith in their hundreds :sx the landed gentry were either martyred or fined into exile or apostasy .sx The 'new rich' clung to their ill-gotten gains through restorations and regicide , evolving into the die-soft Tory 'opposition' of today .sx Usurers returned and by the end of the seventeenth century had annexed the royal monopoly of the issue of credit .sx The Money Power ruled again .sx It took four hundred years to turn Christendom into the multi-religious and multi-racial stew that is Europe today .sx It took rather less time to destroy the intervening imperial substitutes , for the labourers in the colonial vineyards were quite as gullible as their predecessors .sx If they survived the Money Power's tactical wars , they were too bemused with phantom victories to do anything other than bow before the 'winds of change' despite all the latter day Fishers and Mores who told them to beware of the hurricane behind the zephyr .sx The Message Of Fatima .sx The last warning was given to three young shepherds in Portugal more than seventy years ago .sx With the miracle of the sun to help them , they did their best to persuade their fellow-countrymen to obey the exhortation to " pray for the conversion of Russia " and to believe the warning of the chaos that would follow a failure so to do .sx Though one of the shepherds is still living , the warning and the message have been shrouded in official silence .sx Far from praying for the conversion of anyone , let alone Russia , both pastors and people for the most part are busy acting on the palpably false assumption that Man is doing very well for himself , thank you .sx The unfortunate disorders today are merely temporary hiccups on the progression to universal justice and peace in the New World Order .sx So now we are on the last lap .sx Are professing Christians really going to continue " doing their own ( sectional ) thing " until they find themselves so helplessly corrupt as to be fit for nothing but the slave quarters in this life and the fires of Hell in the next ?sx Surely not .sx There is still time .sx Remember :sx " the days will be cut short for the sake of the elect .sx " .sx THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY .sx by Paul Matthews .sx ONE hundred years ago , Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical letter called Rerum Novarum .sx It condemned the social system under which " working men have been surrendered , isolated and helpless , to the hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition .sx " In standing out against the unbridled individualism favoured by Capitalism , he argued that property should be widely diffused and the monetary system so arranged as to facilitate the production , distribution and exchange of goods and services .sx A return by the Church to this type of traditional social teaching would provide precisely the kind of effective spiritual lead that is missing from its pronouncements today .sx In this article , the writer explores Rerum Novarum and another social encyclical , Quadragesimo Anno .sx There is an argument put forward from time to time - by some who know little , and others who ought to know better - that there is a fundamental incompatibility between contemporary British nationalism and Christianity .sx It is at once both more and less than an argument :sx it is an assertion ; and like all too many assertions is really a mere assumption .sx It is an assumption that in the hands of the uninformed and misinformed becomes a dogma held all the more dogmatically on account of its shallowness .sx Mercifully , the subject is too vast to be dealt with in a single article ; but two facts emerge from and dominate it .sx The first is that present-day radical British nationalism and Christianity are not incompatible .sx The second fact is that in certain areas - most clearly in economics and in opposition to abortion - such nationalism is the only political option that is truly compatible with Christianity .sx It is the aim of this article to examine this compatibility in relation to aspects of economics .sx Now before such a discussion can be set underway it is necessary to clear away the possibilities of confusion by making clear the route of advance ; for this much must be accepted at the outset :sx that there is as little unity in economics as in theology amongst the many Christian sects , some of which indeed - most notably those of Calvinist derivation - are strongly supportive of capitalism , and even creative of it .sx This article will make no attempt to weave a way through such a diversity , but instead takes to itself the liberty solely to pursue the thread of Catholic teaching .sx It will take this course for two reasons :sx firstly , because the writer , as a Catholic , knows a little more about this than about Protestant teachings ; and secondly because whilst there is no one Protestant scheme of economics ( but a great deal of divergence amongst the many Protestant denominations ) there is a clear and consistent set of principles advanced by the Catholic Church , which principles are succinctly and powerfully set out in the two great Papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno .sx There is a third reason :sx that a consideration solely of these two documents makes possible an article short enough to make sense .sx THE WORKERS CHARTER .sx It was in response to the growth of industrial capitalism and Marxian socialism that Pope Leo XIII in 1891 addressed to the Church his letter Rerum Novarum ( 'The Workers' Charter') .sx In it he stated the problem in this way :sx " .sx .. The ancient working-men's guilds were abolished in the last century , and no other protective organisation took their place .sx .. Hence by degrees it has come to pass that working-men have been surrendered , isolated and helpless , to the hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition .sx The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury .sx .. " .sx Having thus set the scene , the Pope went on to consider the socialist remedy for this situation ; and , after demonstrating its necessary failure , proceeded to outline the remedy proposed by the Church .sx The essence of the Pope's rejection of Marxism as a remedy or the evils of capitalism lies in this :sx that it in no way benefits ordinary working people ; but , on the contrary , enslaves them just as surely as does capitalism .sx Under capitalism Big Business controls the State ; under socialism the State controls Big Business ; they are just two different perspectives of the same situation , expressed by the fact that Marxian socialism is merely State Capitalism .sx Rerum Novarum thus isolates the following points in condemnation of Marxism :sx ( i ) That Marxism does not improve the lot of the worker , since it is in reality a more total form of capitalism ; .sx ( ii ) That it denies private property , such denial being contrary to natural law :sx " For" , the Pope says , " every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own :sx " .sx ( iii ) That Marxism is destructive of the family ; since it is , by natural law , for parents - and not the State - to provide for the needs and the future of their children ; and .sx ( iv ) That Marxism makes the State all - powerful , which is a moral evil ; since by natural law society - the small society of a man's family , and the wider society of the national community - take precedence over the State , for it precedes the State .sx Disposing thus of Marxism , Rerum Novarum proceeds to the true alternative to capitalism :sx " The first and most fundamental principle .sx .. must be the inviolability of private " .sx .sx Now private property is a thing entirely different from capitalism , which may rather be called private enterprise :sx it is different from capitalism , and in a death-struggle with capitalism .sx Private property means possession :sx capitalism means dispossesion .sx Private property means well-distributed property privately held by the general public :sx capitalism means the public's property being privately withheld , by millionaires if not by generals .sx .sx This championship of private property by the Church was no new departure :sx on the contrary , it has been Her traditional teaching ( the great philosopher-theologian St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century :sx " It is lawful for a man to hold private property ; and it is also necessary for human existence .sx " ) ; and is supported by Holy Scripture .sx Its especial value is threefold :sx 1 .sx It is the most efficient means by which the abundance of nature can be made available for man ; .sx 2 .sx It is a necessary support to family life ; and .sx 3 .sx It is essential for man's liberty and independence from the State .sx From this discussion on private property the Pope goes on to consider the relationship between employer and employed , and dismisses as perverse the Marxist doctrine of class-war :sx " The great mistake is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class .sx .. the direct contrary is the truth .sx .. in a State it is ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement , so as to maintain the balance of the body politic .sx " .sx The employee thus has a duty to perform his work with honesty and diligence ; whilst the employer has a duty to accord his workers respect and dignity in terms of wages and the nature of the work to be done .sx It is from this section , largely inspired by the great champion of British working folk , Cardinal Manning , that the encyclical takes its English name :sx 'The Workers' Charter' ; yet although it is the response of the Church to the growth of industrial capitalism in the last century it is nevertheless an expression of the traditional teaching of the Church , based on St. Thomas who 600 years earlier had taught that a degree of material well - being is necessary for a person to live a virtuous life .sx