The Roman Connection: From Rerum Novarum to Corporatism in the Netherlands

Abstract

The encyclical Rerum novarum has been a source of inspiration of political Catholicism, in particular corporatism. From 1914 on the Dutch economist Johannes Veraart came forward with a variety of corporatism for the Netherlands. Known under the name Statutory Organisation of Business, it was meant to be an alternative for the market economic system. During the interwar period it came to a confrontation with the Dutch version of plan socialism, but also to acceptation of some of the socialist ideas. After the war, in 1945 and 1946, it looked as if the convergence could culminate in a politically feasible Statutory Organisation of Business, to replace the liberal market system. However, in 1950 it ended with restoration of the market economy, the beginning of the welfare state, and the installation of a toothless system of Statutory Organisation of Business embedded in the market economy. Corporatism turned out to have been a dead-end alley.