To Participants in the 68th Session of the International Labor Conference

On Tuesday, 15 June 1982, the Holy Father addressed the Participants in the 68th Session of the International Labor Conference.* In his speech, the Pope called for a ''new solidarity without frontiers'' based on the ''primacy of human work over the means of production.''

Mr President,
Mr Director General,
Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

1. I would like first of all to express my joy at the opportunity offered to me of being here today and of speaking before this illustrious Assembly gathered for the 68th Session of the International Labor Conference. The facts that you know prevented me from accepting the invitation that the Director General had addressed to me to participate in the previous Session. I thank God who kept me alive and restored my health. The impossibility in which I found myself able to come here in 1981 further sharpened in me the profound desire I had to meet you, because I feel linked to the world of work by multiple ties. The least important of these is certainly not the knowledge of a particular responsibility in relation to the numerous problems inherent in the reality of human work: important, often difficult, always fundamental problems, problems that constitute the raison d'être of your Organization. The invitation that the Director General repeated starting from the moment of my convalescence therefore made me particularly happy. In the meantime I published my encyclical Laborem Exercens on human work, with the aim of providing a contribution to the development of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, whose great documents starting from the Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, have found an echo full of consideration and of favor in the meetings of the International Labor Organization, always sensitive to the different aspects of the complex problems of human work during the different historical stages of its existence and its activities.

Allow me here to express my gratitude for your invitation and for the warm welcome given to me. At the same time, I want to tell you how much I appreciated the kind words that the General Director addressed to me; thanks to these words, it is easier for me, in turn, to speak to you. As a guest of this Assembly, I speak to you on behalf of the Catholic Church and the Holy See, placing myself on the ground of their universal mission which has, first and foremost, a religious and moral character. In this capacity, the Church and the Holy See share the concern of your Organization regarding its fundamental objectives and thus reach the entire family of Nations in the goal it proposes, namely: to contribute to the progress of humanity.

TRIBUTE TO MAN'S WORK

2. Addressing all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish through you to pay homage first and foremost to the work of man , whatever it is and wherever it is done throughout the earth, to every work - as well as to each man or woman who carries it out - without distinctions in its specific characteristics, whether it is "physical" work or "intellectual" work; as well without distinctions in its particular determinations, whether it is a work of "creation" or "reproduction", whether it is the work of theoretical research that provides the basis for the work of others, or the work consisting in organizing its conditions and structures, whether it ultimately concerns the work of managers or that of workers who carry out the tasks necessary for the implementation of well-defined programs. In each of its forms, this work deserves particular respect, because it is the work of man, and because, behind every work, there is always a living subject: the human person . It is from this that work draws its value and dignity.

In the name of this dignity, which is proper to all human work, I would also like to express my esteem for each of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, and for the concrete institutions, organizations and authorities that you represent here. Given the universal character of the International Labor Organization, I am given the opportunity to pay homage, through this intervention, to all the groups represented here, and to praise the effort through which each of them tends to develop their potential order to achieve the common good of all its members: men and women united from generation to generation in different workplaces.

APPRECIATION FOR OIT: HUMANIZING WORK

3. Finally - and I think I am the spokesperson here not only of the Holy See but, in a certain sense, of all the people present - I would like to express particular appreciation and gratitude for the International Labor Organization itself. Your Organization indeed occupies an important place in international life, both due to its seniority and the nobility of its objectives. Created in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles, its aim was to contribute to lasting peace through the promotion of social justice, as written in the Preamble of its Constitution: "Since universal and lasting peace can only be founded on basis of social justice. . .”. And it is this fundamental commitment to peace that the Director General recalled at the Symposium organized in Rome by the Pontifical Commission "Iustitia et Pax" at the beginning of last April, when he referred to the parchment contained in the foundation stone of the building of the Bureau International du Travail, which bears the writing: “Si vis pacem, cole iustitiam”, “If you want peace, cultivate justice”.

The merits of your Organization appear clearly in the existence of the numerous International Conventions and in the Recommendations that establish international labor standards, "new rules of social behavior" to force "particular interests to submit to a broader vision of the common good ” (Paul VI, Allocutio ad OIT habita , 14 et 19, die 10 iun. 1969 : Teachings of Paul VI , VII [1969] 359 et 361). Its merits are also visible in the many other activities undertaken to satisfy the new needs that have arisen from the evolution of social and economic structures. Finally, they are evident when we consider the daily and persevering work of the officials of the Bureau International du Travail and the requests it has made to make its action more incisive, such as those of the Institut International d'Etudes Sociales, the Association Internationale de la Sécurité sociale, and the Center International de Perfectionnement Professionnel et Technique.

If I took the liberty of mentioning the International Labor Organization in my encyclical Laborem Exercens , I did so both to draw attention to its many achievements and to encourage it to strengthen its activities in favor of the humanization of work . I also wanted to highlight the fact that, in the line that aims to found human work on the reasons of authentic good - which corresponds to the main objectives of social morality -, the objectives of the International Labor Organization are very close to those that the Church and the Holy See intend to pursue in their own field and with the means suitable for their mission. On the other hand, this was underlined several times by my predecessors, Popes Pius XII and John XXIII and in particular by Paul VI, in 1969 on the occasion of the visit with which he wanted to be associated with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the International Labor Organization. Today, as in the past, the Church and the Holy See rejoice in the excellent collaboration that exists with your Organization, a collaboration that dates back half a century and which found its formal conclusion in the accreditation, in 1967, of a Permanent Observer at the Bureau International du Travail. In this way, the Holy See wanted to give a stable expression to its desire for collaboration and to the keen interest that the Catholic Church, concerned with the authentic good of man, places in the problems of work.

THE MAN ALWAYS REMAINS AT THE CENTER

4. The words that you expect from me, Ladies and Gentlemen, cannot be different from those that I have pronounced in other meetings in which representatives of the peoples of all the nations of the world were present: the General Assembly of the Organization of Nations United, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. My reflections are inspired, in a way that aims to be coherent, by the same fundamental idea and the same concern: the cause of man, his dignity and the inalienable rights that derive from it . Already in my first encyclical Redemptor Hominis I insisted on the fact that "man is the first path that the Church must travel to fulfill its mission: it is the first path and the fundamental path of the Church, a path traced by Christ himself. . .” (John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis , 14). It is for the same reason that, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum , I wanted to consecrate a particularly important document of my pontificate to human work, to man at work: "Homo laborem exercens". Because not only does work bear the imprint of man, but it is in work that man discovers the meaning of his existence: in every work conceived as a human activity, whatever the concrete characteristics it has, whatever the circumstances in in which this activity is carried out. Work involves "this fundamental dimension of human existence, with which man's life is built every day, from which it draws its specific dignity, but which simultaneously contains the constant measure of human toil, suffering and also of the damage and injustice that deeply penetrate social life, within individual nations and on the international level” (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens , 1).

SOLIDARITY IN THE WORLD OF WORK

5. In the problem of work - a problem that has repercussions in many fields of life and at all levels, individual, family, national, international - there is a characteristic, which is at the same time a need and a program, which I would like to underline today before you: solidarity . I feel led to offer you these considerations first of all because solidarity is inherent in different ways in the very nature of human work, but also because of the objectives of your Organization, and above all the spirit that animates it. The spirit with which the International Labor Organization has carried out its mission since the beginning is a spirit of universalism , which has its basis in the fundamental equality of nations and the equality of men, and which is perceived in at the same time as the starting point and the arrival point of every social policy. It is also a spirit of humanism , anxious to develop all man's potential, both material and spiritual. Finally, it is a community spirit that is happily expressed in the threefold division of your structures. In this regard, I make my own the words pronounced here by Paul VI during his visit in 1969: "Your original and organic instrument consists in bringing together the three forces that are at work in the social dynamics of modern work: the men of government, employees and workers. And your method - which is now a typical paradigm - consists in harmonizing these three forces, ensuring that they no longer oppose each other, but compete in a courageous and fruitful collaboration, through constant dialogue for the study and the solution to the problems that continually present themselves and are ceaselessly renewed” (Paul VI, Allocutio ad OIT habita , 15, die 10 June 1969: Teachings of Paul VI , VII [1969] 360). The fact that it was thought necessary to resolve labor problems thanks to the involvement of all interested parties, through peaceful negotiations aimed at the good of man in his work and at peace between social communities, shows that you are aware of the need for solidarity that unites you in a common effort, beyond real differences and always possible divisions.

WORK UNITES

6. This fundamental intuition, which the founders of the International Labor Organization have so widely inserted into the very structure of the Organization which has as its corollary the fact that the objectives pursued cannot be achieved without a community and solidarity effort, responds to the reality of human work. In fact, in its profound dimensions, the reality of work is the same in every point of the earth, in every country and on every continent; among men and women who belong to different races and nations, who speak different languages ​​and represent different cultures; among those who profess different religions or express their relationships with religion and with God in different ways. The reality of work is the same in a multiplicity of forms: manual work and intellectual work; agricultural work and industrial work; work in tertiary sector services and research work; the work of the craftsman, the technician and that of the educator, the artist or the mother in her family; the work of the worker in the factories and that of the managers and managers. Without wanting to mask the specific differences that remain and which often radically diversify the men and women who carry out these multiple tasks, work - the reality of work - creates the union of everyone in an activity that has the same meaning and the same source. For everyone, work is a necessity, a duty, a task. For each and everyone it is a means of securing life, family life and its fundamental values; it is also the path that leads to a better future, the path of progress, the path of hope. In the diversity and universality of its manifestations, human work unites men because every man seeks in work “the realization of his humanity. . ., the fulfillment of the vocation to be a person, which is proper to him by reason of his very humanity” (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens , 6). Yes, “work carries with it a particular sign of man and humanity, the sign of a person operating in a community of people” ( Ibid ., Praef.). Work bears the sign of unity and solidarity.

On the other hand, it is difficult - examining here, in front of this Assembly, a panorama so vast and so differentiated and at the same time so universal as that of the work of the entire human family - not to feel in the depths of our hearts the words of the book of Genesis in which work was given as a task to man so that through it he could subjugate the earth and dominate it (cf. Gen 1:28).

WORK: MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE

7. The fundamental warning that drives me to propose to you the theme of solidarity is therefore found in the very nature of human work. The problem of work has an extremely profound connection with that of the meaning of human life . Through this bond, work becomes a problem of a spiritual nature and it really is. This observation does not take anything away from the other aspects of work, aspects which are, one could say, more easily measurable and to which different structures and operations of an external nature are linked, at organizational level; on the contrary, this same observation allows us to bring human work, in whatever way it is performed by man, back inside man and that is to the deepest point of his humanity, in what is proper to him, in what causes he is a man and an authentic subject of the work. The belief that there is an essential link between the work of each man and the global meaning of human existence is found at the basis of the Christian doctrine of work - one can say at the basis of the "Gospel of work" - and permeates the teaching and the activity of the Church, in different ways, in each of the stages of its mission in history. “Never again work against the worker, but always work. . . at the service of man": it is appropriate to repeat again today the words pronounced 13 years ago in this same place by Pope Paul VI (Paul VI, Allocutio ad OIT habita , 11, die 10 June 1969: Teachings of Paul VI , VII [ 1969] 357). If work must always serve the good of man, if the program of progress can only be realized through work, there is therefore a fundamental right to judge progress according to the following criterion: does work really serve man? Does it correspond to his dignity? Is the true meaning of human life expressed through it in all its richness and variety?

We have the right to think about man's work in this way. We also have a duty to do so. We have the right and duty to consider man not as useful or useless to work, but to consider work in its relationship with man , with each man, to consider work as useful or useless to man . We have the right and the duty to reflect on work taking into account the different needs of man, in the fields of the spirit and the body, to thus consider man's work in every society and in every system, in the areas where it reigns well-being, and even more so where poverty reigns. We have the right and the duty to use this way in treating work in relation to man - and not the opposite - as a fundamental criterion for evaluating progress in itself. In fact, progress always requires an evaluation and a value judgment: we must ask ourselves whether this progress is sufficiently "human" and at the same time sufficiently "universal"; if it serves to level out unjust inequalities and promote a peaceful future for the world; if the fundamental rights for every person, for every family, for every nation are safeguarded at work. In a word, we must constantly ask ourselves whether work serves to realize the meaning of human life. While seeking an answer to these questions in the analysis of all socio-economic processes, we cannot ignore the elements and contents that constitute the depths of man: the development of his knowledge and his awareness of him. The link between work and the very meaning of human existence always testifies to the fact that man has not been alienated from work, he has not been enslaved by it. On the contrary, it confirms that work has become the ally of his humanity, which helps him to live in truth and freedom: in freedom built on truth, which allows him to fully lead a life more worthy of man.

A NEW SOLIDARITY BASED ON WORK IS NECESSARY

8. Faced with the injustices that cry for revenge, arising from the systems of the last century, workers, especially in industry, have reacted by discovering at the same time, beyond common misery, the strength represented by common actions. Victims of the same injustices, they united in the same action. In my encyclical on human work, I called this reaction “a just social reaction”; such a situation has "given the rise and almost ignited a great impulse of solidarity among workers and, first of all, among industrial workers. The appeal to solidarity and common action, launched to men of work. . ., had its own important value and its own eloquence from the point of view of social ethics - especially those of sectorial, monotonous, depersonalizing work in industrial complexes, when the machine tends to dominate over man. It was the reaction against the degradation of man as a subject of work. . . This reaction brought the working world together in a community characterized by great solidarity” (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens , 8). Despite the improvements achieved since then, despite the deeper and more real respect for the fundamental rights of workers in many countries, various systems based on ideology and power have allowed glaring injustices to persist and have created new ones. Furthermore, the increased awareness of social justice uncovers new situations of injustice which, due to their geographical extension or the contempt for the inalienable dignity of the human person, remain as true challenges to humanity. Today it is necessary to create a new solidarity based on the true meaning of human work . Because only starting from a correct conception of work will it be possible to define the objectives that solidarity must pursue and the different forms it must take.

SOLIDARITY FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

9. The world of work, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the world of all men and women who, through their activities, seek to respond to the vocation of subjugating the earth for the good of all. The solidarity of the world of work will therefore be a solidarity that broadens horizons to embrace, with the interests of individuals and particular groups, the common good of the whole society , both at the level of a nation and at an international and planetary level. It will be a solidarity for work , which manifests itself in the struggle for justice and for the truth of social life. What justification would there actually be for solidarity that ends in a struggle of irreducible opposition to others, in a struggle against others? The fight for justice should not ignore the legitimate interests of workers united in the same profession or particularly affected by certain forms of injustice. It does not ignore the existence of tensions between groups which often risk becoming open conflicts. True solidarity looks to the struggle for a just social order in which all tensions can be absorbed and in which conflicts - both at the level of groups and at that of nations - can more easily find their solution. To create a world of justice and peace, solidarity must undermine the foundations of hatred, selfishness and injustice, too often erected into ideological principles or the essential law of life in society. Within the same work community, solidarity pushes us to discover needs for unity inherent to the nature of work , rather than tendencies towards distinction and opposition. It refuses to conceive of society in terms of the struggle “against” and social relations in terms of irreducible class opposition. Solidarity which finds its origin and its strength in the nature of human work and therefore in the primacy of the human person over things, will be able to create the tools of dialogue and collaboration capable of resolving opposition without seeking the destruction of the opponent.

No, it is not utopian to say that the world of work can be made into a world of justice.

SOLIDARITY WITHOUT BORDERS

10. The need for man to defend the reality of his work and to free him from every ideology to highlight the true meaning of human activity, this need manifests itself in a particular way when considering the world of work and solidarity which it invokes in the international context. The problem of man at work today presents itself in a global perspective that it is no longer possible not to take into consideration. All the great problems of man in society are now global problems! They must be thought of on a global scale, in a realistic spirit certainly, but also in an innovative and demanding spirit. Whether it is the problems of natural resources, development or employment, the adequate solution cannot be found without taking international perspectives into account. Already 15 years ago, in 1967, Paul VI noted in the encyclical Populorum Progressio : "Today the most important fact of which everyone must become aware is that the social question has become global" (Paul VI, Populorum Progressio , 3). Since then, many events have made this observation even more evident. The global economic crisis, with its repercussions in all regions of the earth, forces us to recognize that the horizon of problems is increasingly a global horizon. The hundreds of millions of hungry or undernourished human beings, who also have the right to escape from their poverty, must make us understand that the fundamental reality is now humanity as a whole. There is a common good that can no longer be limited to a more or less satisfactory compromise between particular demands or within purely economic needs. New ethical choices are imposed; a new world consciousness must be formed ; everyone, without denying their ties of belonging and their roots in their family, in their people and in their nation, nor the obligations that derive from them, must consider themselves members of that great family which is the world community.

This means, Ladies and Gentlemen, that in work seen in a global context it is equally necessary to discover the new meanings of human work and determine the new tasks accordingly. It also means that the global common good requires a new solidarity without borders . With this I do not want to diminish the importance of the efforts that each Nation must make according to its own sovereignty, its own cultural traditions and in relation to its own needs to give itself the type of social and economic development capable of respecting the irreducible character of each of the its members and the entire people. And yet it cannot be too easily assumed that the consciousness of solidarity is already sufficiently developed due to the simple fact that everyone is on board the same space vessel which is the earth. On the one hand, it is necessary to be able to ensure the necessary complementarity of the efforts that each Nation makes starting from its own spiritual and material resources and, on the other hand, to affirm the needs of universal solidarity and the structural consequences that it implies. There is a fruitful tension to be maintained to highlight how these two realities are oriented towards each other from within, because, like the human person, the nation is, at the same time, irreducible individuality and openness towards others.

SOLIDARITY WITH WORK:
THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT

11. The solidarity of the world of work, of men at work, manifests itself according to different dimensions. It is solidarity of workers among themselves; it is solidarity with the workers ; it is first of all, in its deepest reality, solidarity with work , seen as a fundamental dimension of human existence, on which the meaning of this very existence also depends. Thus understood, solidarity gives a particular light to the problem of employment, which has become one of the major problems of contemporary society, and whose dramatic nature for workers is too often tended to be forgotten, especially when they do not benefit from any assistance from part of society; the drama for all developing countries, a situation that has been going on for some time; the drama for land workers, whose situation is often so precarious, whether they remain in the countryside, which offers them less and less work, or whether they try to emigrate to the cities, in search of work that is difficult to find; the drama for intellectuals, finally, since, in different categories and in different sectors of the world of work, they run the risk of a new type of proletarianization when their specific contribution is no longer appreciated at its right value due to the change in social systems or living conditions.

We know that the causes of involuntary unemployment can be, and actually are, multiple and different. One of these causes can be identified in the improvement of production tools, which progressively limits the direct contribution of man in the production process. We thus enter into the antinomy that risks opposing human work to "capital", understood as the set of means of production, which includes natural resources and also the means through which man takes possession of the riches that are available to him. offered for free and transforms them according to his needs. In this way a new problem arises, which is only now beginning to manifest itself in all its dimensions and consequences. Being able to identify it, even if its outlines are still vague and imprecise, means being willing to look for a solution from the beginning , without waiting too long for it to impose itself through the force of the damage it causes. The solution must be found in solidarity with work , that is, accepting the principle of the primacy of the person in work over the needs of production or over purely economic laws. The human person constitutes the first and last criterion for employment planning; Solidarity with work constitutes the superior motive in all searches for solutions and opens a new field to man's ingenuity and generosity.

SOLIDARITY AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITHOUT JOBS

12. For this reason I dared to say in Laborem Exercens that “unemployment is in any case an evil and, when it assumes certain dimensions, it can become a true social calamity. It becomes a particularly painful problem when young people in particular are affected” (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens , 18). With the exception of a few rare privileged countries, humanity is currently having the painful experience of this sad reality. We are always aware of the drama that it creates for many young people, who "see their sincere desire to work and their willingness to assume their responsibility for the economic and social development of the community painfully frustrated" (Ibid . ) . How can we accept a situation that risks leaving young people without the prospect of one day finding a job or which in any case risks scarring them for life? We are dealing here with a complex problem whose solutions are not easy and are certainly not uniform for all situations nor for all regions. The Director General rightly underlined this in the Report which he presented to this 68th Session of the International Labor Conference and, in the course of your deliberations, these problems will certainly be revealed in all their complexity. The search for solutions, both at the level of a nation and at the level of the world community, must be inspired by the criterion of human work understood as a right and an obligation for all, of human work that expresses the dignity of the human person and at the same time the makes it grow. Furthermore, the search for solutions must take place through solidarity among everyone. Yes, solidarity is still the key to the employment problem here . I strongly affirm it: both at a national and international level, the positive solution to the problem of employment, and of the employment of young people in particular, presupposes a very strong solidarity of the population as a whole and of the people as a whole: that each is willing to accept the necessary sacrifices, that everyone collaborates in the implementation of programs and agreements aimed at making economic and social policy a tangible expression of solidarity; that everyone helps to create the appropriate economic, technical, political and financial structures that the establishment of a new social order of solidarity unquestionably imposes. I refuse to believe that contemporary humanity, capable of achieving such prodigious scientific and technical feats, is incapable, through an effort of creativity inspired by the very nature of human work and the solidarity that unites all beings, to find just and effective solutions to an essentially human problem such as that of employment.

SOLIDARITY AND FREEDOM OF TRADE UNION

13. A society of solidarity is built every day, first of all creating, and then defending, the effective conditions for the free participation of all in the common work. Every policy aimed at the common good must be the result of the organic and spontaneous cohesion of social forces. This is yet another form of that solidarity which is the imperative of the social order, a solidarity which manifests itself in a particular way through the existence and work of workers' associations. The right to freely associate is a fundamental right for all those linked to the world of work and who constitute the working community. This right means for every man at work not to be alone or isolated; expresses everyone's solidarity to defend the rights they are entitled to and which derive from the demands of work; normally offers the means to actively participate in the realization of the work and everything related to it, guided at the same time by the thought of concern for the common good . This right presupposes that workers are truly free to unite, to join the association of their choice and to manage it. Although the right to freedom of association appears undeniably as one of the most universally recognized fundamental rights - and Convention No. 87 (1948) of the International Labor Organization bears witness to this - it is nevertheless a right that is strongly threatened, sometimes mocked, both in as a principle, be it - more often - in one or another of its substantial aspects, so that freedom of association is disfigured. It seems essential to remember that the cohesion of social forces - always desirable - must be the result of a free decision of the interested parties, taken in full independence in relation to political power, elaborated in full freedom to determine its internal organisation, methods of functioning and the trade unions' own activities. At work, man must himself assume the defense of the truth and true dignity of his work. Consequently, man at work cannot be prevented from exercising this responsibility, as long as he also takes into account the common good.

CONCLUSION: THE WAY OF SOLIDARITY

14. Ladies and Gentlemen, beyond the systems, regimes and ideologies aimed at regulating social relations, I have proposed to you a path, that of solidarity, the path of solidarity in the world of work . It is an open and dynamic solidarity, founded on the conception of human work and which sees in the dignity of the human person, in conformity with the mandate received from the Creator, the first and last criterion of his value. May this solidarity serve as a guide in your debates and in your achievements!

The International Labor Organization already has an enormous legacy of achievements in its field of activity. You have drawn up numerous international declarations and conventions, and you will draw up others to address ever new problems and to find ever more adequate solutions. You have formulated guidelines and established multiple programs, and you are determined to continue, for your part, that sublime adventure which is the humanization of work . Speaking on behalf of the Holy See, the Church and the Christian faith, I wish to repeat my congratulations to you wholeheartedly for the merits of your Organization. And, at the same time, I express the hope that your activity, all your efforts and all your work will continue to be at the service of the dignity of human work and the authentic progress of humanity. I wish you to contribute tirelessly to the creation of a civilization of human work, of a civilization of solidarity, and even more, I would say, of a civilization of love of man. May man, thanks to his considerable and multiple efforts, truly subdue the earth (cf. Gen 1, 28) and himself reach the fullness of his humanity, that which has been established for him by the eternal Wisdom and the eternal Love!

* Teachings of John Paul II , vol. V, 2 p. 2267-2280.

L'Osservatore Romano 17.6.1982 p. II-IV.

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