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Thomas More and Communism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Edward L. Surtz S.J.
Edward L. Surtz S.J.*
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
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Extract

There can be no doubt that Raphael Hythloday, like the Utopians, is persuaded that communism is the solution for the social, economic, and political evils of the early sixteenth century. But what is the real attitude of Thomas More himself toward communism? Which of the following does the author of Utopia consider communism to be: a practical remedy? an impossible vision? an unattainable, but desirable, ideal? No definite answer can be given until one has reviewed, at least cursorily, the historical background to the views of the Renaissance toward communism.

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Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , June 1949 , pp. 549 - 564
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1949

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References

1 Republic, tr. Shorey (London: Harvard University Press, 1930–35), i, 311. “That city, then, is best ordered in which the greatest number use the expressions ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’ of the same things in the same way” (i, 471). Laws, tr. Bury (London: Harvard University Press, 1926), i, 365.

2 For Aristotle's position, see W. L. Newman, Aristotle's Politics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887), i, 158–168.

3 M.-B. Schwalm, “Communisme”, Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, iii, 578.

4 The distinction between a counsel and a commandment (or precept) was taken for granted among Christians of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, as is clear, for example, from the Wife of Bath's Prologue (11. 64–70):

Th'apostel, whan he speketh of maydenhede,
He seyde that precept thereof hadde he noon.
Men may conseille a womman to been oon,
But conseillyng is no comandement.
He putte it in oure owne juggement;
For hadde God comanded maydenhede,
Thann hadde he dampned weddyng with the dede.

5 See the exhaustive note in C. Lattey, The Acts of the Apostles (London: Longmans, 1936), pp. 141–142. See also R. B. Taylor, “Communism”, Encyclopœdia of Religion and Ethics, in, 777.

6 See Schwalm, art. cit., iii, 585. See the numerous and representative quotations from the Fathers, in, 579–586. See also E. Dublanchy, “Morale”, Did. de Thiol. Cath., x, 2440, on the legitimacy of the right of property in the Fathers.

7 See Decrelum Gratiani cum Glossis Joannis Theutonici etc. (Venetiis: de Giunta, 1514), fols, ii, viii, cccxii. This edition has a preface by the friend of Erasmus, Beatus Rhenanus.

8 See W. J. McDonald, “Communism in Eden?”, The New Scholasticism, xx (1946), 124.

9 See Summ. Theol., i-II, q. 94, a. 5; II-II, q. 66, a. 2; Com. in Arist. Polit., lib. 2, lect. 2 & 4.

10 See Utopia, ed. Lupton (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895), pp. 105 sq., 304. See also Budé's and Busleyden's letters, ibid., pp. lxxxvii, 317.

11 See “In Lib. IV Sent.”, dist. 15, q. 2, Opera, xviii, 255 sqq. Scotus and the Franciscans laid greater stress on the theoretical and practical aspects and consequences of original communism than the Thomists; hence, the theory is sometimes labeled as Scotistic.

12 Summa Sacrae Theologiae, luris Pontificii, & Caesarei (Venetiis: apud Iuntas, 1581–82), iii, 55.

13 Opera (Parisiis: Vives, 1856–78), v, 140.

14 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, ed. Skeat (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886), i, 595; cf. ii, 283 n.

15 The Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy, ed. Babington (London: Longman, 1860), ii, 316–317.

16 The Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson (Edinburgh: Patterson, 1874), ii, 103. See the Latin translation of Brant's classic by Locher, Stultifera Navis (Io. de Olpe, 1497), fol. xciir.

17 A Supplication of the Poore Commons, ed. Cooper (London: E.E.T.S., 1871), pp. 71 sq.

18 See “Exposition of Epistle to Romans”, Letters to Radulphus, etc., tr. Lupton (London: Bell, 1876), p. 134.

19 The Boke Named the Gouernour, ed. Croft (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1880), i, 2.

20 See “In Platonem”, Opera (Basileae: ex officina Henricpetrina, 1576), ii, 1402, and the letter to Angelo Poliziano, i, 642.

21 See his letter to Lupset, Utopia, pp. lxxxvi sqq.

22 See Adagiorum Opus (Lugduni: Gryphius, 1541), introduction, p. 11, cols. 20 sq., 1071.

23 “De Amabili Ecclesiae Concordia”, Opera Omnia (Lugduni Batavorum: vander Aa, 1703–1706), v, 505.

24 Utopia, pp. 305 sq.

25 Utopia, p. 269.

26 The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, ed. E. F. Rogers (Princeton University Press, 1947), p. 195. This edition will be cited as Correspondence. Translations of the quotations from the Latin works of Erasmus and More (except Utopia) have been made by the present writer.

27 Correspondence, p. 196.

28 Utopia, pp. 101 sq. See the section, “Of hym that dare not vtter the trouth for fere of displeasour or punysshement”, in Barclay's Ship of Fools, ii, 231 sqq.

29 Utopia, p. 100.

30 Utopia, p. 102. In his letter to Dorp written almost at the same time as part of the Utopia, More again refers to the leaden or Lesbian rule (Correspondence, p. 43). For a current explanation of the expression, see Erasmus, Adagia, cols. 243, 629.

31 Utopia, p. 102.

32 J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Collectio, xxxii (Parisiis: Welter, 1902), 669. See Erasmus, “Catechism”, Opera, v, 1136, for an explanation of “the rule of faith” (régula fidei).

33 “Enchiridion”, Opera, v, 40. See also “Methods of True Theology”, Opera, v, 114.

34 The cincture in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas was blessed with a prayer which asked God for the gift of chastity for the wearer. See Rituale Romanum (Mechliniae: Dessain, 1926), p. 705.

35 Adagia, col. 1226.

36 “Moria”, Erasmi Opera, iv, 493, note.

37 Adagia, col. 1071.

38 The clash of civil and even ecclesiastical law with the law of God and Christ finds terse expression also in Budé's letter to Lupset (Utopia, pp. lxxxiv sq.)

39 Adagia, cols. 1071 sq.

40 Utopia, p. 306.

41 Utopia, p. 57.

42 Utopia, pp. 57 sq.

43 Utopia, pp. 108 sq. These reforms are considered by Hythloday to mitigate, not to remove, evils.

44 See T. E. Bridgett, Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More, 2nd ed. (London: Burns & Oates, 1892), p. 102; C. Hollis, Thomas More (Milwaukee: Bruce, 1934), p. 73; and M. Carmichael, “Utopia: Its Doctrine on the Common Life”, Dublin Review, cxci (1932), 186.

45 In a word, if he regards communism abstractly or academically (according to the philosophic/, scholasiica), More favors communism. If he looks at it as a practical statesman who knows what is in man (according to the philosophia cinlior), he defends private property. See Utopia, pp. 97 sqq. Hythloday represents More's ideal views; he himself voices his practical judgments in his own person.

46 Utopia, pp. 109 sq.

47 Utopia, p. 110 sq.

48 Utopia, p. 308.

49 Utopia, p. 65.

50 “Confutation of Tyndale”, Works, ed. Rastell (London, 1557), p. 656.

51 Gulielmi Rossei… Opus … quo Relegit ac Refellit Insanas Lutheri Calwmnias: Quibus … Regent Eenricum … Scurra Turpissime Insectatur. The work will be noted here as In Lutherum.

52 Exegetes now agree in giving a more plausible and correct meaning to the texts used by the Reformers. The “freedom wherewith Christ has made us free” (Gal. iv, 31; cf. Gal. ii, 4; Gal. V, 13; 2 Cor. in, 17; James ii, 12; etc.) does not lie in immunity from every bond of every law, but in liberation from the slavery of sin (John viii, 31 sqq.; Rom. vi, 17), in liberation from the yoke of the extremely heavy ceremonial and judicial law of Moses (Acts xv, 10; Gal. iv, 21–31), and in liberation from the state of servile fear (Luke i, 74).

53 “In Lutherum”, Opera (Louvain: Bogardus, 1566), fol. 80“.

54 See, e.g., C. R. S. Harris, Duns Scotus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927), ii, 346 sq., and the texts cited there.

55 “In Lutherum”, Opera, fol. 80v.

56 A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation (London: Thomas Baker, n.d.), p. 184.