At his inaugural address as the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani stated: “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Mamdani is a self-professed democratic socialist who intends to govern as such. While “democratic socialism” sounds more palpable, it is just the latest incarnation of socialism. Since its inception the Church has denounced socialism as incompatible with Church teaching and human flourishing.
Some argue that the Church’s condemnation of socialism derives from socialism’s historical promotion of materialism and atheism. They argue that socialism could be beneficial once divested of its materialism and atheism. As proof they present the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden whom they claim as socialist success stories. There are two problems with this argument. First, the Nordic countries are not strictly speaking socialist. Instead, they are capitalist market economies with comprehensive welfare systems, which still hold to fundamental rights such as private property and the concern for the common good. Second, the fundamental principles of socialism ensure that no matter its form (democratic, market, and so on), it will be antithetical to Church teaching and human flourishing. In other words, many of socialism’s issues are not bugs, but features.
Socialism denies essential principles of human flourishing. These include the right to private property, subsidiarity, solidarity, the family as a fundamental part of society, and respect for human dignity. The economist Milton Friedman once said: “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” Socialism presents compelling intentions: alleviate poverty, redistribute resources fairly, and promote equality. These ends or goals, however, do not justify the means socialism uses. The so-called warmth of collectivism only comes after the enforcement of uniformity.
Perhaps the easiest way to disprove socialism and its various incarnations is to simply learn history (both current and past). For the past century, socialism has meant equal poverty for everyone except for those in or associated with the ruling class. There are many alive today who remember the horrors of the Soviet Union or witness the repression of civil liberties in countries like Cuba and North Korea.
A redistributionist government does not lift people out of poverty but leads to bloated bureaucracies that incentivize fraud and abuse.
This is not to say that capitalism or any other economic/political system is perfect. Popes from Leo XIII and on have also decried the problems of unbridled capitalism, liberalism, and individualism. Yet, they have consistently argued that socialism, in all its various forms, is a far greater intrinsic evil because of its fundamental principles.
Catholics are called to social justice and a preferential option for the poor. But socialism (in all its forms) is an ideology fundamentally incompatible with our faith’s understanding of the human person and society. There is no warmth to collectivism and socialism.
