In February 1975 "This Land Is Home to Me: A Letter on Powerlessness in Appalachia" was released by the Appalachian Bishops.(6) Appalachia, stretching from southern New York to northern Georgia and Alabama, included thirteen states and 397 counties. Its economic center was its rich coal reserves. Yet, it was an area of much poverty and exploitation of people, "victimized by a system which places profit over people." The pastoral, drafted over a period of almost two years, written in free verse, poetically voiced concerns and hopes of this region's residents and religious leaders. There were an Introduction, four parts, and a Conclusion.
The Introduction used rich scriptural themes. It also recalled earlier cries of people to their God, included themselves and others in blame for the plight of these poor, and reaffirmed a freeing power of truth for all whether high or low, rich or poor, if they continue "unfinished conversation with our people . . . the truth of Appalachia . . . the living God."
Part I had seven sections. Section One, "The Land and Its People," sang of the hopes and plight of people of the hills who came there or were born there. Along with them, in outrage and struggle, are people working or wish they were working--white and black, native and immigrant, speakers of one and many languages. They represent all of Appalachia, the entire nation, and human family.
Besides the struggle in hollows, typical of the central region, there are struggles in industrial centers, grown grey with smoke and smog, blaring with clank and crash of heavy machinery and urban congestion.
. . . the struggle in farmland, typical of rolling hills in the southern sector, where little farmers and sharecroppers, day laborers and migrant workers who help the earth yield its food to the hungry.
These three areas of the Appalachian mountains (center, north, south) "form the spiny backbone of eastern United States." States were listed; so were occupations:
. . . coal miners & steel workers, union workers & nonunion workers, industrial workers & service workers, farmers & farm laborers, housewives . . . & health workers, ministers & rabbis & priests, artists & poets, professionals & technicians, lawyers & politicians, lobbyists & interests groups, executives & managers, little . . . and big business people . . . industrialists and bankers.
Section Two, "Coal," proclaimed the new king, not coal but "Those who control big coal and the profit and power which come with it. Many of these don't live in the region." Reference to the area's past progress and dependency echoed sufferings of people in mines, mills and other harsh jobs. Unions were praised as improvers of conditions and targets bitter attacks by enemies of justice. Yet, seeds of injustice were unearthed in the labor movement itself.
Sometimes criminal forces entered to crush their democratic structure, or to use one union base to prevent union growth in other areas, or to turn contracts into documents of deceit, both for labor and management, thus encouraging their breech from both sides. Sometimes workers allowed themselves to be used for selfish ends, like keeping out blacks, or women, or Indians, or Spanish-speaking. Sometimes the labor movement thought only of workers in the U.S. and did not take seriously their membership in the global human family. Sometimes, too, they used the unions to protect the relative advantages of a few workers with little concern for the great disadvantage of the many.
The labor movement's real power is not crushed totally. For, it is the vision of "an injury to one is an injury to all."
Yet, "the unions didn't matter so much anymore,"
as mines closed, people fled to cities looking for non-existent work. For the Bishops, it is a strange system "which makes people suffer both when they have work and when they don't have work."
Section Three, "The Wider Picture," was commentary on that system. Job competition pitted people against one another: mountain and city, white and black, skilled and unskilled, union and non-union, Irish and Italian and Polish. The nation expanded through a war-stimulated technology, cheap raw materials from abroad lots of oil, and a large work. Yet, the many who stayed poor and suffered indignities--Indians, Blacks, Mexican Americans, immigrants, Puerto Ricans, and poor whites, like Appalachians--turned against one another for a meager piece of the biggest pie in the world that "refused to feed all its children."
Despite many benefits to both nation and people, U.S. industrial production grew like cancer. "The system produced for production's sake and tried to train people to consume for consumption's sake." Energy need demanded more than domestic gas and oil could provide. When foreign oil producing nations demanded more of the world market, giant U.S. business interests "who before used to decide prices of things like oil on the world market got frightened." One response to a cry for U.S. "energy independence" was to go back to coal.
Section Four, "Back to the Mountains," narrated a tale of corporate giants (finance and credit, information systems, energy resources) rumbled in a heavy trod of "the powerful among the powerful." Appalachia, as an "energy reservation" or "giant industrial park," might foreshadow Appalachia as "the seat of economic power in the United States." Yet, the people experienced powerlessness common to a wider society--"little people in the face of the most powerful corporate giants on this earth."
Section Five, "The Worship of an Idol," described the promise and perversion of "a way of life created by corporate giants." The promise, "technological rationalization," pictured a world where poverty is eliminated, health cared for, education available for all, dignity guaranteed, and old age secure. The perversion's driving force, "maximization of profit," converts into an idolatrous power, is hostile to human and ecological dignity, and spawns destructive growth patterns of polluting the air, fouling the water, and raping the land. This power overpowers good intentions of noble people, stirs brutal competition, stimulates "conspicuous consumption," advances "planned obsolescence," and transfers control to a small minority whose values shape social structures.
Both technological rationalization and the profit principle have aided human development importantly. The idol is formed when they become absolutes and when they fail to yield appropriately to other principles. Though people have not fallen totally prey to the idol, profit principle and technological rationalization have become a crazy death wish and are fascinated with whatever can self-destruct.
Without judging anyone it has become clear to us the present economic order does not care for its people . . . profit and people frequently are contradictory. Profit over people is . . . not a new idol, for Jesus long ago warned us (Matt. 6:24).
Section Six, "Appalachia as a Symbol," presented the suffering of Appalachia's poor symbolizing the same in the world and the nation. Similar suffering awaits,
. . . the majority of plain people in our society, if they are laid off . . . major illness occurs . . . a wage earner dies, or . . . anything goes wrong.
In this land of ours jobs are often scarce. Too many people are forced to accept unjust conditions or else lose their jobs.
Human services for the poor and . . . almost poor, are inadequate. Safety standards are often too weak or ignored. Workers are injured unnecessarily. Legal and medical recourse for claims against occupational injury or occupational disease are often too difficult or unavailable. Sometimes those who should be helping people in their claims seem to stand in the way.
On the other hand, some reform movements were underway--a union movement, community organizing, consumer movement, and religious activism. Also, positive developments appeared in the business community.
. . . managerial personnel . . . concerned not only with salaries and promotion, but also . . . contribution of the economic order to social well being, especially bringing of jobs to poor areas;
. . . small and medium size business people, who wish to operate justly but who struggle against pressure of giant economic\competitors ruthlessly trying to wipe them out;
. . . stockholders who rebel against the impersonal structure of ownership . . . to make their voices felt for justice within large corporations.
These groups struggled together for a foundation principle of common life, "citizen involvement," economic, political and cultural life. Its main aim should be building social structures that provide full employment with decent wages. Despite abuses, a strong and broad labor movement is essential to offset competition among workers and labor markets--North and South, East and West.
All such movements presently are too few and weak but can expect fierce attacks by strong and unaccountable economic powers. The latter use political and cultural institutions for non-democratic purposes. For example, police being used as company enforcers; lawyers and legislators paid to confuse people by finding loopholes for the rich; media, advertising, and education paid to justify practices and values of economic powers as "the American way." People of good will in such occupations find "the way things are set up" hard to offset.
To those who say "that's economics," the bishops' replied that economic principles do not fall out of the sky and stay forever. "Those who claim they are prisoners of the laws of economics only testify that they are prisoners of the idol." Plain folk work all their lives and still cannot make ends meet.
Food is too expensive. Taxes are too high for most. (Too low for the rich). Sickness puts people into debt. College is out of reach for their children. Paychecks keep shrinking.
And it's worse still for those who can't work, especially the elderly.
Meanwhile corporate profits for the giant conglomerates, who control energy resources keep on skyrocketing.
Although some perceive a promise of "economic development" in Appalachia, if U.S. industry returns to a substantial coal base, worldwide experience reveals development usually brings little to the poor or workers. There are the serious questions of energy resources and population expansion. However, there is an even bigger consumption problem for the rich, not just of luxuries, but of power - "to shape economic structures, political structures, cultural structures" - all in the service of more waste, profit and power. Furthermore, a maximization of profits, consumer society, and worship of idols do not preserve life for future generations, bring real contentment, or facilitate openness to the living God. Such a contrast to the dream, tradition, promise, longing, and voiceless vision of Appalachian people.
They sing of a life free and simple, with time for one another, and for people's needs, based on the dignity of a human person, at one with nature's beauty, crowned by poetry. If that dream dies, all our struggles die with it.
Section Seven, "Defending the Struggle's Dream," narrates a struggle, like one never seen before in Appalachia. For, it is a struggle for the soul and body of the people. Cable TV, satellite communications and giant ribbons of highway attempt to teach that happiness is what you buy--soaps and drinks, gimmicks and gadgets--and that "all of life is one big commodity market." The struggle against institutional violence, however, must not descend to easy violence or a poisonous bitterness, which might provoke even more brutal and repressive institutional violence, "whose first victim is always the poor." Rather, the bishops viewed the instruments of attack--TV, satellite, highways--could become "so many arms, that instead of crushing life, reach out to make it fuller, to bring others beyond the mountains the promise of their vision."
Part II, "The Answer of the Lord and His Church," contained four sections. Section One, "The God of the Poor," noted how God saved Israel from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 3:7-9; 14:30-31) and defended within Israel all who were victims of injustice (Psalm 72:12-14).
Section Two, "The Messiah and His Kingdom," noted how Israel's mission was to the whole world and, as injustice against Israel and throughout the world mounted higher, God promised a great king to bring freedom and justice (Psalm 72:1-4, 12-13). The promised Messiah in Nazareth rose up to speak of himself in Isaiah's words, as recorded in Luke 4:18-19. Like Moses of old, Jesus climbed the mountain to proclaim idols of old were interested in oppression, not justice for the poor (Luke 6:21, 24-25; Exodus 20:1-3; Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
Section Three, "The Church's Mission," noted how, out of faith in the risen Jesus, a new community arose, seeking to be united in mind and spirit (Acts 4:32-35). Though not perfect (James 2:5-7), the church continued to serve the poor by practical love, not just good intentions and prayers (I John 3:1012, 15-19). Throughout the centuries, the Spirit stirred up voices to summon a straying church back to its mission for justice.
Section Four, "The Church's Social Teaching," rehearsed many papal and episcopal documents appearing in the present century. While the benefits of the modern world were acknowledged in Vatican II, so were casualties of a new economic spirit in encyclicals of Leo and Pius. Defending the Knights of Labor before Leo XIII, Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore said, "To lose the heart of the people would be a misfortune, for which friendship of the few rich and powerful would be no compensation." In 1919 his fellow U.S. bishops admitted Americans were not ready for a major social reconstruction. They cited abuses, remedies, and a principle.
. . . enormous inefficiency and waste in production and distribution of commodities;
. . . insufficient incomes for the great majority of wage earners;
. . . and unnecessarily large incomes for the small minority of privileged capitalists. . . .
The majority must somehow become owners, or at least in part, of the instruments of production.
. . . human beings cannot be trusted with immense opportunities for oppression and extortion which go with the possession of monopoly power.
In 1931, Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno spoke of reconstructing the social order and perfecting it according to the precepts of the gospel. Wealth was said to be concentrated and controlled by few with immense power, leading to a threefold struggle for domination.
First . . . struggle for dictatorship in the economic sphere itself. Then the fierce battle to acquire control of the state, so its resources and authority may be abused in economic struggles. Finally, clashes between the states themselves.
In 1940, the U.S. bishops' "The Church and Social Order" lamented how an unjust society caused workers to be alienated from religion and to lose faith and hope. Especially denounced was concentration of ownership and control of trustees and directors, as well as the anonymous character of economic interests.
Those who, because they hold and control money, are able to govern credit and determine its allotment, for that reason supplying, so to speak, the life-blood to the entire economy, and grasping as it were in their hands the very soul of production.
The bishops called for a more just social order, where property would be broadly distributed and people would be truly responsible for one another.
Mentioned also were encyclicals of John XXIII and Paul VI; also Vatican II's Church in the Modern World and the 1971 Bishops Synod's Justice in the World. While choices for the Appalachian bishops were stark, a caution was voiced about simplistic analyses and ignorance of economics and other human sciences.
Part III, "Facing the Future," had two sections. Section One, "A Process of Dialogue and Testing," hoped the pastoral would initiate a reflection/action process among "all people of good will throughout the region . . . for a more just society." A careful balancing of three principles was suggested.
By the first principle, "closeness to the people" was meant listening to the poor, plain and rich people, in order to understand dreams and challenges, frustrations and struggles. The fundamental goal in the justice is citizen or community control. The second principle, "careful use of scientific resources," urged infusing so-called "value-free models" with wisdom and humility in the service of justice. The third principle, "a steeping in the presence of the Spirit," called for a maturing of prayer and meditation "into a convergence with the thirst for justice."
The Catholic Committee of Appalachia (clergy, laity and religious) was to initiate the process by drafting "a comprehensive plan of action." Several recommendations were offered for inclusion in the plan. One was Centers for Reflection and Prayer (urged by Justice in the World) to integrate analytical skills of social science and profound spirituality and to link fragmented struggles within and outside the region. The second recommendation was a cooperation of religious and other major social institutions (politics, education, art and business)--"provided they are open to the voice of the poor." The third recommendation was Centers of Popular Culture (urged by Paul VI in A Call To Action) in every parish or locale, linked to broader action centers, as places where the poor feel welcome to share with people from all levels of society. The fourth recommendation was an emphasis on several economic issues. One, presence of powerful multinational corporations within the region raised questions of their fate and role for Appalachia and the world. Two, a counter-force to these multinational corporations' "unaccountable power" must be a "corresponding multinational labor movement." Yet, such a movement must be rooted in a vision of justice, rise above corruption and narrowness, and nurture universal concern for all workers, consumers, and people. Three, there is to be a long list of issues the committee must address. Mentioned among them were:
. . . role of coal in the life of the region and nation; energy consumption patterns and life-style; strip mining and deep mining, land acquisition, retribution and redistribution; tourism and recreation industries exploitation of cheap labor; occupational health and safety; union reform and extension; community unions; community organizing and citizen control public voice in local, state and national politics, church investments as seed money; cooperatives education; health systems; family life; the elderly; arts and crafts; music and poetry.
The conclusion of the pastoral gave thanks to the Lord, youth, parents, elderly, volunteers, clergy, and laity. There was also the hope expressed that the gift of peace would be everyone's. There was the invitation for all to weigh seriously, in the Spirit and dialogue, the contents of the pastoral. Finally, all were challenged to continue living, to be part of the rebirth of utopias, to recover and defend the struggling dream of Appalachia itself--"the dream of simplicity and of justice."
On June 6, 1977 seven southern Catholic bishops issued a statement on the labor-management dispute between the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and J.P. Stevens Company, the nation's second largest textile manufacturer with 85 plants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.(7) Ironically, the bishops in these states issued their statement only after J.P. Stevens officials visited them and asked they not become involved. The bishops then heard union officials present their side of the dispute. The bishops spoke out on the fourteen year dispute because,
We feel compelled to make public our growing anxiety concerning the rights of workers in the plants of the J.P. Stevens Company and our firm conviction that the differences that now separate labor and management should be brought to swift resolution.
The bishops referred to a gospel emphasis on human dignity and the right to an environment which protects and enhances physical and spiritual development and the long Catholic tradition that insists matters of social justice deserve the church's pastoral concern. "The daily lives of working people are affected in a singular way by their conditions of employment and relate also to the well-being of the family and the entire community." Consequently, all have the responsibility to redirect in a positive and effective way economic and social forces that threaten working men and women.
In addition to quoting from Vatican II's Church in the Modern World about the right of workers to organize, to form unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively, the bishops quoted Section 7 of the U.S. National Labor Relations Act, which encourages and protects the same rights. Indeed, these bishops were quite specific.
In the these present circumstances we . . . firmly believe that individual workers in the textile industry should consider their responsibility toward one another as they examine the possibility or even the necessity of collective bargaining.
Even though the bishops commended evidence of some improvement in working conditions and fringe benefits in certain areas of the southern textile, they added ". . . they do not replace the right of workers to unionize."
Furthermore, their silence on the consumer boycott of J.P. Stevens products was not to be construed as their being "unsympathetic with the state purpose of the boycott . . . to spend up the organization of southern textile workers for the purpose of collective bargaining." An admonition to J.P. Stevens to give "evidence of positive support for the right of workers to organize and . . . demonstrate a willingness to bargain in good faith" was followed by an admonition to the union to demonstrate the "same spirit of cooperation and good faith . . . in any organizing effort."
The statement concluded with a reaffirmation of an unsolicited offer to be of assistance to both parties in the implementation of the Catholic tradition and the federal law pertaining to workers' right to unionize and collectively bargain. The bishops were willing to do everything in their power to mediate between the company and union for the good of all concerned. There was also a veiled threat.
If, on the other hand, the offer is declined, we will feel obliged, in the exercise of our pastoral ministry in the geographical area most affected by the Stevens dispute, to review the situation and, within a reasonable period of time, to issue a more detailed and more specific statement on the dispute.
Some ten months later the bishops did issue that more detailed and specific statement on the dispute.(8) Conscious that there are those who wish that the Church and Churchmen would "stay in the pulpit," the bishops reaffirmed their commitment to the gospel and church tradition forcing them "to become involved in issues of justice and the basic rights of working people." Reference was made to cordial and frank meetings with representatives of labor and management. Both meetings also allowed for exchange of views and expression of positions leading to the impasse. Hence, the bishops were able to make public their assessment of the dispute.
Advances made by management to improve the workers' lot were encouraging ,but only minimally. However, a strong and acknowledged anti-union philosophy of the company constituted a serious obstacle to the realistic resolution of the dispute.
The company's anti-union position radiates a climate of disapproval which cannot fail to discourage workers from joining unions, and it makes every union advance a struggle between opposing forces. We feel that this is an area for basic change if progress is to be made, and we call upon J.P. Stevens Co. to reassess its position and, at least, remain neutral in the process of union decisions by the workers.
The bishops then listed the implementation by the company of its anti-union philosophy: discouragement and repression of union activity, long judicial delays taxing workers' patience and so scandalizing the public as to encourage new remedial labor legislation, and meriting strongly denunciatory language from federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board. While labeling the company record of opposition "sad," the bishops did not intend to endorse any irresponsible conduct by union representatives--especially in the early attempts at union organizing.
Again reserving the right and obligation of further review and offering their services to promote the cause of social justice for all, the bishops concluded,
At this time, as leaders in the Catholic community, we appeal again to the J.P. Stevens Co. to rearrange their priorities and make social justice and the needs of the worker a matter of its primary concern. We . . . continue to hope that a turnabout is possible and a new path to the future attainable. The recent Supreme Court decision declining review of the J.P. Stevens case may provide the occasion for a more enlightened approach by the company to its pressing problems.
Almost two years later, the southern bishops issued a third statement on the J.P. Stevens dispute.(9) Rather than the hoped for disappearance of the company's anti-union stand, the bishops confessed, "To our disappointment, this intervening period has been used to aggravate existing unacceptable situations and to create new ones threatening to the basic rights of the employees." Mention was made that the National Labor Relations Board or agents of the Federal Courts had found J.P. Stevens guilty of labor violations in 1,000 instances since 1963, in twenty decisions from March 1978 and August 1979, and in almost one decision per month since August 1979.
Quoting again Vatican II's support of union organizing among workers, the bishops commented,
These rights are not to be taken lightly or dismissed easily. They are discarded only at the risk of upsetting the fabric of a social order that places the highest priority on defending the dignity and worth of the human person.
Indeed, because of the anti-union activities of the J.P. Stevens Company, the bishops felt compelled to endorse the consumer boycott of all J.P. Stevens products. The boycott was deemed to be a legitimate and effective "instrument towards the promotion of justice," until the company demonstrated it had eliminated fear and retaliation, bargained in good faith and responded to the workers' right to organize.
The bishops encouraged the workers to consider carefully the reasons for forming unions, especially respecting the common good and not simply self-interest. They suggested that,
. . . organizing into collective bargaining units may be in some circumstances an objective duty of each worker to his or her co-workers. At present, this may be an effective way of assuring the protection of human dignity and self-determination in the work-place.
The union also was urged to be more fully aware of its responsibility to represent the workers fairly and equitably, to develop and protect true democratic structures within the union, and to have hiring practices reflect accurately the workforce. Thus, the role of women, blacks and other minorities should be given special and immediate attention, at all levels but especially in leadership. Also, the union should provide education programs,
. . . that will enable members to participate more fully and responsibly in the affairs of their own workplace and the union at large. We believe this is an essential element in preventing excessive accumulation or abuse of power within the institution. In all things, the leadership must hold itself accountable directly to the membership.
The bishops concluded their statement with a renewed offer to assist both parties in every way possible.