Chapter Three: The Right to Labour

Chapter Three: The Right to Labour

In the beginning God gave man dominion over the works of His hands (Genesis 1:28).
This dominion is not tyranny over creation, but stewardship; and the first stewardship is labour itself.
Therefore every man, woman, and child capable of work hath a sacred right to labour, and every society that denieth this right offendeth the Creator.

St Basil the Great (†379), in his homily on the words “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” declareth:
“Work is the natural law of man; to take it away is to take away his dignity and to make him a slave.”

St John Chrysostom (†407) teacheth:
“Idleness is the mother of all vices. He who doth not work neither hath the right to eat.”

The early councils of the Church (Elvira 306, Ancyra 314, Gangra 340) condemned those who, under pretext of false asceticism, refused to labour, and commanded them to work or be excommunicated.

Thus the right to labour is threefold:

1. The Right to Useful Work
   No man should be condemned to meaningless toil or to the production of vanities.
   The worker hath the right to know that his labour serveth God and neighbour, even if he sweepeth streets or carrieth burdens.
2. The Right to Just Compensation
   “The labourer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18).
   St Clement of Alexandria (†215) and St Ambrose (†397) condemned the rich who paid starvation wages, saying:
   “To withhold the wage of the poor is to steal from God Himself.”
3. The Right to Rest and Contemplation
   God rested on the seventh day and sanctified it (Genesis 2:2-3).
   The Church from the beginning commanded the observance of the Lord’s Day, that man might raise his mind from creatures to the Creator.
   St Augustine (†430) writeth:
   “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”
   Without this rest, labour becometh slavery.

Woe to the ruler, the merchant, or the master who robbeth man of this threefold right.
He buildeth not a city, but a prison; not prosperity, but the wrath of God.

Say “next” to continue with Chapter Four: On Control.