Wisconsin … and the Vatican

Ordine procedens contemplatio eiusdem huius quaestionis nos oportet confirmet ad certam amplectendam sententiam, ex qua labor humanus priores obtinet partes respectu opum « capitalium » …Quidquid prodest labori, totum eius instrumentum — ut hodiernus fert status artis technicae — est fructus laboris.

-- Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Laborem exercens.

The street demonstrations have ebbed, but the struggle is not over.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110714/GPG0602/107140548/Editorial-Wisconsin-recall-primaries-show-voters-take-process-seriously

http://articles.boston.com/2011-07-14/news/29774061_1_dirty-tricks-gop-candidate-democrats

Some historical perspective:

So far has the state of labor fallen, before the onslaught of the plutocrats in their pride, that we must now, dispensing with Marx, have resort to old Pope Leo (the thirteenth of that name) in his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum.  As summarized in Wiki:

Rerum Novarum is remarkable for its vivid depiction of the plight of the nineteenth-century urban poor and for its condemnation of unrestricted capitalism. Among the remedies it prescribed were the formation of trade unions and the introduction of collective bargaining …

Such, once again,  is the necessary project now.

 [Compare further:  Laborem exercens.    Latin version.]
[Update 25 April 2012]  A much-needed Jesuit intervention: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/georgetown-faculty-latest-to-chide-ryan/#