Today is the 100th anniversary of the Communist Revolution in Russia. It began as a righteous revolt against the real injustices of living under a corrupt Czarist government and an economic system that condemned millions to industrial and rural servitude. Yet the noble dreams of a classless society, where everyone had access to all the resources they needed to survive and thrive, was quickly subverted by the realpolitik of power and corruption. Then came the purges and the persecutions and the genocides, followed by decades of stagnation and nihilism, until Communism finally died a surprisingly peaceful death in the 1990s. It is easy to forget the dream which began the revolution, and look blandly at the inequality and injustice of today, and just accept it as "the way it is". But is this as good as it gets? Is the way we have engineered our society and our economics the best we can do? Is there not more to dream of, and more to hope for?
The older I get, and the more injustice I see in the world, the more my political philosophy comes to focus on the "daily bread" necessary to nourish people, which Jesus prayed for in Matthew 6.11. And not only did Jesus pray for it, he taught us to pray for it: "Father... give us OUR daily bread". And not only did he teach us to pray for it, he taught us to act to make it happen, for whatever we pray for, we ought to "ask, seek, and knock" for (cf. Matthew 7). This is because for Jesus, prayer is fundamentally active, not passive. This means "The Lord's Prayer" is not just for liturgy and devotion. It is a manifesto in which we pledge ourselves to work with God, to do God's will, so that the Kingdom of God may be manifested in our lives and our communities. And one practical, material way to make this happen is to start with daily bread. Thus, if we are to pray for our daily bread, we must act to make daily bread a reality for all of us. Therefore our collective responsibility is make sure that every single person has the "daily bread" of resources necessary to survive and thrive. These resources include clean water and air, healthy food, medical care, safe shelter, quality education, and just judicial systems which make human flourishing possible.
It is never a problem for some to have more than this, provided everyone has enough. But if some possess excess-- especially extravagant excess-- while others lack the means to live, then something has gone wrong. No one should starve so that someone else can be overfed. But long as these minimal conditions of "daily bread" are fulfilled, individuals and corporations of individuals may make as much profit as they can. If, however, these minimal conditions are not fulfilled, then goods and resources will need to be redistributed to make it so, with everyone contributing to the task according to their means. Thus, those with the most excess will have the most responsibility and the most to contribute, while those with the least excess will have the least responsibility and the least to contribute (with excess defined as any resources possessed which are above the level of "daily bread"). For Christ has told us "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12.48).
We are also told that "naked we come into this world and naked we will depart" (Job 1.21): Thus, we do not "own" anything, because God is the sole owner of everything (Leviticus 25.23; Psalm 24.1). Yet, God does grant to us stewardship of resources according to our abilities (Genesis 2; Romans 12), and thus expects us to faithfully use the resources we manage to increase God's gifts for all (Matthew 25.14-30). Thus, those of us who have been blessed with resources are to follow the example of the just landlord in Jesus' parable of the daily wages, and give to all who work for us a "living wage" which enables those who serve us to live full human lives (cf. Matthew 20).
But this idea of "from each according to their means to each according to their needs" should not be construed as a form of Communism in which all are mandated to have equal resources. One of the things that always has bothered me about any Socialist or Communist literature I have ever read is how little they talk about human creativity and entrepreneurship. They treat everyone as interchangeable cogs in the social machine, and forget that we all have been uniquely made by God with different gifts and abilities, weaknesses and limitations (1Corinthians 12). In the Body of Christ, God has placed some who are gifted at labor, some gifted at leadership, some gifted with creativity, and some gifted in management, among dozens of other gifts. Clearly some are gifted with the ability to procure and manage vast resources, and some are not; And some modes of life and work function better with fewer possessions, and others do not; And it is socially beneficial for some to store wealth and resources, so as to have a means to finance and supply those with creative gifts in arts and sciences and industries.
Furthermore, it is beneficial for those with stores of wealth to be distributed throughout society so that there is greater access for distribution and investment, and not for all wealth and power to be centralized in the hands of one entity, whether that be a government or a business monopoly. The more wealth and power is centralized, the more it breeds inefficiency, corruption, and eventually injustice, for "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Thus there is social utility in moderate wealth inequality with broad distribution, so long as everyone has "daily bread", and no one has to be hobbled by the insecurity of not having access to the resources they need to survive and thrive.
Would some people exist as parasites on the system, consuming "daily bread" but not producing anything to benefit society? Of course they would, just like rich "trust fund babies" who live in wealth and opulence but don't do anything to contribute to the world they live in. And of course we would need to have a conversation about how to spur these people to contribute: Because whether we are talking about the idle poor, or more importantly the idle rich, we must remember the admonition of Saint Paul "the one who will not work will not eat" (2Thessalonians 3.10).
Yet, these idle rich and idle poor will always be a relatively small minority. The greater problem is with those who do not have the means to survive and thrive due to no fault of their own. In an economy driven solely by competition, with no minimal conditions provided for human flourishing, many get left behind. They get trapped in a cycle of insecurity and hunger and sickness and inability to work, which spirals out of control until generations and communities are locked in never ending cycles of poverty and hopelessness. The only way out is to follow the path of Jesus who restored people to health and wholeness, so they could get a fresh start. And the only way this works on a societal level is to provide everyone with "daily bread", including quality education and health care, so they have the ability to better themselves.
I will confess, I do not know how the mechanics of this works out. I have written my own naive and basic sketch of the way forward. Proposals have been recently made about Universal Healthcare and Universal Basic Income. And perhaps this is the path forward. Some futurists have spoken of a post-scarcity world in which all needs will be met by technologies like artificial intelligence, open source information, sharing economy, sustainable energy, 3D printing, DIY "maker culture", and engineered foodstuffs. Perhaps these technologies will open the door to a future where everyone has "daily bread". Then again, perhaps not. I do not know the best way of getting to that place, but I know we can do better than we are doing, by God's grace.
And I also know that social systems and economic systems are adaptive and evolutionary: We set the basic parameters and boundaries for them, and they adapt to those expectations. If we make selfishness and greed our default assumptions, economics and politics will sink to that level. If we make cooperation and compassion our default assumptions, economics and politics will rise to meet the challenge. In the last century, our creativity and cooperation defeated fascism and totalitarianism, got us to the moon, and connected the world through the internet. I have no doubt that that same creativity and cooperation can be used to create a world of peace and justice where all of God's children have all they need for full human flourishing.
I ultimately know that a society of healthy persons who have access to the means to thrive will ultimately be a far richer society, not only in terms of wellbeing and intellectual and cultural life, but also in terms of economic wealth. This is because healthy, secure people are more productive, more creative, and contribute more, than people handicapped by a society that is based on scarcity, fear, and hoarding resources for selfish gratification. So while I do not want to dream the dead dreams of a classless society of state-mandated sameness, I do want to dream the dream of every child of God having access to the "daily bread" they need to grow into all that God made them to be. Certainly our current system falls far short of this for the majority of people. And certainly we have the creativity and ability to dream bigger dreams and build a better world, as God's Spirit inspires and empowers us to do so.
And finally, for those worried that this is all political radicalism cloaked in Christian garb, let me assure you it is not. It is, in fact, radically practical. Whatever most practically fulfills the aspirations found in the Lord's Prayer is what I support. In fact, my most economic and politically radical insistence is this: All of God’s children should have their "daily bread", with equitable access to all the resources and material forms that "daily bread" implies. This is hardly a new or radical ideal. And whatever economic and political system best accomplishes "daily bread" for the most people with the least left behind is fine by me.
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