The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-10-30

witch and hereto. Priests lived upon the tabers
Of the poor. Predatory mobiles burned and pill
LACED in the name Of God. crusades for Christ
became part Of the program Of Popery. Parano-
laos became saints, and madness became Yirtna
Yet with all Of this strange, twisting life, this
sacrifice Of human spirit and human intelligence,
there was about the Middle Ages social econo-
my unknown to our day. The profit motif was
undeveloped. Capitalism. despite its early out.
bursts in ancient Greece and Rome. had not
evolved into a system.
In brief, there was about the social philosophy
OF the Middle Ages a sociality of attitude~and
Communism of sentiment that within Its scope,
gave unity and cooperation to endeaYor. Riches,
in the words Of. ST. Antonio, exist for man. not
man for riches. The Christian hierophants of the
Middle Ages reflecting the ethical outlook of the
feudal order, were opposed to avarice and COM
petition. The ideal system, wrote Gratian, Is
Communism. Usury was condemned, and private
gain at the expense of public benefit was consi-
dered social sacrilige. Gratian,s statement:
1.-THE who buys (something) in order
that he may gain by selling it again unchang-
ed as he bought it, that man is Of the buyers
and sellers who are cast forth from Gods
temple"
is illustrative Of the feudal attitude toward Gu
pidity and exploitation. The '1ust of gain" was
inevitably scourged
A schoolman of the fourteenth century express
es the same attitude in even more Illuminating
detail:
"He who has enough to satisfy his wants,
and nevertheless ceaselessIy labors to acquire
riches, either in order to obtain higher social
position, or that subsequently he may have
enough to live without labor, or that his sons
may become men of wealth and Importance
all such melted by a damnable avarice,
sensuality or pride"
The common need was paramount. Usury was
categorized with adultery and fornication, and no
usurer could become mayor, councillor or mas.
ter of the guild" 1t was described as an unpar-
donable sin. The relief of the poor was one of
the fundamental duties of those who had escaped
poverty In brief, it was the social character of
wealth that was at the basis Of the medieval doc
trine of feudal religion.
The Disappearance of this sociality of attitude
with the rise of individualsm is significant Cal
wins justification Of interest and defense of the
merchant are arresting form of the change.
Religion, with the commercial revolution and the
new order, now becomes an anodyne of capital
ism. Moneymaking is now justified as virtuous
and profit defended as a form of religious wis
dom. The economic virtues become predominant.
Prudence and piety are now considered "the best
of friends" And the discharge of ''the duties of
business" becomes the "loftiest of religious and
moral virtues" Proft-making becomes an attri-
butte Of the good life. Success in business, ac-
cording to the preacher, Richard Steele, becomes
ga proof that man has labored faithfully in his
vocation and that God has blessed his trade"
Thus religion justifes capitalism, defends and
exalts the bourgeoisie, hallows the exploitation
of the many by the few, sanctfes wars and is
made to bless Industrial plutocracy
Today the proftmotif is mania 1t has turn
ed our civilization into an abbatoir in which men
are the victims as well the butchers The de-
sire for profits consumes everything in its sweep.
The very idea of social world becomes taboo.
Teachers are taught to impress its absurdity.
Priests driven to reveal its futility News
papers make it mockery and statesmen de
nounce it as a dangerous dream. Is it any won
der, then. that men like Carlyle and Ruskin lack
ing the telescope vision of Marx, wanted to turn
back to feudalism? OF course, their desire was
frustrated before it was born, but its motivation
Is easily appreciated.
In things closest to mans life the food he
eats, the woman he marries, the monetary-motf